Imagination in Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes

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"Life itself seems lunatic. Who knows where madness lies! To be too practical is madness, to seek treasure where there is only trash, to surrender dreams may be madness. Too much sanity may be madness, but maddest of all is to see life as it is and not as it should be." -Miguel Cervantes

In his novel, Don Quixote, Miguel Cervantes proves that a strong imagination is necessary to lead a fulfilling life. The main character, Alonso Quejana, is a man close to the age of fifty who has spent most of his life reading books about the medieval knights. In doing so, he has altered his sense of reality and came to believing he himself was a knight errant. He gave himself the name Don Quixote and decided to follow the chivalric code and bring justice to the world. Before Quejana became Quixote, he had no desire to help out humanity or bring an end to injustice, but with the help of his imagination his whole outlook on life changed. He saw life how it should be through his ideals rather than the reality of it.

Don Quixote set out on a quest with his squire Sancho. The first obstacle they run into is a field of windmills. Using his vivid imagination, Quixote views them as giants and makes it his mission to defeat the foes. Any normal person would call Quixote crazy, but Sancho sticks with Quixote's antics and watches as he attempts to fight windmills. This is where Sancho truly shows his loyalty towards Quixote. Any person who stands by the side of a windmill-warrior is truly a good friend. This is the first of many scenes which show his imagination having an impact on people.

The second person who is affected by the charm of Don Quixote's imagination is his peasant neighbor Aldonza. After he declares himself a knight errant h...

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...Sancho and Dulcinea come to his bed and remind him of his identity as a knight. The scene shows his impact he had on the emotions of his friends, and the fact that he convinced Dulcinea that she was more than a lowly peasant was extraordinary. The movie clearly shows how Cervantes' writings will impact those who read it. They get caught up in Don Quixote's fantasy world, and it is hard to escape from it.

Human beings are the only creatures on this earth able to use their imaginations to see the world as it should be, and they are also the only ones who have the power to change it. Don Quixote became a knight errant for that cause. He saw that there were problems with society, and he became determined to fix them. Although he did not make any direct impact on the people of his time, his story became famous and has touched the lives of the millions who have read it.

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