“Giants sir?...what giants?”
Just a little bit more...
Sancho Panza, neighbour and friend to Don Quixote, has left behind his wife Teresa and life as a farm labourer to become squire to Don Quixote on the promise that he will one day receive governorship of an island as reward for his service.
Sancho is the foil to Quixote’s idealism and witness to his fantastical behaviour. He provides the grounding that contrasts with everyone else they encounter throughout the story.
It is Sancho’s role to question everything. And, interestingly, he is one of the few characters that Quixote sees the same in his fantasy world as appears in the real one.
Despite Sancho’s growing realisation that his master is somewhat less than compus mentus, he fervently clings on to the promises he has been given and desperately wants to believe the fantasy his master is living, however badly things are going.
His worldly wisdom does much to contrast against Quixote’s fantasy.
This is particularly brought home when Sancho turns out to be a wise and just ruler of the island governorship he receives. By contrast, the Duke and Duchess who bestow the position on him are portrayed as cruel and inept.
Design and development
As with Quixote, deviating from Sancho’s well established identity was never going to happen – though I took a conscious decision from the outset to avoid styling Sancho as just a ‘simple’ yokel.
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Hero
Loyal friend
Scholar
Supporting cast
The narrator
The giant
The shepherds
Diego & Paulo
The Viceroy & Don Anthony
Did you know...
“Proverb was ere”
- Sancho Panza