Don Quixote · Character

Master Nicholas

The village barber and Don Quixote's neighbor, quick with a joke and a disguise, who helps stage the earliest schemes to bring the knight home.

supporting

Also known as Nicholas

First appearance: Of the diverting and important scrutiny which the curate and the barber made in the library of our ingenious gentleman

As a supporting figure in Don Quixote, Master Nicholas is not background color—the story leans on what they do once the chapter opens.

The barber, friend of Don Quixote, who joins the priest in deciding to destroy the chivalric books.

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Master Nicholas is a practical man of the village who knows Don Quixote well enough to mock him gently and love him anyway, and he lends his wit and his person to the priest's rescue plans. He is one of the first to dress up and play a role in the fiction that will eventually draw the knight off the road, and his willingness to enter the game shows how contagious Don Quixote's world becomes. He matters because he helps establish the pattern of friends who lie to the madman for his own good, a pattern the novel never quite endorses.

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See Master Nicholas in Of the diverting and important scrutiny which the curate and the barber made in the library of our ingenious gentleman

Narrative arc

Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Exposition.

Setup
Escalation
Breaking point
Aftermath
Closing

In this chapter, Don Quixote reaches his emotional and psychological peak by delivering a coherent, pragmatic,…

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In the story

Master Nicholas appears across 14 companion beats. Open any chapter in the free preview to see the notes beside the text.

V
The barber, friend of Don Quixote, who joins the priest in deciding to destroy the chivalric books.
Of the diverting and important scrutiny which the curate and the barber made in the library of our ingenious gentleman
Assists the curate in the scrutiny, handing him books and offering opinions.
Of the second sally of our worthy knight Don Quixote of La Mancha
The barber who assists the curate in walling up the book room and in discussing knight-errantry with Don Quixote.
XXVI
Assists the curate in the plan, agreeing to disguise himself as a squire.
Of how the curate and the barber proceeded with their scheme; together with other matters worthy of record in this great history.
The barber who assists the curate, making a beard from an oxtail and eventually playing the distressed damsel.
XXVIII Which treats of the strange and delightful adventure that befell the curate and the barber in the same Sierra
The barber accompanies the curate and Cardenio, witnessing Dorothea's revelation.
Chapter XXIX
Disguised with a false beard, he acts as the squire of the Princess Micomicona.
Of the delectable discussion between Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, his squire, together with other incidents.
Calls out for the group to halt and drink at a spring.
Of the end of the notable adventure of the officers of the holy brotherhood; and of the great ferocity of our worthy knight, Don Quixote
The barber who receives compensation for the basin and later provides the prophetic voice.
Of the strange manner in which Don Quixote of La Mancha was carried away enchanted, together with other remarkable incidents
Rides masked alongside the curate, advising on the route for resting the oxen.
XLIX
Present with the party; helps unyoke the oxen and waits for Don Quixote's release.
LII
Present during the quarrel with the goatherd and the subsequent fight, and later helps in the return home.
I
The barber visits with the curate, tells a story about a mad graduate, and debates with Don Quixote.
XV
Also part of the conclave that approved Carrasco's scheme.

Chapter companion notes

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