The play Man of La Mancha was written by the American playwright Dale Wasserman in the 1960s. At the time, the United States was going through the Civil Rights movement. In 1963, two years before the play was written, Martin Luther King Jr. recited his famous “I Have A Dream” speech. The themes of the musical connect with this well-known speech in many ways.
In the “I Have A Dream” speech, Martin Luther King Jr. talks about how he has a dream. In this universal ideal, he imagines a society of acceptance to others. He shares his alternate reality while the exact same opposite is going on at the same time. Negroes are treated unfairly by society, even though the Emancipation Proclamation was already signed and put into place. However, the legal document only protects the freedom of the black, not their rightful place in society. Martin Luther King Jr. gave this speech to address this issue, the reason why the Civil Rights Movement was happening.
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Inside the dungeon, the prisoners had a little trial where he is being prosecuted. For his defense, Cervantes reenacted his story. The story is about a man named Alonso Quijano. To put it in better words, he was mentally insane. It understandable, he is old. Alonso Quijano believes that he is a chivalrous knight that goes by the name of Don Quixote. Don Quixote is a courageous man who does things for the good of the people and the king. We, as the audience, can guess that Don Quixote’s personality is one that Alonso probably never had, or maybe a personality he always desired for. Throughout the end of the play, his worried family brings Alonso back to reality, telling him (in a nice way, of course) to get his head out of the