Quote 3
Now
that I’ve to be sitting on a bare board, does your worship want
me to flay my bum?
Sancho puts this question to Don Quixote
in Chapter XLI of the Second Part, after Don Quixote suggests that
Sancho whip himself to free Dulcinea from her alleged enchantment.
With these words, which display his sarcastic wit, skepticism, and
insubordinate nature, Sancho refuses to obey Don Quixote’s order.
The tale of Dulcinea’s enchantment literally comes back to bite
Sancho in the rear end—Sancho originally tells Don Quixote that
Dulcinea is enchanted in an effort to hide the fact that he does
not know where she lives and what she looks like. Sancho’s lie nearly
catches up with him a number of times until the Duchess finally
snares him completely, telling him that Dulcinea actually has been
enchanted. Sancho gullibly believes her story and later agrees to
whip himself 3,300 times
in order to revoke Dulcinea’s enchantment. Nonetheless, Sancho is
not happy with this course of action, and in the end he stands up
to Don Quixote about it. This quotation not only fleshes out Sancho’s
character but also exemplifies the bawdy humor that pervades Don
Quixote. Deeply ironic and complex, the novel is also very
funny.
