Samson Carrasco

Also known as: Carrasco / He of the White Moon / Knight of the Grove / Samson / Señor Samson / bachelor Carrasco / bachelor Samson Carrasco / he of the Grove / he of the Mirrors / he of the White Moon / licentiate / shepherd Carrascon / student / the Grove / the Knight of the Grove / the Knight of the Mirrors / the Knight of the White Moon / the Knight of the Wood / the bachelor / the bachelor Carrasco / the bachelor Samson Carrasco / the great Carrasco / your worship of the White Moon · Family: Don Quixote's opponents · Role: bachelor · First appears: Part 2, Ch. 2.2

After studying at Salamanca, Samson Carrasco returns home as a newly made bachelor, the son of Bartholomew Carrasco. About four-and-twenty, sharp-witted and fond of jokes, he greets Don Quixote with mock reverence, saying, “Let me kiss your mightiness’s hand, Señor Don Quixote of La Mancha,” while correcting Sancho Panza’s speech and accepting Don Quixote’s invitation to dinner. He advises Don Quixote to begin his expedition at Saragossa, promises to keep the departure secret, and offers to supply what is needed; yet his real purpose, arranged with the curate and the barber, is to draw Don Quixote into another sally so that he can be defeated and confined at home. He also helps the housekeeper and refuses Don Quixote’s request to become his squire.

Carrasco then disguises himself as the Knight of the Grove, with Tom Cecial as his squire, and presents himself as the devoted knight of Casildea de Vandalia, whose commands send him through repeated perils. He challenges Don Quixote under the name of the Knight of the Mirrors, but Don Quixote defeats and unhorses him, revealing his face; after being cured by a bone-setter, Carrasco remains behind seeking vengeance while Tom Cecial returns home. Later, disguised as the Knight of the White Moon, he challenges Don Quixote again and defeats him, imposing the year of retirement that his earlier plan had sought. He then reveals himself to Don Antonio Moreno, saying, “You must know, señor, that I am called the bachelor Samson Carrasco,” and returns to his own country.

At the end, Carrasco accompanies Don Quixote and Sancho Panza into their village with the curate. He and the curate agree to share Don Quixote’s proposed pastoral life during the year of retirement, hoping he will be cured of his chivalric pursuits; they are later appointed executors of his will, and Carrasco composes his epitaph.