Sancho was incensed when the ruffians decide to have a little fun with him at the inn. Tossing him up onto the air on a blanket--this "tossing on a blanket" was a carnival game usually played with a dog! Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria, in his Open Yale Course on the Quixote, reminds us that these men, while ruffians, were not inherently evil characters.
Don Quixote says as much:
'You are a bad Christian, Sancho,' said Don Quixote; 'You never forget an injury once done you, though you should know that a noble and generous heart sets no store by such trifles. Did you come out with a lame foot or a broken rib or a cracked skull, that you cannot forget that jest?
But Sancho is simply offended by the entire thing.... And here we approach the burlesque. For this is no laughing matter for Sancho -- and there is something sweet about the way Don Quixote tries to comfort Sancho. Also it is rich to the reader since all this is coming from a man whose very existence has become a kind of jest-- a great satire of the Spanish trying to live in an imagined glorious past-- a national delusion that is maybe even reminiscent of Make America great again?
Don Quixote trying to console Sancho says, in what for me is a truly unforgettable scene:
You have no lame leg, no fractured rib, no broken head to show for it; so why can you not forget that bit of buffoonery? You have no lame leg, no fractured rib, no broken head to show for it; so why can you not forget that bit of buffoonery? For when you look at it closely, that is all it was: a jest and a little pastime; for had I not regarded it in that light, I should have returned and, in avenging you, should have wrought more damage than those Greeks who stole Helen of Troy.
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The lost art of laughter... It was one of my greatest shocks returning to an America where people don't laugh anymore. When did we lose our ability to joke with each other or laugh at ourselves?
I have been feeling my age. My reactions to the stories in the Quixote are so different from the young students I am sitting with. I don't understand how the world could have changed so much and sometimes I even get a sinking feeling they are right. Most of the comments in class regarding the characters have centered around both characters' lack of personal responsibility. That DQ is "evil" and an anti-hero--this concerning how much trouble he causes (which is true, he leaves certain destruction in his wake whereever he goes). They also have taken exception to Sancho's abandonment of his family and "being a bad husband."
I've been surprised that not one student--being that they are young-- applauded the characters for their great friendship or anti-establishment behaviors. Part of me feels sad that they have internalized all the hoops that one needs to jump through to be "good;" the lack of nuance in their judgements and even cynicism; but part of me wonders if they aren't right? I often feel very blue. My astronomer and I feel such affection and admiration for these two characters. On two occasions I tried unsuccessfully to stick up for Sancho because I don't feel he abandoned his wife or is a "bad" husband... I ended up feeling stupid for my opinions and wished I wasn't in the room at all. From ballet to opera; from Freud to Levinas--not to mention Nabokov and Dostoevksy-- these characters continue to ring true and inspire something in the greatest artists and thinkers. And I think the tossing on the blanket is representative of the unforgettable nature of these two deeply moving men.
Telemann's The Tossing of Sancho Panza in the Blanket
Your post is undated so I don’t know how long it has been sitting here uncommented, but thanks for illuminating the basis for Sancho’s consternation.
Posted by: His Old Self | 10/21/2018 at 09:22 AM
Thank you so much for leaving a comment! I really appreciated it. I am not very active here--this blog is just a place to jot down ideas but I am very pleased to know you enjoyed the post! All of my Cervantes posts are here http://www.borges-library.com/borges/ and I highly recommend the movie (or book) Monsignor Quixote, if you haven't see it yet!
Posted by: Leanne Ogasawara | 10/21/2018 at 02:55 PM