Don Juan
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ScribdTranslationsAct 1. Don Juan, the cynical and noble seducer, and Sganarelle, his servant, are presented.
funny, fearful, but critical of the master. Don Juan has just abandoned Elvira, his
woman, to secretly leave with another girl. Sganarelle laments having such a master.
Act II. Don Juan simultaneously seduces two peasant women: Maturina and
Carlota; the character pretends to attend to the two women, although she deceives both.
Azar takes him to a village near the sea, and there he is faced with a new challenge. Two
young and naïve young women are attracted by his gentlemanly demeanor, and Don Juan employs, to
to get them, their infallible resource: the promise of marriage.
In the scene with Carlota and Maturina (Act II, Scene V), Moliere introduces a
own resource of the farce is related to the theatrical "aside" (a speech)
in which the character, in front of the public, talks to himself, pretending that he is
alone). In this scene, a variant of the aside appears: speaking in low tones to a
character.
Through this resource, Don Juan speaks alternately in a low voice with Carlota and with
Maturina. He tells them both the same thing to confuse them and set them against each other. In this
scene, perhaps, one of the most accomplished in the work, don Juan moves towards one and
other side. This constitutes a whole symbol of his personality, as it reflects the
inconstancy of the character, the absence of a single and true goal.
Act III. Don Juan defends a knight attacked by three others. This knight is
Don Carlos, Elvira's brother (his ex-wife), is looking for Don Juan, whose
the face is not known. But the deceiver is recognized by another brother of his wife,
don Alonso, who tries to attack him. Carlos stops him out of gratitude to don Juan.
and proposes to postpone that punishment for one day. Afterwards, Don Juan visits the grave.
of a Commander whom he had killed. In the tomb, a statue is erected of the
Commander. Don Juan invites her to dinner and refuses to see what terrifies his servant:
that statue has accepted, bowing its head.
Act IV. After rebuking his servant, Don Juan receives visitors: an innocent.
creditor who leaves without collecting! his father, Don Luis, before whom he behaves rudely and
impatient; Mrs. Elvira, who comes to forgive him and to ask Heaven for him;
finally, the statue invited to dinner that, in turn, invites Don Juan for the
next scene.
Act V. Don Juan pretends to repent. Sganarelle soon knows the truth: it is
a trick to calm down Don Luis, to avoid inconveniences and harm others. The
the statue seeks him for dinner. Upon shaking hands, Don Juan feels fire in his body and
they fall dead in sin, as punishment from Heaven.
Like all comedy authors, Moliere found the reasons for his works in
the society that surrounded him. Thus, in his theater, a critical reflection of the
weaknesses of the French high society of the 17th century.
Molière took the most everyday and irrelevant customs and brought them to the stage.
ridiculing them in the skin of archetypal characters, that is, types that work
as models of certain behavior during different times. Among these
characters that stand out: the miser, the hypochondriac, the brilliant women
but superficial, the decrepit husbands jealous of their young wives, the new
rich but lacking education and culture, and the deceiver of women - embodied in
Don Juan
Don Juan is a typical character that appeared, for the first time, in the play
The Trickster of Seville, by the Spanish playwright Tirso de Molina (1579-1648). The work
Tirso de Molina addresses two themes of long tradition in Spain: one is that of
scoffer
Rogue, in this case, means 'deceiver of women', whose favors he obtains.
through false marriage promises. The other issue is that of the 'Guest of
"stone," a skull or statue that the character mocks, and that ends
getting revenge on him.
Molière takes up the traditional themes addressed by Tirso de Molina and composes a
character characterized by his skepticism, his audacity, and his eternal attitude of
mockery. He does not believe in the punishment of Heaven and laughs at the warnings he receives to
that he abandon his immoral and disrespectful behavior towards everything sacred: If Heaven me
send a warning, you should speak a little clearer if you want it to
understand(Act V, Scene V).
