El verdadero protagonista del Quijote

Abstract

In Don Quixote I, 5, Cervantes’ main character affirms that “Yo sé quién soy” (‘I know who I am’). Don Quixote, however, is a fictional character created by another character in the novel: Alonso Quijano, the hidalgo who disappears in Chapter 1 to only fully reappear on his deathbed. Who really is the protagonist of the novel? What are the implications of the character's duality, and why does the anonymous Quijano hide behind the flamboyant Don Quixote? What kind of a hero has Cervantes so successfully constructed, and to what extent does this character embody modernity? Employing early modern medical and legal perspectives, the article shows that Quijano/Quixote elaborates a discourse of monstrosity based on his hybridism, extraordinary nature, unnatural birth, and ability to show himself and be seen by others (from the Latin monstrare).