Man of La Mancha

Aldonza is Don Quixote’s love interest and, ultimately, his protégé. She undergoes the most dramatic transformation of any character. At the beginning of the play, she is the archetypical “serving wench”—a saucy and strong woman who others look on as a sex object. Aldonza has become a cynic about love or any noble motivations: Sex is a mere transaction for her. While she has no real dreams, she takes pride in determining which man should enjoy her favors, and she shoots down the advances of several muleteers she deems unworthy of her time.

Later, in the song “Aldonza,” she bitterly confesses to Don Quixote that hatred and anger filled her early life and that she does not think that she deserves any more than that. She says she is “only Aldonza, the whore” (67), adopting an insult to sum up her whole person. She is the daughter of a mother who abandoned her and a passing soldier who never knew her. The contrast of the reality of who she is (in her own perception) with Don Quixote’s vision of her as a noble lady fills her with despair and robs her of the will to live.

Don Quixote, however, claims from the beginning that she hides a nobler identity inside that he names “Dulcinea.” His view of Dulcinea is a pure and gracious lady who is treated with respect. When Aldonza realizes that he genuinely believes she deserves respect, she begins to question her old self-conception (particularly in the song, “What Does He Want of Me?”). Aldonza then probes more into Don Quixote’s ideals (“The Impossible Dream”) and this leads her to fight alongside him against the muleteers. She tries to inhabit the role of Dulcinea as she tends to the wounded enemy, but is shocked back into her old beliefs by their assault on her. She then decides to reclaim the beautiful dream of being Dulcinea at Don Quixote’s death bed. She is the one who tells Sancho that Don Quixote lives on.

Since she has taken the lead role, Don Quixote implicitly lives on in her. Reinforcing this idea of her as Don Quixote’s successor, the prisoner who played Aldonza/Dulcinea takes the lead in singing the finale reprise of “The Impossible Dream.” When Aldonza transforms into Dulcinea, she is no mere object: She has learned from Don Quixote’s example and has moved from being his protégé to the new carrier of the dream.

The Cervantes/Don Quixote dual protagonist has a dual sidekick: the unnamed Manservant/Sancho. The Manservant has a minor role. He assists Cervantes in setting up the play and prepping the prisoners to play various roles. The stage directions say that he and Cervantes have an affectionate relationship, like an old married couple that like to bicker. A few hints of this emerge in their dialogue, but most of the character development occurs in his alter ego as Sancho, one of the more prominent characters in the play.

Sancho accompanies Don Quixote on his adventures from the time he departs his home until the end. He is a simple man. He trusts Don Quixote and allows himself to be persuaded to treat an inn as a castle and a server at an inn as a lady. The audience learns over the course of the play that he cannot read and that he is married, though that relationship doesn’t seem important in the story. Loyalty to Don Quixote is his defining characteristic, but a sense of joy and pleasure in his company enlivens that loyalty.

Sancho plays an important role in helping create comic relief. In some cases, he plays the straight foil to Don Quixote’s fantasy, as when Sancho explains what appears to be really true, such as identifying the inn and the rough people inside it. This allows the audience to perceive Don Quixote’s description of castles and nobles as amusing delusions. Sancho’s solos—“I Really Like Him” and “A Little Gossip”—have humorous elements, as Sancho struggles vainly to explain his actions or expresses childlike longing for adventures with dragons. At the play’s end, Sancho joins in with Dulcinea’s quest to continue Don Quixote’s dream.

One of the prisoners, disgusted by the stupid idealism that landed Cervantes in prison, steps into the role of prosecutor and becomes the antagonist of the story. He goes by the name “the Duke.” He is a champion of “being realistic,” which translates into a cynical resignation to the imperfections of the world. He is otherwise a flat character.

The Duke takes on the antagonist’s role as well within Cervantes’s play as Dr. Sansón Carrasco, the fiancé of Don Quixote’s niece. Dr. Carrasco is determined to cure Don Quixote of his mental illness. In the end, he does “cure” him by shattering his sense of self through his Knight of Mirrors ruse; while Don Quixote does revert to his “sane” personality of Alonso Quijana, the result kills him. Despite the former knight’s obvious suffering, Dr. Carrasco reacts angrily when the Padre questions if they did the right thing, and does his best to block Aldonza and Sancho from seeing his patient to undo his actions.

The explanation for Dr. Carrasco’s actions lies in his pride. Cervantes introduces him as “a man who carries his own self-importance as if afraid of breaking it” (28). He refers frequently to his scientific training and cannot admit the validity of an alternate viewpoint. This explanation for his dedication to seeing life “as it is” suggests that in The Conflict Between Idealism and Realism, realism actually means a mind too narrow to entertain new possibilities.

The head of the prisoners goes by the title “the Governor.” He can intimidate the others, as when he wakes from sleep to roar at the prisoners to stop robbing Cervantes, but then he proceeds to do the same in a more civilized way with the faint pretense of a trial. This marks him as more of a gentleman, though still a ruffian at heart, with the possible implication that others in authority may be the same underneath their polished exteriors. Unlike the Duke, however, the Governor is willing to entertain new ideas: He listens to Cervantes, and by the end of the play he is sympathetic. He returns Cervantes’s manuscript and wishes him luck in his trial.

He takes the role of the Innkeeper for his alternate personality in the play-within-the-play. The Innkeeper has a role of authority but, unlike the Governor, rarely exercises it. He adopts a genial attitude. He bends to Don Quixote’s requests, though often ignoring the warnings of his wife Maria. This indicates a softer side to the Governor and helps explain why he gives Cervantes a chance.

The Padre is caught between admiring Don Quixote and pitying him. He serves Don Quixote’s old household as their spiritual advisor and accompanies Dr. Carrasco. He is aware enough of their failings to note the irony of their claims to be thinking only of Don Quixote’s well-being. He also uses Dr. Carrasco’s pride to persuade him to cure Don Quixote rather than simply abandoning his niece.

The Padre expresses mixed feelings throughout the play. When he encounters Don Quixote, he sings in “To Each His Dulcinea” about how much more “lovely life would seem” (46) if more people could live out the inspiration of a dream like Don Quixote. At the same time, he acknowledges the image of Dulcinea as simply a dream “made of flame and air” (46). Even at the end, when Dr. Carrasco demands that the Padre agree he did the right thing in breaking Don Quixote, the Padre says, “Yes. That’s the contradiction” (72). He remains divided between what he would like to believe and what he thinks he can. In The Conflict Between Idealism and Realism, he struggles to fully commit to either side.