the duchess

Also known as: THE DUCHESS / duchess / fair huntress / good lady / her excellence / her ladyship / his lady / lady / my lady / my lady the duchess / señora duchess / the good lady / their excellences / your grace / your highness / your highnesses / your ladyship · Family: the duke's household · Role: duchess · First appears: Part 2, Ch. 30.1

In Part 2, Ch. 30, the duchess, married to the duke, welcomed Don Quixote and Sancho Panza to their country house after recognizing them from their printed history. She and the duke received them as honored guests, arranged ceremonies to make Don Quixote feel like a knight-errant, and hosted him at their table. She declared, “I am very fond of him,” insisting that Sancho Panza remain with her, while also promising to believe in Dulcinea del Toboso and persuade her household of Dulcinea’s existence and nobility.

Through Chs. 32–44, the duchess directed her household in its treatment of Sancho Panza and Don Quixote. She ordered the majordomo to honor Sancho Panza’s requests, stopped the servants’ humiliating beard treatment, promised that the duke would grant him the promised government, and took responsibility for Dapple’s care. With the duke, she arranged a series of knight-errantry entertainments and deceptions, including the hunting expedition, the Countess Trifaldi affair, the Clavileño adventure, and Sancho Panza’s staged government. She received Countess Trifaldi beside her, instructed the household to treat Sancho Panza as a governor, and later ordered that no attendants enter Don Quixote’s chamber.

In the following chapters, the duchess continued directing the household’s schemes and relationships. She and the duke arranged the bell-and-cat prank that injured Don Quixote, while Doña Rodriguez’s disclosure of the duchess’s leg issues led the duchess and Altisidora to torment Don Quixote and flog Doña Rodriguez. At the same time, she sent Teresa Panza letters, coral beads, and other presents, described Sancho Panza’s good qualities to explain his government, and promised to arrange a high match for Sanchica. She later ordered that Doña Rodriguez and her daughter no longer be treated as servants but as adventurers seeking justice, substituted Tosilos for an absent vassal in the planned challenge, and helped rescue Sancho Panza and Dapple from the pit before ordering that Sancho Panza receive proper care.

At the end of the stay, the duchess and the duke staged further spectacles involving Don Quixote, Sancho Panza, and Altisidora, then granted Don Quixote permission to leave, though they showed sorrow at his departure. She ordered Altisidora to occupy herself with needlework. In 1614, she promised Sancho Panza a suitable scourge for his penance and read Teresa Panza’s letter, approving it for the duke to see.