Sancho Panza
SANCHO PANSA (Spanish: Sancho Pansa; “pansa” - belly, belly, belly) is the central character of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra’s novel “The Cunning Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha” (first volume - 1605; second - 1615). Seduced by Don Quixote's promise to receive one of the conquered islands as a gift and become governor, poor peasant S.P. leaves his wife and children and, as a squire, goes with Don Quixote in search of adventure. Together with his owner S.P. experiences many events and witnesses his exploits. On the one hand, S.P. considers Don Quixote crazy, on the other hand, he honors the knight as one of the most prudent and educated people, innocently believing his stories. The squire gets no less than his master: he is often beaten, he is robbed; those around him make fun of him, considering him the same eccentric as Don Quixote. Throughout the entire novel, the Knight of the Sorrowful Countenance and his squire remain inseparable, with the exception of the moment when the Duke and his wife realize S.P.’s old dream. - become the governor of the island. Don Quixote and S.P. often contrasted with each other: the portly and food-loving S.P. not only outwardly the complete opposite of his lanky and thin owner. In contrast to Don Quixote, he personifies common sense and everyday savvy. However, the “sanity” of S.P. does not prevent him from being Don Quixote's companion, friend and main interlocutor, an accomplice in many of his exploits. Image of S.P. is genetically connected with the folk culture of laughter (it is no coincidence that in one of the episodes of the novel, jokers throw S.P. on a blanket - like a stuffed animal or a dog during the celebration of carnival in Spain) and forms the same typological series with such characters as Panurge and Falstaff. S.P. the high ideals of Don Quixote's chivalry are alien. He is guided rather by considerations of material gain. S.P. often deceives its owner in order to avoid blows and troubles. In the scene with three peasant women whom S.P. passes off Dulcinea and her retinue as Dulcinea, the hero deliberately misleads Don Quixote, describing to the embarrassed owner the beauty and beautiful attire of noble ladies. When Don Quixote demands that his squire scourge himself, S.P. strikes beech trees. During the course of the novel, S.P. adopts many of Don Quixote's traits and sometimes begins to reason like his master. During his governorship on the fictional and created by the Duke island of Barataria, the uncouth and simple-minded S.P., remembering the instructions of Don Quixote, reveals himself as an honest and wise ruler and amazes everyone with his refined manner of expression. Considering that the position of governor is not for him, that he will not be able to protect the island from the invasion of enemies, because the peasant’s job is to plow the land, S.P. returns to the service of Don Quixote. According to him, he is regaining his former freedom, because... Serving with his master is not a compulsion for him, as the governorship turned out to be. In criticism, the image of S.P. is most often considered in connection with the image of Don Quixote (an expressive example is the point of view on S.P. Turgenev and Dostoevsky). IN Spanish literature beginning of XX"Sw. image of S.P. interpreted as the personification of the nation. Contact with the ideal (Don Quixote) elevates common man, and the future of Spain depends on the “quixoticization” of Sancho the people (Unamuno).
All characteristics in alphabetical order:
Saavedra wrote while he was in prison. The writer put all his thoughts about life, people, creativity, the world, etc. into this novel. It was a time when the bourgeoisie was attacking the aristocrats, when the old foundations were collapsing. Cervantes saw all this and created one of the brightest images in all world literature.
The main characters of the novel are the cunning hidalgo Don Quixote and his squire Sancho Panza. Don Quixote is a dreamer who believes in miracles, goodness and justice. He believes that justice must prevail in Spain and throughout the world. When the novel was published, everyone unanimously recognized Don Quixote as very unusual and interesting character. Deciding to become a knight defending honor and justice, the hidalgo began to commit “ heroic deeds" Don Quixote of La Mancha is a man who read many chivalric novels that were popular at that time. He wanted to become the same noble knight as the heroes of these novels and become famous throughout the country: “one cunning hidalgo imagined himself as a knight and set out on a journey, setting out to eradicate all kinds of untruths and, in the fight against all kinds of accidents and dangers, to acquire an immortal name for himself and honor".
Cervantes shows us that Don Quixote combines fantasy and realism. On the one hand, he does some unrealistic things: he fights with windmills, tries to challenge fierce lions to battle, and rides on his faithful horse into the most dangerous adventures. It seems to him that he stands up for all the humiliated and disadvantaged, that everyone will respect him for this. But in reality this is not so: people laugh at the knight and consider him crazy. On the other hand, Don Quixote is a man of a rational mind, educated and understanding of life. When his faithful squire becomes governor, he gives him useful advice.
