What Is Don Quixote About? Cervantes' Knight Who Fought Windmills

Don Quixote is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes, published in two parts in 1605 and 1615, about a minor nobleman from La Mancha who reads so many books of chivalry that he decides to become a knight-errant himself. Renaming himself Don Quixote, he rides out with his loyal neighbour Sancho Panza to right wrongs and win glory, while the real world keeps refusing to match his imagination. The book is often called the first modern novel and one of the greatest works of fiction ever written.

The man behind the book

Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) had a dramatic life before he became famous as a writer. He was a soldier, was wounded at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 and lost the use of his left hand, and later spent five years as a captive in Algiers. Back in Spain he worked as a tax collector and struggled with money. He was in his late fifties when the first part of Don Quixote appeared and made him well known.

The story in brief

The hero is a gentleman of about fifty named Alonso Quijano. After reading too many tales of knights, he takes an old suit of armour, names his bony horse Rocinante and chooses a farm girl he barely knows, whom he calls Dulcinea del Toboso, as the lady to whom he will dedicate his deeds. He then persuades a simple farmer, Sancho Panza, to be his squire, promising him an island to govern.

Their adventures are a series of misunderstandings. Don Quixote sees inns as castles, flocks of sheep as armies and, most famously, windmills as giants, which he charges at with his lance before being knocked to the ground. Sancho, practical and fond of food and proverbs, tries to bring him back to reality, but slowly starts to share some of his master's dreams.

In the second part, many characters have read the first book and recognise the pair. Some of them play elaborate tricks on Don Quixote for their own amusement. In the end he returns home, falls ill, gives up his fantasies and dies as Alonso Quijano again.

Why it is called the first modern novel

Earlier stories were often about perfect heroes in ideal worlds. Cervantes instead shows ordinary people, real roads and inns, many voices and a hero who is funny and sad at the same time. The book even plays with its own existence: in Part Two, characters discuss Part One and a fake sequel by another author. This mix of humour, realism and self-awareness influenced novelists for centuries.

Words from the book

The novel gave English and many other languages the adjective "quixotic", meaning idealistic in an unrealistic way, and the phrase "tilting at windmills", meaning fighting imaginary enemies. Spanish is sometimes called "la lengua de Cervantes", the language of Cervantes, in his honour.

Sancho Panza, the other hero

Many readers end up loving Sancho as much as his master. He is greedy, cautious and full of country proverbs, yet he is also kind, loyal and surprisingly wise. When he is finally made governor of an "island" as part of a joke, he judges cases with common sense and fairness that surprise everyone around him. The conversations between the dreamer and the realist, riding side by side across La Mancha, are the heart of the book. Over time each of them changes a little: Don Quixote grows more thoughtful, and Sancho grows more imaginative.

A book that never left the world

Don Quixote has been translated into a huge number of languages and has inspired paintings, ballets, operas, films and the Broadway musical Man of La Mancha. The image of a thin knight and a short, round squire riding together is recognised far beyond Spain. Writers from many countries have named it as a key influence, and it is still widely read in schools and universities. For learners of Spanish, the opening line about "a village in La Mancha, whose name I do not care to remember" is one of the most famous sentences in the language.

Learn with Don Quixote: English phrases

Phrase	Meaning	Example
quixotic	idealistic but unrealistic	It was a quixotic plan to learn five languages in a month.
tilting at windmills	fighting imaginary enemies	Arguing online is often tilting at windmills.
to have your head in the clouds	to be a dreamer	He always has his head in the clouds.
a reality check	a reminder of the facts	Failing the test was a reality check.
loyal to a fault	too loyal	Sancho is loyal to a fault.

Try this: Write three English sentences about a dream that is a little quixotic, using "quixotic" and "a reality check".