1. Compare and contrast Don Quixote with either King Arthur or Sundiata. How are the two figures you have chosen alike? How are they different? Be sure to use specific examples from the stories you have read to illustrate your points.
Answer:
Don Quixote and King Arthur were very similar yet different to each other. A similarity would be that they both hold roles, which are considered noble. They both are very sympathetic and genuinely wish the best for those around them. Don Quixote was a normal person who got dubbed a knight, which is a noble position indeed. Similar to Don Quixote, King Arthur was an ordinary person as well prior to becoming king, both of these figures came from the same type of background.
Though, in the story, Don Quixote no longer is a savior as he beings to attack anybody who made him feel threatened. The readers can perceive him as gullible, because, when Don Quixote saves a small boy from his master, the master makes a promise that he will never mistreat the young boy ever again. He also commits larceny as he steals a barber’s basin which he believed was mythic Mambrino’s helmet, and larceny is not an act of a noble man.
These two figures are very different from each other as King Arthur’s goal is to make his people happy and content, when he faced conflict with Mordred he doesn’t attack instead he decides to create a peace treaty. Had King Arthur been like Don Quixote, he would have attacked his enemy without thinking of the consequences and sacrifices to be made, as he would have believed that he was a threat to his safety.