Don Quixote is a kind, generous man, he is always ready to help. I.S. said about him: “He lives entirely... outside himself, for others, for his brothers, to destroy evil, to counteract forces hostile to humanity, wizards, giants - that is, oppressors.” But I feel sorry for Don Quixote - in modern life there would be no place for him.
It's good that he has Sancho Panza. Sancho Panza is the complete opposite of his master. He is a sober and pragmatic peasant who helps Don Quixote out of many troubles. They are even completely different in appearance: Don Quixote is tall and thin, and Sancho Panza is short and fat. They look comical, but they understand each other perfectly and complement each other well. I think that without each other they would be lost.
Sancho Panza is a devoted friend and helper, he embodies everything best qualities a simple person. He is reliable, kind-hearted, cheerful. If not for him, Don Quixote would not have gotten out of his troubles, and sometimes would not have been able to avoid death. Sancho Panza kept his “knight” from unnecessary exploits, and also quickly brought him down to earth after “great victories.” I like Sancho Panza because he is smart, witty, always doing something and does not lose heart. Then all these qualities came in handy when he became governor. Devotion and everything positive traits Sancho Panza makes him the favorite hero of this work among many readers.
SANCHO PANSA (Spanish: Sancho Pansa; “pansa” - belly, belly, belly) is the central character of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra’s novel “The Cunning Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha” (first volume - 1605; second - 1615). Seduced by Don Quixote's promise to receive one of the conquered islands as a gift and become governor, poor peasant S.P. leaves his wife and children and, as a squire, goes with Don Quixote in search of adventure. Together with his owner S.P. experiences many events and witnesses his exploits. On the one hand, S.P. considers Don Quixote crazy, on the other hand, he respects the knight as one of the most prudent and educated people, innocently believing his stories. The squire gets no less than his master: he is often beaten, he is robbed; those around him make fun of him, considering him the same eccentric as Don Quixote. Throughout the entire novel, the Knight of the Sorrowful Countenance and his squire remain inseparable, with the exception of the moment when the Duke and his wife realize S.P.’s old dream. - become the governor of the island. Don Quixote and S.P. often contrasted with each other: the portly and food-loving S.P. not only outwardly the complete opposite of his lanky and thin owner. In contrast to Don Quixote, he personifies common sense and everyday ingenuity. However, the “sanity” of S.P. does not prevent him from being Don Quixote's companion, friend and main interlocutor, an accomplice in many of his exploits. Image of S.P. is genetically connected with the folk culture of laughter (it is no coincidence that in one of the episodes of the novel jokers throw S.P. on a blanket - like a stuffed animal or a dog during the celebration of carnival in Spain) and forms the same typological series with such characters as Panurge and Falstaff. S.P. the high ideals of Don Quixote's chivalry are alien. He is guided rather by considerations of material gain. S.P. often deceives its owner in order to avoid blows and troubles. In the scene with three peasant women whom S.P. passes off Dulcinea and her retinue as Dulcinea, the hero deliberately misleads Don Quixote, describing to the embarrassed owner the beauty and beautiful attire of noble ladies. When Don Quixote demands that his squire scourge himself, S.P. strikes beech trees. During the course of the novel, S.P. adopts many of Don Quixote's traits and sometimes begins to reason like his master. During his governorship on the fictional and created by the Duke island of Barataria, the uncouth and simple-minded S.P., remembering the instructions of Don Quixote, reveals himself as an honest and wise ruler and amazes everyone with his refined manner of expression. Considering that the position of governor is not for him, that he will not be able to protect the island from the invasion of enemies, because the peasant’s job is to plow the land, S.P. returns to the service of Don Quixote. According to him, he is regaining his former freedom, because... Serving with his master is not a compulsion for him, as the governorship turned out to be. In criticism, the image of S.P. is most often considered in connection with the image of Don Quixote (an expressive example is the point of view on S.P. Turgenev and Dostoevsky). In Spanish literature of the early 20th century. image of S.P. interpreted as the personification of the nation. Contact with the ideal (Don Quixote) elevates the common man, and the future of Spain (Unamuno) depends on the “quixoticization” of Sancho the people.
This year is the year of the 400th anniversary of the death of Cervantes, one of greatest writers of all times and peoples. In Spain, the whole year passes under the sign of the author of the cunning hidalgo: exhibitions in the National Library in Madrid and in various museums dedicated to Cervantes and his characters, readings at universities, tourist routes to places mentioned in the novel and much more. For most Spaniards, this is not “for show” - for example, my Spanish friend recently started re-reading Don Quixote. Well, now I wanted to talk about one modest Aragonese village of Alcala de Ebro, which stands on the banks of the Ebro, 35 kilometers from Zaragoza. The name of the village can be translated as Fortress on the Ebro, we're talking about about a medieval Muslim fortress, which practically did not survive, since something else was built on its basis. There are only 297 inhabitants, and a rare tourist wanders here, but in Spain the so-called “village tourism”, el turismo rural, is very developed and promoted, and this is actually one of the most exciting ways to travel: after all, any inconspicuous Spanish village keeps traces of history from ancient times, and sometimes something else. So it is here. Immediately at the entrance to the village we are greeted by the thoughtful Sancho Panza.
