Samson Carrasgo

“If you choose to doubt my words, then do so by strength or arms...”

The bachelor Samson Carrasco is introduced into the novel as an educated wag. A recent graduate of the University of Salamanca, he conspires with Quixote’s friends, the priest and the barber on a plan to return our knight to his village where he might be cured.

Rather than seek to persuade Quixote against a third foray as knight-errant, Carrasco offers his services as squire in the hope that should the knight fail badly enough then he would give up on his ill-founded notion of knight-errantry and return home.

As with other characters in the story, Carrasco evolves. When he is first introduced, Carrasco has clear intentions, his behaviour is considered and actions pre-meditated.

With time, he finds he is not always in control of situations and must bear his own burdens of responsibility before he is able to return once more to the village.

Character development

In animation, we’d discussed Carrasco having an air of authority. If he were to speak, then everyone should stop and listen.

Quixote has an incredibly dynamic range in his speech to reflect his erratic behaviour and enthusiasm.

Carrasco’s voice needed to retain control, but also display a certain gravitas or presence.

The model generated for Carrasco was built based on a simple head profile (see below). The basic structure of his body went on to form the parts from which all the human characters were constructed.