CHARACTERS

The Adventurers

 Don Quixote de la Mancha - tragicomic hero and protagonist

 Sancho Panza - peasant who joins Don Quixote on his adventures as his squire
 Dulcinea del Toboso - A peasant woman whom Don Quixote casts as his princess lady love and
muse.

The Friends

 The Barber - Don Quixote’s friend.

 Teresa Panza - Sancho’s goodhearted wife
 The Priest – Don Quixote’s friend.
 Sampson Carrasco – A sarcastic and self-important student from Don Quixote’s village.

The Four-Legged Friends

 Dapple – Sancho’s donkey

 Rocinante – Don Quixote’s worn-our barn horse.

The Couples

 Cardenio – The quintessential romantic lover

 Dorothea – Ferdinand’s faithful and persistent lover
 Ferdinand – An arrogant young duke who steals Lucinda from her husband Cardenio.
 Lucinda – Cardenio’s wife and a model courtly woman

The Duck and Duchess’s Court

 Altisidora – The Duchess’s bratty maid

 The Duke and Duchess – A cruel couple
 Roque Guinart – A chivalrous bandit
 The Duke’s Steward - The duke’s henchman

THEMES OF THE STORY

Incompatible Systems of Morality - Don Quixote attempt to convince his contemporaries to recognize
their own inability to uphold the system of morals.

The Distinction between Class and Worth - a person’s class and a person’s worth were a fairly radical
idea in Cervantes’s time.

Honor - Some characters in Don Quixote show a deep concern for their personal honor and some do
not.

Romance – Some characters seem to have given up on romantic love.

Literature - Contains several discussions about the relative merits of different types of literature.
Symbols

 Books and Manuscripts - Symbolize the importance and influence of fiction and literature in
everyday life.
 Horses - Horses symbolize movement and status in the novel and often denote a character’s
worth or class.
 Inns - Inns symbolize rest and food but also corruption and greed, since many innkeepers in the
novel are devious.