Don Quixote

Originally Quixote de la Mancha (1605-1615) by Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616),Don Quixote is a satire on the medieval chivalric romance. It is a classic story about a poor man, Don Quixote, whose mind has been shaped by reading too many romances. Convinced that he is a knight, he persuades Sancho Panza to join him as they wonder off to correct the wrongs of the world. Accompanying Don Quixote is his squire, Sancho Panza, a peasant who seeks to profit from his master’s misguided adventures, while Dulcinea del Toboso, a peasant girl, is transfigured into a princess in the minds of both knight and squire. Its influence on our literature is extensive. In the seventeenth century Don Quixote’s burlesque, slapstick style influenced Samuel Butler in his mock epic Hudibras.