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This song is from the musical Man of La Mancha, a play based from Miguel de Cervantes' seventeenth century masterpiece, Don Quixote. It's sung from the perspective of the eponymous Don Quixote de La Mancha, detailing to the prostitute Aldonza his knightly credo. For those unfamiliar to the story of Don Quixote, it was originally written as a parody of most knightly stories of Europe (such as those of the Knights of the Round Table). The central character of the story, is a retired Spanish gentleman living in the arid La Mancha region of Spain, who has spent the last of his riches purchasing books and becomes consumed in them to the point where his grip on reality fails almost completely. Now totally in belief of the fantastic tales of knight-errant fighting wizards and the forces of evil, he mourns the fact that the brave men who once adorned the countryside combatting the unholy evils of the world are now gone (an aspect reflective of the fact that by the time of the story's writing, knightly tales had fallen out of popularity in mainstream Europe). Seeing a dire problem in the world, the old and frail gentleman decides that he will be the solution, proclaiming himself a knight and naming himself Don Quixote, and thus he embarks with his friend and squire Sancho, and his horse Rocinante on a mission to annihilate the world's evils.
This song is from the musical Man of La Mancha, a play based from Miguel de Cervantes' seventeenth century masterpiece, Don Quixote. It's sung from the perspective of the eponymous Don Quixote de La Mancha, detailing to the prostitute Aldonza his knightly credo. For those unfamiliar to the story of Don Quixote, it was originally written as a parody of most knightly stories of Europe (such as those of the Knights of the Round Table). The central character of the story, is a retired Spanish gentleman living in the arid La Mancha region of Spain, who has spent the last of his riches purchasing books and becomes consumed in them to the point where his grip on reality fails almost completely. Now totally in belief of the fantastic tales of knight-errant fighting wizards and the forces of evil, he mourns the fact that the brave men who once adorned the countryside combatting the unholy evils of the world are now gone (an aspect reflective of the fact that by the time of the story's writing, knightly tales had fallen out of popularity in mainstream Europe). Seeing a dire problem in the world, the old and frail gentleman decides that he will be the solution, proclaiming himself a knight and naming himself Don Quixote, and thus he embarks with his friend and squire Sancho, and his horse Rocinante on a mission to annihilate the world's evils.
The most obvious aspect of the story itself is the shear insanity of the main character, who as detailed in the song I just posted, has tasked himself with a mission too literally destroy every evil no matter the cost. But saying that, this story is one I hold in a very high respect, one that is based solely upon the power of human spirit, and more centrically, imagination. Throughout the adventures of Don Quixote, he encounters many people who, sensibly, declare him mad. However, on a personal level, I have always resented the way characters treat Don Quixote, though it is an inevitable fact that he is truly insane, but there is a part of me that doesn't like to deny the fantastic. I believe when it comes to those who create and utilize imagination, it behooves oneself to do away with the way things are in the world, and grow more ideas in the way things ought to be.
At the end of the story, Don Quixote's fantasy is shattered and he returns to a realistic outlook, and eventually dies as the meek and old man he was before. Though the main character of this story does in fact die, I don't believe that Don Quixote ever died, but lives on forever beyond even the mind that created him and transcends the fictitious world in which he was created. Any person could be Don Quixote, any person could take up his quest, and I hold this song and the idea of Don Quixote's 'impossible' dream as proof that without imagination humans are nothing, but with it we are infinitely great.
lovely write-up
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