Man of La Mancha

Don Quixote and “The Spoil of Antwerp” “The Spoil of Antwerp” (1575) by George Gascoigne (1535–1577) and Don Quixote (1605) by Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) are two pieces of literature from late the 16th century to early 17th century, respectively; that can that have several parallel elements that helped each of them achieve a different purpose for the time and place that they were published. Just like in all literature, the lives of the authors significantly impacted the writings as a…

In Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex and Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote, a confusion of identity stemming from the limits between reality and fantasy leads to the main character’s insanity. Both characters fall in social status as a result of their experienced psychotic tendencies. Through their failure to comprehend situations, culminating in naïve attempts at societal reparations and failed acts of charity contributes to the similar endings where the social statuses of Don Quixote and Oedipus fall.…

Looking Within to Learn a Lesson About Surviving Violence Memoirists who articulate lessons that all readers can relate to tend to have the most powerful impact on readers. Alice Sebold is one of these memorable memoirists. She shares her experience of being violently attacked and sexually assaulted in her story ironically titled, Lucky. Throughout the memoir, she relays the message that "No one can pull anyone back from anywhere. You save yourself or you remain unsaved" (Sebold 60). Despite…

Mad for God, written by Sara Tilghman Nalle, is a microhistory about the life of a Spanish wool carder, his sacrilegious statements and beliefs, and his trial at the hands of the Inquisition in 16th century Spain. Nalle dissects this time period with a revisionist approach; she attempts a historical reconstruction and succeeds in humanizing the actions of certain clergy and officers of the Holy Catholic Church. By including personal details about the thought process and decision making of lead…

many reasons: “It stifles free thought; it ignores people’s uniqueness; it attempts to simplify the paradoxes of social life” (Ambivalent Man 622). These problems will become apparent with the narrator accepts the invitation after which he is given a new name and apartment. Before leaving Mary’s home, he stumbles around a coin bank in the shape of a black man with exaggerated features. Angered the Mary owns such an object, he destroys it and takes the remains in his briefcase. Trying to get rid…

From the beautiful mountains of Toledo to the vast cliffs of Cuenca, and bordered by the rolling hills of the Sierra Morena, the city of La Mancha is where our adventurous and romantic hero resides. Miguel Cervantes describes the setting where chivalric romances are mocked and characteristics of old are mixed in the wrong time in his novel Don Quixote. The novel focuses on a chivalrous knight who adventures through the cities of Spain fantasizing about love and fighting to regain his sanity.…

6 Degrees of Separation: Jack Cole & Casey Nicholaw Six degrees of separation is a theory based on the idea that all people or things in this world can be “connected” through six steps or less. While it may be broad, and not always clear connections, it is very possible to connect any two people in less than six degrees. For this assignment, I will be connecting two famous dance choreographers: Jack Cole, and Casey Nicholaw. Though the two don’t seem to have much in common other than their…

reader is first introduced to the protagonist at first as an old wealthy man whom spends his time reading chivalric tomes of knights and their brave adventures. At this point, it is quite obvious that he is quite old at this time and perhaps felt the need for adventure once again and perhaps this was his midlife crisis. So from reading all of these tomes, he dubs himself a knight and takes on the name, Don Quixote de la Mancha. He then decides that as this magnificent knight, he must go on a…

which he sees as a castle, where he terrorizes and confuses the people staying there. He gets the innkeeper to knight him, who does it mostly to get rid of him. He is so thrilled with being knighted, he decides to go home. After attempting to stop a man from beating his employee, and thinking…

Distraught by the death of his father and the sudden remarriage of his mother-to his uncle-, Hamlet resorts to a state of frenzy and exaggerated insanity. His demeanor is motivated by his father’s words spoken through a ghostly apparition. After learning that his uncle murdered his father in cold blood to usurp the throne, young Hamlet assumes a state of insanity in order to justify avenging his father’s death. Hamlet’s madness can be characterized through five main causes: grief from his…