Don Quixote & Dulcinea
To love a lady who never existed
The ingenious knight devotes all his deeds to Dulcinea del Toboso, an idealized lady who is really a peasant woman who barely knows him: love as the soul's pure invention.
01Why it matters
In the first modern novel, Cervantes makes idealized love one of literature's most moving images.
02The conflict
The gap between the dreamed Dulcinea and the real woman.
03The iconic moment
Don Quixote swearing Dulcinea the most beautiful though he has never seen her.
04What survived
"Don Quixote"; the musical "Man of La Mancha."
05Frequently asked questions
Why is the story of Don Quixote & Dulcinea famous?
In the first modern novel, Cervantes makes idealized love one of literature's most moving images.
How does the story of Don Quixote & Dulcinea end?
Don Quixote swearing Dulcinea the most beautiful though he has never seen her. "Don Quixote"; the musical "Man of La Mancha."
Related loves
Cyrano & Roxane
He loved with words lent to another's face
The poet-swordsman Cyrano, ashamed of his enormous nose, writes the love letters with which his handsome friend Christian wins Roxane — the woman Cyrano himself secretly loves.
Read the story
Romeo & Juliet
The universal archetype of forbidden love
The teenage lovers of two feuding families whose deaths became the universal archetype of forbidden love.
Read the story
Pygmalion & Galatea
He fell in love with his own sculpture
The sculptor Pygmalion, disillusioned with women, carves the perfect woman in ivory and falls in love with her; Aphrodite, moved, brings the statue, Galatea, to life.
Read the story