Sancho Panza
| Sancho Panza | |
|---|---|
| Don Quixote character | |
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| Created by | Miguel de Cervantes |
| Portrayed by |
Man of La Mancha (play): |
| Information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Peasant / Squire |
| Title | Hidalgo |
| Spouse(s) | Teresa Cascajo de Panza |
| Children | María Sancha Panza Cascajo, Sanchico |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
| Nationality | Spanish |
Man of La Mancha (play):
• Irving Jacobson
• Tony Martinez
• Ernie Sabella
Man of La Mancha (film):
Sancho Panza [ˈsantʃo ˈpanθa] is a fictional character in the novel Don Quixote written by Spanish author Don Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra in 1605. Sancho acts as squire to Don Quixote and provides comments throughout the novel, known as sanchismos, that are a combination of broad humour, ironic Spanish proverbs, and earthy wit. "Panza" in Spanish means "belly" (cf. English "paunch," Italian "pancia", several Italian dialects "panza", Portuguese "pança", French "panse").
Before a fit of madness turned Alonso Quijano into Don Quixote, Sancho Panza was indeed his servant. When the novel begins, Sancho has been married for a long time to a woman named Teresa Cascajo and has a daughter, María Sancha (also named Marisancha, Marica, María, Sancha, and Sanchica), who is said to be old enough to be married. Sancho's wife is described more or less as a feminine version of Sancho, both in looks and behaviour. When Don Quixote proposes Sancho to be his squire, neither he nor his family strongly oppose it.
Sancho is illiterate and proud of it but by influence of his new master, he develops considerable knowledge about some books. Sancho instead provides the earthly wisdom of Spanish proverbs, surprising his master. During the travels with Don Quixote, he keeps contact with his wife by dictating letters addressed to her.
Sancho Panza offers interpolated narrative voice throughout the tale, a literary convention invented by Cervantes. Sancho Panza is precursor to "the sidekick," and is symbolic of practicality over idealism. Sancho is the everyman, who, though not sharing his master's delusional "enchantment" until late in the novel, remains his ever-faithful companion realist, and functions as the clever sidekick. Salvador de Madariaga detected that, as the book progresses, there is a "Quixotization" of Sancho and a "Sanchification" of Don Quixote, so much that, when the knight recovers sanity on his deathbed, it is Sancho who tries to convince him to become pastoral shepherds.
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Wikipedia