# Altisidora — Don Quixote character guide

> Altisidora in Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** the unhappy Altisidora, fair Altisidora

**First appearance:** 0107-part-ii-xlvii

## Snapshot

A duchess's lively maid who stages a swooning passion for Don Quixote, turning his chivalric vanity into the household's favorite sport.

## Who they are

Altisidora belongs to the duke and duchess's castle, where elaborate practical jokes are staged at the knight's expense. Her feigned love and dramatic fainting are part of a larger conspiracy of amusement, yet her performance also exposes how easily Don Quixote's idealism can be manipulated. She matters because her teasing, and the notorious cat-and-bell prank that follows, mark the novel's turn toward self-aware mockery of its own hero.

## Relationships

### [Don Quixote](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/don_quixote_se/characters/don_quixote)

_romantic_

Altisidora, a lady-in-waiting, pretends to be in love with Don Quixote as part of the Duke and Duchess's pranks.

### [Don Quixote](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/don_quixote_se/characters/don_quixote)

_romantic_

Altisidora, a lady-in-waiting, pretends to be in love with Don Quixote as part of the Duke and Duchess's pranks.

### [Don Quixote](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/don_quixote_se/characters/don_quixote)

_romantic_

Altisidora, a lady-in-waiting, pretends to be in love with Don Quixote as part of the Duke and Duchess's pranks.

## In the story

### [II: About Cervantes and Don Quixote](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/don_quixote_se/chapters/ii-about-cervantes-and-don-quixote)

Mentioned as one of the individualized characters in the novel.

### [XLIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/don_quixote_se/chapters/part-ii-xliv)

Sings a love ballad to Don Quixote from the garden, expressing her infatuation.

### [Of how the great Sancho Panza took possession of his island, and of how he made a beginning in governing.](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/don_quixote_se/chapters/part-ii-xlv)

Mentioned at the end as having troubled Don Quixote with her music.

### [Of the terrible bell and cat fright that Don Quixote got in the course of the enamoured Altisidora's wooing](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/don_quixote_se/chapters/part-ii-xlvi)

Pretends to faint to gain Don Quixote's attention, later bandages his wounds and scolds him.

### [Of what befell Don Quixote with Doña Rodriguez, the duchess’s Duenna, together with other occurrences worthy of record and eternal remembrance](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/don_quixote_se/chapters/part-ii-xlviii)

Mentioned as the enamoured damsel whom Don Quixote fears will assault his chastity.

### [LVII Which treats of how Don Quixote took leave of the duke, and of what followed with the witty and impudent Altisidora, one of the duchess’s damsels.](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/don_quixote_se/chapters/part-ii-lvii)

The impudent damsel who delivers a mocking, lovesick lament accusing Don Quixote of stealing her kerchiefs and garters; later admits she had the garters on all along.

### [Which tells how adventures came crowding on Don Quixote in such numbers that they gave one another no breathing-time.](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/don_quixote_se/chapters/part-ii-lviii)

Mentioned as the source of attentions from which Don Quixote feels relieved at the start of the chapter.

### [Of the resolution Don Quixote formed to turn shepherd and take to a life in the fields while the year for which he had given his word was running its course; with other events truly delectable and happy.](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/don_quixote_se/chapters/part-ii-lxvii)

Don Quixote wonders if she still loves him after his departure; he recalls her gifts and tears.

### [Chapter LXIX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/don_quixote_se/chapters/part-ii-lxix)

Feigns death on a catafalque; 'revives' after Sancho's ordeal, then thanks him and bestows gifts.

### [LXX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/don_quixote_se/chapters/part-ii-lxx)

Feigns death and resurrection as part of the duke and duchess's joke, playing the lovesick maiden to mock Don Quixote.

### [Of what passed between Don Quixote and his squire Sancho on the way to their village](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/don_quixote_se/chapters/part-ii-lxxi)

Referenced as having been resurrected by Sancho's whipping; Sancho is upset she did not give him the promised smocks.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/don_quixote_se/characters/altisidora
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/don_quixote_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/don_quixote_se/characters