Man Of La Mancha Dale Wasserman Analysis

Robert Browning’s quote “A man’s reach must exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?” is very relevant to Dale Wasserman’ s play, Man of la Mancha. Characters are portrayed along the continuum with the realist as one extreme and the idealist as another. Browning speaks to the issue of these extremes and favors the idealist who has the capacity to perceive their reality as a temporary existence and allows for growth driven by imagination. A man’s reach should go beyond that which he can physically hold in his hand or grasp, or even touch. It is only when one reaches beyond the immediate that the possibility of reaching the stars becomes a reality. Wasserman develops this concept within the fabric of the play as he allows his characters to embrace a degree of one extreme to
Only wait and thou shalt see amazing sights” (page 13). At this point in the story, Don Quixote turns to Sancho and makes the statement when they are speaking with reference to the highway. To Sancho, this highway looks like “the road to El Toboso where you can buy chickens for cheap”. He did not see the marvel of the road. Conversely, Don Quixote sees the road in a very different light; he says that there would be “knights and nations, warlocks, wizards... and a cavalcade of vast, unending armies!” He perceived the street as a grand thing where as the other saw the street as cheap and dirty. This demonstrates the two extremes of idealism and realism. Sancho saw the road way for what it was – a dirty old road, he was personifying the qualities of a realist, as he did not have the ability to see the potential of what the road could be, almost like he was in a box. Don Quixote, however, saw all the possibilities of the road as he personified the qualities of an idealist. His “reach exceeded his grasp” He was able to imagine the potential that this road could indeed have instead of living in the oblivion of what the road