The story starts out with Don Juan's servant, Sganarelle, speaking with the servant of Donna Elvire, Don Juan's new wife. Who is considered good in this play and who is bad? Our summaries and analyses are written by experts, and your questions are answered by real teachers. His valet knew him for the greatest scoundrel on earth, a man who was ready to woo a fine lady or country lass at any time but who tired of them in rapid succession. Don Juan later finds his father in the country and tells him that he has repented, but he secretly reveals that he only said that to appease his father. However, as the 10 days progresses, Dr. Mickler and the other staff become gradually drawn into to the young man's exotic world of love, passion and pleasure as he recounts his story to them. A week before he is due to leave, he encounters a young man who attempts suicide--would be a pretty straightforward case except the young man claims to be Don Juan, the fabled Spanish nobleman and world renowned seducer/lover of woman. The power of the drama derives from its rapid pace, the impression it gives of cumulative tension as Don Juan’s enemies gradually hound him to destruction, and the awareness that the Don is goaded to defy even the ghostly forces of the unknown. | Through fear, however, he remained faithful to Don Juan and often applauded his master’s acts, even though he really detested them. Beyond what Don tells him, what Jack decides to do is influenced by the pressure he is receiving from the hospital's chief of staff, Dr. Paul Showalter, not to confirm the notion of Jack having chosen his work over these last few years of his practice, and the type of retirement life he wants with his wife of thirty-two years, Marilyn Mickler. Later, in the countryside, Don Juan convinces another woman, Charlotte, to marry him but is interrupted by yet another of his "betrotheds," Mathurine. Synopsis Regardless of the validity of his claim, he is able to seduce women in his complete conviction of who he is.
Meanwhile, Donna Elvire, whom Don Juan had seduced and carried off from a convent where her brothers, Don Carlos and Don Alonse, had placed her, had got wind of his escapade and followed him. The adventures begin with his affair with Donna Julia, his mother's best friend. The delightful story is intended to give the reader some corrective laughter. Don Juan Tenorio Summary and Study Guide Thanks for exploring this SuperSummary Study Guide of “Don Juan Tenorio” by José Zorrilla y Moral . Early English versions—such as Thomas Shadwell’s The Libertine (1675), for example—are considered uninspired, but the character reappears with a new force in Lord Byron’s long satiric poem Don Juan (1819–24) and in George Bernard Shaw’s drama Man and Superman (1903). Through Tirso’s tragedy, Don Juan became an archetypcal character in the West, as familiar as Don Quixote, Hamlet, and Faust. The play, a variation of the traditional Don Juan story, was the most popular play of 19th-century Spain. It looks like we don't have a Synopsis for this title yet. Soon thereafter, Don Juan enters and talks with Sganarelle about the newest object of his affections, a young woman who is not his new wife, proving Sganarelle's claims. The happy pair had planned a sail on the sea, and he prepared to follow in another vessel manned by villains ready to do his bidding. Summary. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Get exclusive access to content from our 1768 First Edition with your subscription. Don Juan Tenorio, Spanish drama in seven acts by José Zorrilla, produced and published in 1844.The play, a variation of the traditional Don Juan story, was the most popular play of 19th-century Spain.. Zorrilla’s Romantic style and sensibility are revealed in the rollicking story of the young nobleman Don Juan who drinks, duels, and wenches his way through Sevilla. Don Juan believes that Jack is nobleman Don Octavio de Flores. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. They followed Don Juan on one of his philandering journeys to a town where he determined to separate a pair of lovers he had chanced upon and to gratify his passion for the lady. Don Juan by Moliére is a comedic play about the fictitious Don Juan, a notoriously atheistic and adulterous individual. Subsequently, he became the hero-villain of plays, novels, and poems; his legend was assured enduring popularity through Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni (1787), and it would continue to live on, by the 20th century, in movies and other media. Despite original hostility from his co-workers, Jack manages to persuade his associates to put the youth in his care for 10 days after which the youth will undergo an evaluation to be either released from psychiatric care or sent to a mental institution. © 2020 eNotes.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved. In the 17th century the Don Juan story became known to strolling Italian players, some of whom traveled to France with this theme in their repertoire of pantomime, and by the 19th century many versions of the Don Juan legend existed. In the end he refuses to repent and is eternally damned. Taglines In its source material in legend and in the earliest literary treatment of it, The Trickster of Seville by Tirso de Molina, the basic theme of the tale is one of crime and punishment.
Be the first to contribute!