Miguel de Cervantes Don Quixote - Assignment Example

Men who have far-reaching imaginations and a craving for adventure are some of the things that bind Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote and the film ToyStory. These are stories of figures who dream about things that are beyond their reality but still set out to live that dream. Don Quixote and Toy Story, both, present accounts of prominent, thrill-seeking gentlemen exposed to two different cultures. Don Quixote, or Alonso Quijano, is a man from La Mancha, Spain who immerses his thoughts on stories of chivalry, knights and their weaponry, and ladies and whenever he was at leisure gave himself up to reading books of chivalry1. The stories about the knights have sunken deeply into his mind that, somehow, it has misshapen his sanity. He grew up idolizing knights and their gallantry and even began to dress up like one and go out on adventures or quests of his own for reasons like "My armour is my only wear, My only rest the fray"2. He had his own damsel in the person of a peasant girl from Toboso named Aldonsa Lorenzo. Alonso Quijano was so much into his character that he also made up a name for himself and had others call him Don Quixote de La Mancha. Buzz Lightyear of Toy Story, on the other hand, is so caught up in his own reality as a high-tech, space ranger, and not simply a plaything. His belief in his reality is so profound that he even believed that he could fly - a feat he was able to prove to himself and to the other toys when he tried flying with his eyes closed. Falling with style as Woody puts it. Discussing the common theme between the story of Don Quixote and the film Toy Story, one can see how the characters lived in a world of their own made-up realities. Don Quixote fed on his imaginations of the gallant knights and was even caught saying this to himself: "Who knows but that in time to come, when the veracious history of my famous deeds is made known, the sage who writes it, when he has to set forth my first sally in the early morning, will do it after this fashion"3. The effect of the books on his thinking was as deep as his wanting to become a full-fledged knight. This is stated in the book as: "Day was dawning when Don Quixote quitted the inn, so happy, so gay, so exhilarated at finding himself now dubbed a knight, that his joy was like to burst his horse-girths."4 He also went to as far as dubbing, his so-called damsel, Aldonsa Lorenzo as Dulcinea del Toboso and swearing to offer his services to this "fair lady". Along with his absurd thinking are absurd behaviors such as talking to himself and saying verses like "O Princess Dulcinea, lady of this captive heart, a grievous wrong hast thou done me to drive me forth with scorn, and with inexorable obduracy banish me from the presence of thy beauty. O lady, deign to hold in remembrance this heart, thy vassal, that thus in anguish pines for love of thee5. He also named his donkey Rosinante to add more glamour to his stature as a knight. Adding to the extremity of his fondness for chivalry and knighthood, Don Quixote looked for a squire for himself to keep track of his adventures. He promised the laborer an island just to get that loyal travel companion. "Your worship will take care, Senor Knight-errant, not to forget about the island you have promised me, for be it ever so big I'll be equal to governing it."6 Those and Don Quixote's other bizarre actions were all caused by too much exposure to books on chivalry and knighthood. His actions were inevitable since these are based on a strong belief which he has stated as: Thou shalt never see it again as long as thou livest7. He was too engrossed on those legends that it was almost impossible to stop him from associating everything he sees with his adventure. One incident was when he fought against what he perceived to be as monsters: "Fortune is arranging matters for us better than we could have shaped our desires ourselves, for look there, friend Sancho Panza, where thirty or more monstrous giants present themselves"8. Miguel de Cervantes's Don Quixote and the movie Toy Story both share a common theme, though each was given a different light. Both stories depicted main characters that believe in fantasy and love adventure. Both characters had issues regarding the things they chose to believe and the quests they set out to do, and only realized the consequences of their made-up reality in the end. Don Quixote's line was: Now I see through their absurdities and deceptions, and it only grieves me that this destruction of my illusions has come so late9. Although both are the same in essence, Don Quixote learned his lessons the hard way. In his madness, he failed to see through the absurdities of his actions but he was able to redeem himself in his death bed, dying a sane ordinary man. The characters in Toy Story have a much easier time compensating for their various faults; they were able to see through their differences and helped each other for the common good of all. Buzz Lightyear was able to see beyond his rose-colored glasses and accepted the fact that he is not real and Woody was able to get through his own sense of superiority and acknowledged the fine points of having Buzz Lightyear around. The theme, mainly, touches on how one follows his thoughts and lives his dream. As Don Quixote puts it: "If it should be good, faithful, and true, it will have ages of life; but if it should be bad, from its birth to its burial will not be a very long journey"10. It's, basically, about not being sure whether what you perceive as the truth is the actual reality, but still taking on the challenges. Miguel de Cervante's Don Quixote and the movie Toy Story both reiterate the importance of equality. The low and the weak are just as commendable as their mighty adversaries. Everyone will ultimately die and death will render every person equal. "The same thing happens in the comedy and life of this world, where some play emperors, other popes, and, in short, all the characters that can be brought into a play; but when it is over, that is to say when life ends, death strips them all of the garment that distinguish one from the other, and all are equal in the grave"11. 1 WORKS CITED Cummings, M.J. (2005) Don Quixote de la Mancha: A Study Guide http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides2/Quixote.html Read More