It’s a bit pointless, if not absurd, to wonder about the political preferences of the great heroes of novels, epics and plays. Who would Panurge, Hamlet, Odysseus, Emma Bovary or Jacques the Fatalist vote for today? Today’s political and social conditions, the democratic and republican regime, even the division between right and left, have nothing in common with the mores and ideas of ancient times. Authors often fail to provide sufficient material to qualify the political orientation of their characters. Over-interpretation adds to and exacerbates anachronism.

The same cannot be said of Don Quixote, which is in a class of its own. The work is as complex as it is monumental. It has spanned the centuries, taking on new meanings with each passing era. Spain has made it a national symbol. Above all, the novel’s two heroes make speeches and perform acts of an eminently political nature.

Sancho Panza’s vote is the easiest to determine. Freshly promoted to squire and enrolled in Don Quixote’s service on the strength of glittering promises, he never stops demanding that they be fulfilled and that he be paid what he’s owed. He bitterly protests against a system of exploitation of which he is the eternal victim: It’s his trade-unionist, Yellow-Vests side.

Identity capital

The former farmhand is steeped in the common sense and prejudices of his social class. Deprived of material capital, he clings to identity capital and his religious and national affiliation. In the face of converts of all stripes, he prides himself on being a born-again Christian (“Old Christian”), and shows himself to be anti-Semitic, negrophobic and Islamophobic, which does not prevent him, like any self-respecting racist, from having a good Morisco friend (a Muslim who has converted to Christianity), whom he generously helps.

When he almost miraculously obtains the government of an island, he proclaims his “intention (…) to clear this island of all manner of filth and rubbish; especially vagabonds, idlers, and thieves.” And he adds: the “idle and the lazy people in a commonwealth are like drones in a bee-hive, which devour the honey that laboring bees gather. My design is to protect the peasants, maintain the gentry in their privileges, reward virtue, and, above all, to have a special regard to religion, and the reverence due to holy men.”

Driving out the homeless, foreigners and all those accused of stealing the fruits of honest people’s labor, respecting the established powers and the national religion: It’s like reading the manifesto of a far-right party.

You have 55.72% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.