Who Cardenio is
Cardenio lives among the rocks of the Sierra Morena, where Don Quixote and Sancho Panza encounter him. They find a torn bag of clothes before meeting the ragged young man who raves and runs through the mountains.
His suffering comes from the loss of his love, Lucinda, who has been promised to another man.
Cardenio and the others in the story
Cardenio's story places another kind of lost reason beside Don Quixote's belief that he is a knight. Cardenio's distress instead grows from his own experience of love, giving their meeting a different source of sorrow.
Questions
Who is Cardenio in Don Quixote?
Cardenio is a young gentleman whom Don Quixote and Sancho meet living wild in the mountains.
Why does Cardenio lose his reason?
He loses his reason through love and betrayal, after Lucinda is promised to someone else.
How is Cardenio different from Don Quixote?
Cardenio is overwhelmed by real heartbreak, while Don Quixote's madness comes from his devotion to chivalry books.