Don Juan is not a passionate lover: the romantic encounter does not bring him pleasure.
but the experience of profanation, the idea of dishonoring a woman. This trait
it is observed in his relationship with Elvira: his interest in her consisted of snatching her away from the
convent to which the young woman belonged. Having achieved his goal, he feels no affection for her.
no attraction and does not hesitate to reject it, so it suggests that she return to her
place of closure. At that moment, a new purpose attracts him: to destroy the union.
between two young lovers. That is why he confesses his interest in a new woman.
Molière's Don Juan is the man without a goal, without ideals. He acts on instincts -
lower ones - and once a goal is achieved, it no longer feels satisfaction and needs
look for another. Its slogan could be: deceived woman, despised woman. Don Juan is
brave in certain situations (when he defends, for example, Elvira's brother,
attacked by some robbers), but acts like a coward in front of women, for
hides, does not show face. That's why the scene with Carlota and Maturina reflects her
personality. When the character feels cornered by women, he always resorts
to others to explain their behavior,
Who represents the counterfigure of Don Juan is a character with a brief appearance.
It is about a beggar whom Don Juan encounters in the forest, a kind of ascetic.
who has lived alone in that place for ten years and takes care of praying
constantly. Don Juan wants to corrupt him and gives him a piece of bread in exchange for
that the beggar utters a blasphemy. He refuses, telling him that he prefers to die
from hunger
Sganarelle is undoubtedly the most accomplished character in this play.
permanent contradictions lead him to navigate between the confidant servant who
accompanies his master faithfully in his wild adventures, and the advisor that
try to redeem the sinner to avoid their eternal condemnation. This is permanent
attitude generates situations, sometimes comical, in which Sganarelle plays with the
language to make quick changes to its arguments or to sympathize with
the victims.
In this way, at certain moments, Sganarelle acts as an accomplice to don Juan.
and, in others, as a timid opponent to their desires. But this is not the only character
which acts as an opponent; others do too, like Don's own father
Juan. However, none of them have enough strength to convince him otherwise.
that change their purposes. Because if there is one characteristic that also stands out
in the protagonist is his firmness, his ability to be true to himself, to not give in or
a millimeter in its behavior, not regretting at all its form
to act. These traits give him a true unity of character, although not of
action.
The final scene takes on a tragic tone with the appearance of the Stone Guest.
who asks Don Juan to take him by the hand. Don Juan agrees without trembling at that.
request, which will take him to the grave. The character's death appears as a punishment
exemplar for whom, in life, was a sinner. This death is announced in
more than one opportunity throughout the work. But in the end, once again, Moliere
add a comic touch and leave the viewer with the final image of a Sganarelle
that, before the dead master, can only mourn because he has been left without a salary.
For his work, Molière took the figure of the classic gallant, a conqueror of
women, but instead of making her a character to fear, he turned her into a gentleman
libertine and daring, very similar to those that circulated in his time at the court of
Versailles. Of course, this detail did not go unnoticed, and many complained to
the king that the actions and words of Don Juan could negatively influence
the customs.
The French theater of this era had to comply with certain established norms by
the French Academy, which are summarized in the "system of the three unities";
unit of action, of place, and of time. In classical Greece, the Greek philosopher
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) had described this system, which was established in the century
XVII, with the weight of a law that had to be obeyed, even if necessary.
to sacrifice creative freedom for it.
The defenders of this system maintained that respect for the units provided
likelihood of the represented facts, which contributed to the understanding of the
public. But the authors believed that these limitations impoverished their works
and they had lost interest.
Moliere rivaled Boileau on several occasions, whose rules he came to criticize.
harshly. On the other hand, his critical sense did not stop there: the playwright placed it
in practice in his theatrical work. Thus, he proposed to 'correct the vices of men'
through comedy, a genre whose purpose is to provoke laughter, entertain, or surprise with
happy endings. In this way, comedy, a genre considered minor, was
elevated by Moliere to the rank of tragedy (a genre whose purpose is to
to move the viewer by depicting painful experiences.
Read more:http://elblogdemara5.blogspot.com/2008/07/don-juan-o-el-convidado-
de-stone.html#ixzz1HJZytfyC