Man of La Mancha

Don Quixote says he needs to tend his wounded enemies. A flummoxed Aldonza protests at first, then accepts that his ideals of nobility require it. She, however, insists that the battered knight go on his way and promises she will take care of the injured muleteers. However, when she is alone with the muleteers, they rise up and attack her. She fights back, but is gagged, bound, molested, and finally carried unconscious offstage.

Don Quixote has already left without realizing Aldonza’s fate. With unconscious irony, he tells Sancho that he envies the muleteers who are feeling his lady’s gentle touch and the knight joyously affirms that “virtue always prevails” (58). As he sings a reprise of his song about his quest, he is more convinced than ever that his impossible dream is worthwhile.

Suddenly Cervantes’s play is interrupted by the sound of the Inquisition coming to fetch a prisoner. The Duke mocks Cervantes’s obvious fear and asks if his fantasy of Don Quixote can do anything to protect him. The Inquisition, however, grabs another prisoner. A shaken Cervantes asks the Governor for a moment’s respite. They talk about La Mancha, the arid plains which both Cervantes and Don Quixote call home.