Ricote
Sancho's Morisco neighbor, exiled from Spain, who returns in disguise to retrieve buried treasure.
Core Belief
"Family and homeland are the most important values. He is willing to sacrifice his own safety and comfort to provide for his loved ones and maintain his connection to his roots."
Worldview
Ricote sees the world as a place of hardship and injustice, where one must be cunning and resourceful to survive. He is wary of those in power but also believes in the importance of faith and community.
Personality
Ricote is a shrewd and pragmatic man, deeply attached to his family and his homeland. He is resourceful and adaptable, willing to take risks to secure their future. He is also a devout man, conflicted by his faith and his Morisco identity.
In Their Own Words
"“I left our village, as I said, and went to France, but though they gave us a kind reception there I was anxious to see all I could. I crossed into Italy, and reached Germany, and there it seemed to me we might live with more freedom, as the inhabitants do not pay any attention to trifling points; everyone lives as he likes, for in most parts they enjoy liberty of conscience. I took a house in a town near Augsburg, and instead of resuming my old trade, which I knew a great deal about, I took to hawking, and going about, and catching birds; it is a pursuit that brings one no hardship, and is amusing, and is no ill thing to do; and all the while I was doing this, I was thinking of where to place my family."
"From the foregoing history of our translations of “Don Quixote,” it will be seen that there are a good many people who, provided they get the mere narrative with its full complement of facts, incidents, and adventures served up to them in a form that amuses them, care very little whether that form is the one in which Cervantes originally shaped his ideas. On the other hand, it is clear that there are many who desire to have not merely the story he tells, but the story as he tells it, so far at least as differences of idiom and circumstances permit, and who will give a preference to the conscientious translator, even though he may have acquitted himself somewhat awkwardly."
"“That is true the amount of individuality bestowed upon Don Quixote is not very great. There are some natural touches of character about him, such as his mixture of irascibility and placability, and his curious affection for Sancho together with his impatience of the squire’s loquacity and impertinence; but in the main, apart from his craze, he is little more than a thoughtful, cultured gentleman, with instinctive good taste and a great deal of shrewdness and originality of mind."
Other Characters from Don Quixote
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