Don Quixote Themes

Is Don Quixote actually a madman? Most characters in Don Quixote would definitely say yes, since this dude has all the characteristics of a madman—namely, a crazy set of ideas that lead him to po...

In 17th-century Spain, your social class told people everything they needed to know about you. You're a good person? Who cares? You're rich? Meh. Well, half-meh. All that mattered was whether you c...

Death lurks everywhere in Don Quixote, and who can be surprised, considering how Don Quixote himself constantly challenges people to deadly duels? In fact, when you consider how much trouble he get...

Whether it's ladies dressing like men, men dressing like ladies, men telling women what to do, or women telling men what to do, there are more than a few issues swirling around the theme of gender...

If you had to sum up Sancho Panza's relationship with Don Quixote in a single phrase, it could be: "Sancho is very loyal (sort of)."Sancho's loyalty is always tied to his self-interest. He follows...

When Cervantes wrote Don Quixote, Spain had a pretty tense relationship with Africa and the people who came from there (called Moors by the Spanish). Part of the background context for the second p...

What do you get when an old man suddenly thinks that he's a knight and starts riding around the countryside trying to slay giants? That's right: you get a lot of practical jokers who want to mess w...

With all of the humor in Don Quixote, it can be easy to lose sight of the fact that this book is chock full of violence. We're barely a quarter into the thing before the Don gets half of his teeth...