Don Quixote Essay, Research Paper

Madman or Idealist? In my judgement, Don Quixote is and idealist. He lives in a

time of Machiavellian beliefs and wants to escape these characteristics. He

fantasizes about the way things used to be in the times of the knights, and the

code of Chivalry, and wishes that he too could live in this time period. Some

may argue that he was a madman due to his attack on the windmills, but he just

seems to suffer from a slight mental illness, which does not in turn qualify him

as a madman. Don Quixada is a man of about fifty years old; he was born of

nobility and therefore, could not get a job after his wealth was spent. At this

age it did not seem that he had much of a future, the majority of his life was

in the past, but he wanted to do something about this and somehow change the

destiny of his future. He had a great interest in medieval times; he spent a lot

of time reading about the knights and codes of chivalry. He wanted himself to be

a noble knight, to ride out on his horse with his trusty sidekick and to be a

hero. So he decided, being the idealist he was, that he could accomplish these

things even though he now lived in the Renaissance time. Idealists dream, and

then turn their dreams into a reality, which is what Don Quixada did when he

transformed himself into Don Quixote. He knew the things he needed to make his

dream come true. He needed a horse, a trusty sidekick, and a woman to love. He

attained all these items, but they were not quite up to par. He renamed everyone

on his journey, to make them all seem a little more dream worthy. His horse was

renamed Rozinante, the name spruced up the old dilapidated horse. His sidekick,

Sancho Panza, was merely after wealth and land in this journey, and was

attempting to desert his wife and children. His love interest, Aldunza renamed

Dolcinea, was not your typical high class sophisticated woman, she was a rough

country girl. It took a great deal of imagination on Don Quixote?s part to

turn these aspects into his fantasy. Don Quixote and Sancho Panza set out on

their adventure very late one night, so that no one would notice them leaving.

The next day they arrived at a point where they could see thirty or forty

windmills. Don Quixote imagined them as being giants, and attacked them. He did

this out pure wit and excitement, not out of lunacy and derangement. He all

along knew that they were not really giants, but thought that it would be fun to

be in some sort of battle. In my opinion, Don Quixote is an idealist, not a

madman. He simply dreams of a different life for himself, rather than facing his

fate that is thus far set out for him. Being an idealist, he turns his dream

into a reality, suits up in his armor and heads out on his horse into the

sunset.