Dom Juan
Encyclopedia
Dom Juan or The Feast with the Statue (Dom Juan ou le Festin de pierre) is a French
play by Molière
, based on the legend of Don Juan
. Molière's characters Dom Juan and Sganarelle are the French counterparts to the Spanish Don Juan and Catalinón, characters who would later become familiar to opera goers as Don Giovanni
and Leporello. "Dom Juan" is the last part in Molière's hypocrisy trilogy, which also includes The School for Wives
and Tartuffe
. It was first performed on February 15, 1665
, in the Palais-Royal, with Molière playing the role of Sganarelle.
The play's title and the name of the main character are often translated as "Don Juan".
The play was originally written in prose, and was withdrawn after 15 performances after attacks by Molière's critics, who considered he was offending religion and the king by eulogizing a libertine. The play was a costly failure. Sganarelle, Dom Juan's valet, is the only character who speaks up for religion, but his particuliar brand of superstitious Catholicism is used more as a comic device than as a foil to his master's free-thinking. As a result, Molière was ordered to delete a certain number of scenes and lines which, according to his censors, made a mockery of their faith. A severely edited text of the play was published for the first time in 1682, and it was revived only in 1687, after Molière's death, in a versified and softened version by Thomas Corneille
(brother of Pierre Corneille
). Corneille's adaptation was the only version of the play performed for nearly a century and a half. The play was produced in its original, uncensored version for the first time in 1884.
Molière drew his inspiration from the main character of a work by Tirso de Molina
called El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra
. However, the characters from the two plays differ in several aspects. Molière's Dom Juan clearly states that he is an atheist, but the Don Juan of Tirso de Molina's original play is a Roman Catholic who believes that he can repent of his evil deeds many years later before he dies. However, his death comes sooner than expected and he finds that his attempts to repent and confess his sins are ineffective. In both plays the main character is condemned to Hell
.
Despite Sganarelle's indignation and warnings of Heaven's wrath, Don Juan has left Elvire and now plans to ensnare the fiancée of a friend. In order to do so, Dom Juan and Sganarelle get into a small boat on the same lake where his friend and the fiancée are going to go sailing. Suddenly, the boat is capsized and both master and servant face danger until they are rescued by a peasant. In no time at all, Don Juan is proposing marriage to two peasant girls who argue with each other about which one of them he will choose. The disillusioned Sganarelle then informs the girls that Don Juan will not actually marry either of them.
At this point, Dom Juan learns that Elvira's brothers intend to kill him in revenge for abandoning their sister. Sganarelle and his master disguise themselves to make their way back to the city. On the way, Don Juan saves a stranger from bandits. This stranger turns out to be one of Elvira's brothers. This man now owes Dom Juan his life; even after he finds out his savior's identity, he decides to have mercy on Don Juan instead of avenging his sister.
Starting out for the city again, Dom Juan and Sganarelle come across the tomb of a Commandant who had recently been killed. Dom Juan jokingly tells Sganarelle to invite the statue to dinner, but is surprised when the statue actually nods its acceptance. Even more frightening for Sganarelle is the fact that the statue actually appears at dinner time. The servant attributes the incident with the statue to Heaven's due wrath.
Dom Juan is not concerned by "Heaven's wrath," though, and decides to pretend to become religious. Heaven's wrath cannot tolerate this insincerity, however, and swallows Dom Juan up in a flaming abyss after his hypocritical rants. Thereupon Sganarelle comments:
"By his death everyone gets satisfaction. Heaven offended, laws violated, girls led astray, families dishonored, relatives outraged, wives ruined, husbands driven to despair, they all are satisfied. I am the only unlucky one. My wages, my wages, my wages!"
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
play by Molière
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright and actor who is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature...
, based on the legend of Don Juan
Don Juan
Don Juan is a legendary, fictional libertine whose story has been told many times by many authors. El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra by Tirso de Molina is a play set in the fourteenth century that was published in Spain around 1630...
. Molière's characters Dom Juan and Sganarelle are the French counterparts to the Spanish Don Juan and Catalinón, characters who would later become familiar to opera goers as Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
and Leporello. "Dom Juan" is the last part in Molière's hypocrisy trilogy, which also includes The School for Wives
The School for Wives
The School for Wives is a theatrical comedy written by the seventeenth century French playwright Molière and considered by some critics to be one of his finest achievements. It was first staged at the Palais Royal theatre on 26 December 1662 for the brother of the King...
and Tartuffe
Tartuffe
Tartuffe is a comedy by Molière. It is one of his most famous plays.-History:Molière wrote Tartuffe in 1664...
