Literature has been something people have used as entertainment for centuries.Some may read it relax and treat themselves during their free time, but others may read it to live the ideal lives of the characters they have come across because of their own tough reality. Many people who do end up acting out the lives of their characters tend to be “diagnosed” with the Don Quixote effect. Don Q

uixote is fictional character who is well known for reading many heroic literatures and then going out and using these books actions in real life. Therefore, the Don Quixote effect tends to consume people who try to escape from their unhappy realities, which ends throwing them into a deep dark hole  an alternate reality.
Don Quixote’s story was originally written by Miguel de Cervantes, a man that moved in between Europe and served in many battles, his last known battle was the Battle of Lepanto. After the Battle of Lepanto in the Ottoman empire, Cervantes became permanently injured and went to head back to Spain. On the way to Spain, according to Guide to the Classics:Don Quixote, the world’s first modern novel-and one of the Best written  by Ana Puchau de Lecea and Vicente Perez de Leon “Cervantes ship was captured and and taken by the Algerian  pirates” ( Lecea and Leon, 2018) which mentally and physically wasn’t easy to cope with for him. Therefore, in order to express and explain his situation, Cervantes created the character Don Quixote in order to reflect his personal experiences. On that account, Cervantes created a story  of character who reflects Cervantes own experiences and how he cope with it. This story was basically a creation to bring awareness to people who don’t realize they are being consumed by the Don Quixote effect. From this point on forward Don Quixote became well known and helped “diagnose” what is known as the don quixote effect.

          But why is there an “illness” such as the Don Quixote effect that take over readers? The explanation of the Don Quixote effect can be explained through Media’s Influence on Self-Image and Romantic Relationships Decisions-Making in College Age Clients: What Mental Health Counselors Should Know by Isaac Burt. In the present time most people instead of books use social media as entertainment. Social media helps people connect with others in the outside world. We learn and see mostly the best part of other people’s lives and see what they only want us to see which is their happiest moments. That’s why “ modern technology sometimes forces us to reconsider previously understood psychological processes.” (Burt, 2013) Therefore, this is the same as the 19th century influence, books had on people minus the progressive entertainment mechanisms. People who read or encounter these ideal lifestyles, start to underestimate and doubt their present lifestyle. This is the reason why people start to live on a life of the character they see as ideal. Which may not sound as bad, but it’s just a nicer way to explain the modern day Don quixote effect. The most popular  displays of the Don Quixote effect is within romantic relationships, but it has become so normal that no no one ever notices its toxicity.

Romantic relationships have evolved over time in many ways. For instance in the  19th century Era in Russia women were not supposed to be in any form of romantic relationship or confess their love to someone who they have interest in, but men were allowed to propose to someone they have interest in.  But in the present time its much more different, male or females equal and allowed to date and find the right one for them. But one thing that didn’t change psychologically in romantic relationships is the Don Quixote part of relationships. In The Blizzard written by Alexander Pushkin, depicted how the Don quixote effect, can influence a young girls person of interest. In this case a young 17 year-old girl who goes  by the name Marya Gavrilovna, spends most of her time reading french romantic novels. Marya creates an idea of men in her head based on the books, she becomes attracted to men who have been in the army assuming they are brave, strong, and been through battle. She chooses to risk her reputation, by meeting and loving a poor army subaltern, although other successful men who are respectable showed interest in her .(Pushkin,21) This shows how even in the past how books have created this ideal significant other, and makes someone just see that in reality without really understanding a person in depth. In this case Marya reads novels that make her doubt her relationships with the men she comes across  and uninterested the regular men because they have no story, just like the characters.

Although, in the 19th century stories were written in order to show the effects literature had on people in their romantic lives. But even now studies are being done to show the modern effect of Don Quixote on romantic relationships now. But since the advancement of technology, books are less used as an entertainment source,instead  social media is widely used by everyone in the modern world. In order to prove the effect or strain social media can have on a person’s romantic life Veronica Hefner and Barbara J. Wilson have conducted a series of experiments and understand how people portray their real-life relationships when they see romantic movies. In From Love at First Sight to Soulmate:The Influence of Romantic Ideals in Popular Films on Young People’s Belief about relationships it shows how a group of young students are portray their real life romantic relationship based off of a romantic comedy movie they watched. After collecting all the data they have concluded “Viewing romantic comedies was associated with a great endorsement of the idealization of other belief.”(Hefner and Wilson, 2017) This shows a very modern take on how a source that created a an idea in a person’s head on what a perfect and happier example of a relationship. Therefore young students who start to underestimate and and compare their relationships with their ideal version they, start to work on the pieces that are different. This can mean a person can act more different in a relationship in order to portray the ideal character to create the ideal relationship.

Whether the romantic relationship is in the 19th century based on books or even in 21st century based on social media, the Don quixote effect tend to show up in most romantic relationships. People read romantic novels or see photos of couples happiest moments trigger audience to try to feel the same happiness by portraying them. People tend to idealize things because they  turn out to be unsatisfied or unhappy with their current relationship.