Don Quixote

After a lifetime of reading tales of chivalry, Alonso Quixano decides to become a knight himself. Taking the name Don Quixote, he rides out on Rocinante to defend the helpless and win glory for his imagined lady, Dulcinea. His companion is Sancho Panza, a practical villager whose hopes of reward are repeatedly tested by his master's adventures. Windmills become giants, inns become castles, and ordinary encounters turn into battles that rarely end as the knight expects. Their journey through Spain is both a comedy of mistaken appearances and the story of an unlikely friendship. Sancho questions his master's fantasies yet grows increasingly loyal to him. Don Quixote's grand intentions can cause real harm, but his concern for justice also exposes the cruelty of people who consider themselves sensible. Peasants, innkeepers and aristocratic pranksters each reveal another side of the world the travellers inhabit. Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra moves beyond a parody of chivalric romance to explore dignity, freedom and the stories through which people understand their lives. Beneath the humour lies a difficult question: how can a person remain faithful to an ideal without losing sight of others?