Who Sancho Panza is
Sancho Panza is Don Quixote's neighbor, a farmer with a wife, Teresa, and children. He sets out as the knight's squire, riding a donkey he refuses to leave behind. Plain-spoken and shrewd, he answers his master's lofty language with proverbs and practical concerns.
What Sancho Panza wants
Sancho hopes that serving Don Quixote will earn him the governorship of an island. Teresa doubts this dream and urges him to be content with what he has. For Sancho, however, the promised island remains a reason to keep travelling with his master.
Sancho Panza and the others in the story
Sancho sees windmills where Don Quixote sees giants, and warns him against attacking them. Their disagreements reveal two ways of seeing the same world, but their dependence keeps them together. His attention to meals and sleep keeps everyday needs beside the knight's dreams of glory.
How Sancho Panza changes
As their travels continue, Sancho begins to share some of his master's hopes. He also helps shape the knight's imagined world, claiming that a peasant girl is an enchanted Dulcinea. This deception mixes kindness with fear, showing how his practical outlook becomes tangled with Don Quixote's beliefs.
Questions
Why does Sancho Panza follow Don Quixote?
Sancho follows him because he hopes to become governor of an island. Don Quixote promises this reward if Sancho serves as his squire.
Who is Sancho Panza's wife?
His wife is Teresa Panza, who questions his hopes of an island and advises contentment.
Is Sancho Panza foolish?
Sancho is shrewd rather than simply foolish. He often recognizes ordinary reality more clearly than Don Quixote, even while pursuing the promised island.