It turns out that it was this village that Cervantes described in the second part of Don Quixote under the fictitious name of the island of Barataria, of which the noble hidalgo’s faithful squire became its governor. “Today, on such and such a date, month and year, Senor Don Sancho Panza took possession of this island, many years to him,” the inscription reads. 
Here is a chapter from Cervantes' novel about the governorship of Sancho Panza.
http://www.1143help.ru/Sancho-gubernator
Those who have not yet completely forgotten Don Quixote remember that from the very beginning the hidalgo promised his assistant that he would someday give him the island to take possession of, and in the second part of the novel this happens. There is some play on Spanish words here, and it is not entirely certain that the translation, no matter how good, does it justice. Firstly, the island is called Barataria (which can be defined as “something bought on the cheap”, but you can also add a certain connotation of a fraudulent transaction). Cervantes himself explains the name: because Sancho got the governorship so cheaply. And secondly, is it an island, that is the question. Cervantes calls this place “ínsula Barataria”, which is what everyone else now calls it. But the ancient insula, unlike isla, can mean not only an island, but also a wilderness, outback. We peered with all our eyes into the bed of the Ebro, trying to understand whether there really was an island here or not, but it was not so easy. Of course, there are plenty of islands on the river. But on the Internet, the island of Barataria in Alcala is shown like this in all the pictures, and this is the view from a point just upstream of the Ebro to the village hidden behind a bend in the river. 
Photo from the Alcala City Hall page
On the other hand, during the Ebro floods, all of Alcala, like many other towns and villages on the river, temporarily turns into a real island. Be that as it may, the description in the novel corresponds to the appearance of Alcala na Ebro, and this is not without reason. Cervantes spent a lot of time in Aragon during the creation of the second part of the novel. He lived not far from here, in the neighboring village of Pedrola, and stayed in the palace of the Duke of Villahermosa, whose family were the lords of Alcala and several other surrounding villages (along with famous surname Moon). The name of the village is similar to its name hometown: Cervantes was born and spent his childhood in the city of Alcala de Henares. And here he brought the hero of his work.
The village itself is very pleasing to the eye. As expected, the Church of the Holy Trinity rises above it. 
Several streets. 
Horse by the river. 
In previous years, there was a crossing across the river in the form of special boats, which were used to transport horses, agricultural implements and people to the village of Remolinos on the other side of the Ebro, where the salt mines were located. 
Photo from the Alcala City Hall page
The mined salt was transported to a salt mill, which was located near Alcala. Now this mill is abandoned (photo from the Internet). 
Photo by J. Ignacio Iguarbe
Bags of salt were transported using a cable-roller traction system installed on support pillars like these; one of them survived in the middle of the Ebro. 
Now the crossing no longer exists, and the support has been taken over by storks. 
Nearby, away from the river, is the village of Pedrola, and in it is the palace of the Dukes of Villahermosa in the Mudejar style. The same palace where Cervantes stayed when creating the island of Barataria. 
Photo from the Internet
Photo from the Internet
Sancho Panza was a simple peasant farmer on the lands of Alonso Quijano, was married and had two children. Lured by Don Quixote's promises to make him a future count and governor of the island, Sancho agrees to accompany him as a squire. Not believing in Don Quixote's dreams and mirages, Sancho often shows common sense in his speeches and tries to dissuade Don Quixote from the most reckless exploits. However, he willingly takes advantage of the benefits of knighthood errant. He is cunning and, often through deceitful means, tries to gain benefits. Considering that Don Quixote is not himself, he nevertheless respects him for his intelligence and education.
The image of Sancho Panza in the second part
In the second part of the book, Sancho changes, becoming smarter and more reasonable. Having received advice from Don Quixote, Sancho, appointed governor as a joke, governs honestly and intelligently and expresses himself elegantly. But then he realizes that power is not for him, and voluntarily leaves his post. However, those around him, considering Sancho crazy too, laugh and joke at him, sometimes cruelly, because he is naive and believes a lot. At the end of the book, Sancho sincerely regrets the death of Don Quixote, but at the same time he is glad that he still earned money.
