Don Juan (Moliere)

Don Juan (Dom Juan ou le Festin de Pierre) is a tragicomedy by Molière in five acts premiered on January 15, 1665..

Argument

Based on the work of the Spanish Tirso de Molina The mocker of Seville and stone guest, the work presents an unfaithful, seductive, libertine, blasphemous, brave and hypocritical character: Don Juan, a noble and lively gentleman who lives in Sicily, collects amorous conquests, seducing young men of the nobility and maids with the same success. The only thing that interests him is conquest and he abandons women as soon as he enjoys them. His conquests earn him some enmities and force him to fight some duels, from which, on the other hand, he does not avoid either. He approaches his sexual relations with people around him with a certain cynicism, and questions homosexuals and religious dogmas. He likes challenges, in addition to sex with women, until the final challenge: dinner with the statue of the Commander that will take him to the afterlife.

Reactions to the work

This work by Molière sparked enormous controversy and the devotees rose up against Molière. A work written immediately after Tartuffe in which Molière criticized the hypocrisy of some devotees, it appears, in the eyes of some religious people of his time, as an apology for libertinism. The only defender of religion seems to be Sganarelle, for whom religion is very similar to superstition and whose comic role is evident. The play will suffer a full-blown attack from its second performance. Molière will be asked to delete certain scenes (that of the poor man) and some dialogues that apparently mocked religion. He would only manage to publish it in 1682 and in censored versions. We will have to wait until 1884 to see the performance in its original version.

Moliere's intentions

Molière fuels the ambiguity about his intentions by describing a character who is not totally negative. He is smart and brave. In his verbal duels against Sganarelle, against his creditor and against his father, he wins by far. On the other hand, his cynicism and his hypocrisy are made to disgust the viewer.

In fact, the work is a reflection on debauchery and its excesses. Molière is a supporter of free thought, but respects religious convictions. He fundamentally attacks all forms of hypocrisy, both that of the devout Tartuffe and that of the libertine Don Juan capable of anything to satisfy his appetites. The ending of Don Juan serves as a conclusion and moral: the character's cynicism and hypocrisy are punished with death.

The character of Sganarelle acts as a counterpoint, serving to give humanity and comedy to a work that without him would be quite black.

Don Juan or excess

Some have seen in Don Juan an archetype of excess. He is a great evil lord, of enormous insolence. Don Juan masterfully handles irony and sarcasm, impertinence and offense, lack of respect and blasphemy. He personifies the merciless struggle between classicism and baroque

Filmography