The article deals with the image of Don Quixote which is considered to be a starting point in research of Spanish philosophers regarding the national Spanish identity. The author shows that Miguel de Cervantes succeeded in embodying the fundamental features of the Spanish national character and mentality in Don Quixote, as well as in reflecting the dualism of the Spanish national consciousness, embodied in a twofold image which unites the two main characters of the novel, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.

The linguocultural concept “laugh” is regarded in the comparative aspect on the basis of the Russian and the Spanish languages. There are found out the basic antinomies of the concept and revealed its national peculiarities.