Sancho Panza
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Sancho Panza is squire to Don Quixote in the novel of that name. Don Quixote, written by Spanish author Don Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra in 1602, is often considered the first true novel. Sancho's comments throughout the novel, known as sanchismos, are a panoply of broad humor, ironic Spanish proverbs, and earthy wit. "Panza" means 'belly,' and is alternately spelled pança.
Don Quixote pokes gentle fun at the romancero, such as the geste of Spanish hero El Cid, and employs satire to comment on the political expansionism of the time. 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 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 slave.
Don Quixote comments on the historical state and condition of Aragón and Castilla, which are vying for power in Europe. Sancho Panza represents, among other things, the quintessentially Spanish brand of skepticism of the period.
Don Quixote, an impoverished hidalgo (landowner of petit nobility) becomes 'enchanted' by virtue of descending into his imagination reading too many romances. He awakens in a delusional dream wherein he embarks upon an "adventurous" journey through La Mancha to rescue a Fair Maiden (la donçella Dulcinea). Quixote's imagination turns Sancho from devoted, if somewhat simple, manservant into a squire, even as he transforms himself from impoverished hidalgo to valiant knight.
Sancho, Don Quixote's actual manservant, follows his master, puzzled but obedient. Riding a mule, he helps el Quixote get out of scrapes while blithely looking forward to rewards of aventura that Quixote tells him of. Don Quixote, become the aventurante knight errant "el" Quixote astride a nag, which he renames Rocinante (galloper, swift runner). He has with him a flea-bitten dog, which his dream recasts as a prized hunting greyhound.
Literary functions of Sancho in the second book, Segunda parte del ingenioso caballero Don Quixote de la Mancha (1615)
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- Role of Sancho's name.
- Wherein Panza is a developing Everyman type noted by Sigmund Freud and Nietzsche, and a commentary on surnames, Cervantes variously names Sancho in the original (first) book (1602), e.g. Sancho Zancas (legs). The second book (1615) standardizes Sancho's name in reply to the "false" Avellaneda Quixote sequel.
- At one juncture, Sancho alludes to the "false" Avellaneda book by addressing his wife (standardized as Teresa Panza) using the wrong name. The Sancho name does not change, but he calls his wife various names throughout the first part of the volume, and her 'true' name is not revealed until almost the end of that portion of the novel.
- The promised ínsula.
- Don Quixote promises Sancho the governance of an ínsula (archaism for "island"). Sancho has never heard of the word, and does not know its meaning.
- Sancho has long been expecting some vague but concrete reward for this adventure, and believes the word to signify the prize that will make the trouble he has been enduring worthwhile.
- The heroes encounter a pair of impostor Dukes who pretend to make Sancho governor of a fictional fief, la ínsula Barataria (roughly "Isle Come-cheaply"; see Cockaigne). He eagerly accepts, and leaves his master. In a letter, Don Quixote gives Sancho nonsensical advice on governorship gleaned from the romances he has read, thought to have been inspired by the Diálogo de Mercurio y Carón attributed to Juan de Valdés, using the allegorical ínsula to satirize gullibility for philosopher-doctors' quackery and the current political quests for foreign riches of the Indies.
- The Dukes' "servants" are instructed to play several pranks upon him. Surprisingly, Sancho is able to rule justly, applying common sense and practical wisdom in spite of fantastical, foolish advices that Don Quixote read of.
- As Sancho triumphs in these staged parody battles he learns of how difficult it is to rule (an allegory on deciding, on categories, and on wisdom) and "resigns" to rejoin Don Quixote and continue the adventure.
- Ricote
Sancho encounters Ricote ("fat cat"), his former Morisco neighbour, who has buried a small fortune. Ricote (who, like all Moriscos, had been expelled from Spain (1609-1619, establishing a point in historical time in the novel, as the first part of Don Quixote was published before the expulsion, and the second part publish during the expulsion) has returned in disguise to retrieve the treasure he left behind. He asks Sancho for help. Sancho, while sympathetic, refuses to betray his king.
- When Don Quixote takes to his deathbed, Sancho tries to cheer him. Sancho idealistically proposes they become pastoral shepherds and thus becomes 'Quixotized'.
Other appearances of the character
In addition to stage and screen adaptations of the novel itself, Sancho Panza is a major character in the play within a play in the Broadway musical Man of La Mancha, and in the film of the same name. In Man of La Mancha, the newly-imprisoned Cervantes recruits his fellow prisoners to portray characters from his novel, with Cervantes himself playing Don Quixote. In the musical, Sancho sings in duet with Quixote, and solos in the song "A Little Gossip." Actors who have played Sancho in the play include Irving Jacobson (who also sang on the original cast album), Tony Martinez (1977 and 1992 revivals), and Ernie Sabella (2002 revival). James Coco played the character in the 1972 film.
A further layer of characters playing other characters can be found in the Quantum Leap episode "Catch a Falling Star", in which Ernie Sabella plays the actor "Manny", who in turn plays Cervantes' manservant, who plays Sancho. This appearance predates Sabella's 2002 Broadway portrayal of Sancho Panza.