Don Quixote
Don Quixote is a novel by Miguel de Cervantes. The book was published in two parts (1605 and 1615). It was first written in Spanish. Soon afterwards it was translated to English by Thomas Shelton. It is considered by many scholars to be the first modern novel.
Don Quixote Media
Illustration by Gustave Doré depicting the famous windmill scene
Don Quixote de la Mancha and Sancho Panza, 1863, by Gustave Doré
"Camilla threatens Lothario with a dagger", illustration by Apeles Mestres, engraving by Francisco Fusté
Don Quixote by Honoré Daumier (1868)
Bronze statues of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, at the Plaza de España in Madrid
Don Quixote on a 1 Peseta banknote from 1951
Tiles depicting scenes from Don Quixote on a bench in Chapultepec
Madrid street art near Plaza España involving Don Quixote
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The main character, Don Quixote, is very good at chivalry but in a very flawed and impractical way. Don Quixote is so influential as a character that the word "quixotic" is used to describe his type of behavior.
The story is about Alonso Quixano, a rich middle-aged man. Quixano, having read many tales about chivalry and knights, goes crazy and believes that he is a knight named Don Quixote. He rides around the country with his squire, Sancho, having adventures. He believes his adventures are real, but everyone else laughs at him.
One of the most famous stories in the book is Don Quixote's fight with windmills. He sees some windmills and thinks they are giants. When he rides to fight with them, he is knocked off his horse. Sancho tells him they are only windmills, but Don Quixote does not believe him. He is sure a magician changed windmills into the giants to hurt him.
At the end of the book, Don Quixote (Alonso Quixano) returns home, hurt badly from a fight with another knight. He becomes sane (being sane means to see reality) again, then dies from a high fever.