. It was first performed on February 15, 1665
1665 in literature
The year 1665 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*November 7 - The London Gazette is published for the first time.* Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society begins publication....
, in the Palais-Royal, with Molière playing the role of Sganarelle.
The play's title and the name of the main character are often translated as "Don Juan".
The play was originally written in prose, and was withdrawn after 15 performances after attacks by Molière's critics, who considered he was offending religion and the king by eulogizing a libertine. The play was a costly failure. Sganarelle, Dom Juan's valet, is the only character who speaks up for religion, but his particuliar brand of superstitious Catholicism is used more as a comic device than as a foil to his master's free-thinking. As a result, Molière was ordered to delete a certain number of scenes and lines which, according to his censors, made a mockery of their faith. A severely edited text of the play was published for the first time in 1682, and it was revived only in 1687, after Molière's death, in a versified and softened version by Thomas Corneille
Thomas Corneille
Thomas Corneille was a French dramatist.- Personal life :Born in Rouen nearly twenty years after his brother Pierre, the "great Corneille", Thomas's skill as a poet seems to have shown itself early. At the age of fifteen he composed a play in Latin which was performed by his fellow-pupils at the...
(brother of Pierre Corneille
Pierre Corneille
Pierre Corneille was a French tragedian who was one of the three great seventeenth-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine...
). Corneille's adaptation was the only version of the play performed for nearly a century and a half. The play was produced in its original, uncensored version for the first time in 1884.
Molière drew his inspiration from the main character of a work by Tirso de Molina
Tirso de Molina
Tirso de Molina was a Spanish Baroque dramatist, poet and a Roman Catholic monk.Originally Gabriel Téllez, he was born in Madrid. He studied at Alcalá de Henares, joined the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy on November 4, 1600, and entered the Monastery of San Antolín at Guadalajara,...
called El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra
El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra
The Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest is a play by Tirso de Molina, first published in Spain around 1630, though it may have been performed as early as 1616...
. However, the characters from the two plays differ in several aspects. Molière's Dom Juan clearly states that he is an atheist, but the Don Juan of Tirso de Molina's original play is a Roman Catholic who believes that he can repent of his evil deeds many years later before he dies. However, his death comes sooner than expected and he finds that his attempts to repent and confess his sins are ineffective. In both plays the main character is condemned to Hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
.
Plot summary
Dom Juan is essentially a Casanova. He exasperates his servant Sganarelle and must constantly be extricated from sticky situations by his disapproving father. He excels at trapping countless women because he engages in secret, mock marriages that appease the girls, but leave him with no strings attached when he tires of them. He has most recently lured the beautiful Elvire from a convent to "marry" her in this manner.Despite Sganarelle's indignation and warnings of Heaven's wrath, Don Juan has left Elvire and now plans to ensnare the fiancée of a friend. In order to do so, Dom Juan and Sganarelle get into a small boat on the same lake where his friend and the fiancée are going to go sailing. Suddenly, the boat is capsized and both master and servant face danger until they are rescued by a peasant. In no time at all, Don Juan is proposing marriage to two peasant girls who argue with each other about which one of them he will choose. The disillusioned Sganarelle then informs the girls that Don Juan will not actually marry either of them.
At this point, Dom Juan learns that Elvira's brothers intend to kill him in revenge for abandoning their sister. Sganarelle and his master disguise themselves to make their way back to the city. On the way, Don Juan saves a stranger from bandits. This stranger turns out to be one of Elvira's brothers. This man now owes Dom Juan his life; even after he finds out his savior's identity, he decides to have mercy on Don Juan instead of avenging his sister.
Starting out for the city again, Dom Juan and Sganarelle come across the tomb of a Commandant who had recently been killed. Dom Juan jokingly tells Sganarelle to invite the statue to dinner, but is surprised when the statue actually nods its acceptance. Even more frightening for Sganarelle is the fact that the statue actually appears at dinner time. The servant attributes the incident with the statue to Heaven's due wrath.
Dom Juan is not concerned by "Heaven's wrath," though, and decides to pretend to become religious. Heaven's wrath cannot tolerate this insincerity, however, and swallows Dom Juan up in a flaming abyss after his hypocritical rants. Thereupon Sganarelle comments:
"By his death everyone gets satisfaction. Heaven offended, laws violated, girls led astray, families dishonored, relatives outraged, wives ruined, husbands driven to despair, they all are satisfied. I am the only unlucky one. My wages, my wages, my wages!"