Painful Reality

Primary Image (Left): Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de. L’ingénieux hidalgo don Quichotte de la Manche. Translated by Louis Viardot, vol. 1. Paris: Libraire de L. Hachette et Cie, 1869. Artist: Gustave Doré, Engraver: H. Pisan

Secondary Image (Right): Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de. El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de La Mancha. vol. 2, Madrid: En la imprenta de la Academia por la Viuda de Ibarra, Hijos y Compañía, 1787. Artist: Antonio and Isidro Carnicero, Engraver: Fernando Selma

This image comically depicts Don Quixote, a self-proclaimed “knight,” hanging on the courtyard wall of an inn. He has fled without paying, there being no precedent of knights paying in his revered chivalric tales. Although Don Quixote is the focal point of the image, the viewer cannot see his face. Rather, the tip of his spear draws the viewer’s eyes up to the panicked face of his squire Sancho, who is tossed in the air as punishment for his master’s delusions. Sancho looks down on his master, and in his elevated position he realizes his real, physical pain has been caused by Don Quixote and his obsession with knighthood. Don Quixote may be central, but the image cautions against overlooking the pain he causes Sancho. This scene thus captures an element of the Don Quixote-Sancho relationship: Sancho suffering as his reality clashes with his master’s “reality”.

Ellen Grinnell
Mary Sicoli
Andrew Tarbox