Man of La Mancha - Aldonza

1060 Words5 Pages
Courtly Love A character named Aldonza goes through the hardships of life as a prostitute in Man of La Mancha, which is a play within a play. A manuscript made by one of the characters in Man of La Mancha, Miguel De Cervantes, portrays Aldonza as an “alley cat”, no one loves her, and only uses her for sex. She is a strong individual who believes she has control of her clients; however, in the settings of this book, women with authority and control did not exist, they were barely recognized as citizens. Aldonza hated one thing, men. She worked as a prostitute to make a living, as she did not have any education. Soon enough she found a man, Don Quixote, who wanted to love her for who she really is, nicknaming her, Dulcinea. Aldonza finally believed Don Quixote might be telling the truth about everything she believed was false about her, mainly because of her lifestyle and the people she surrounded herself with. Aldonza believes she has control over her job as a prostitute, but in reality she doesn’t. She recognizes this after she was raped by a group of men who she provides her services to on a daily basis and she never had control over anything in her life. Aldonza hates the work she does, and all men in general. “One pair of arms is like another” (Page 19). She sees all men as pigs; she refers to her clients as arms because she does not see anything in a man, except their physical bodies; she believes men have no heart and they are worthless savages that like to take advantage of women. In Man of La Mancha, Aldonza sings about men and how they do not believe in love, only in what money can buy, which is her service of sex. “And what I give, I choose to give!” (Page 20) She talks about prostitution and how she thinks she has control over what she does. Aldonza somewhat has power over the muleteers because she has what they want. The muleteers do not have to
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