Customer Reviews

Don Juan: and Other Plays (Oxford World's Classics)

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"Don Juan" is a funny play by Molière in which he criticizes the aristocrats of 17th century France.
Don Juan starts as your typical Casanova, a libertine that does as he pleases.
He neither believes in religion nor does he care about the feelings of others.
He only believes that 2+2= 4, meaning he only believes in what he sees, what is real, and what he can touch. However, we see him defy the title of Don Juan (Casanova) when he stays mute to Don Elvira's confrontations.
On the other hand, he lives up to his title when he acts as a true Don in an attempt to help Don Carlos, since he only respects fellow aristocrats.
Molière points out some unfortunate situations towards the commoners such as not paying their dues in the scene with M. Dimanche.
In this scene along with the scene of Don Juan and the beggar, Molière plants the seeds of revolutionary ideas that would hope to change the system in 17th century France where the people were promised a lot but received nothing.

"Don Juan" is a famous play written by Moliere in 17th century. The main character of the play is Don Juan, a man from an aristocratic family, who does not believe in God, and who is a womanizer. He is not afraid of anything or anyone. His main goal is to seduce women, mostly servants, and leave-"No strings attached." Towards the end of the play, Don Juan decides to pretend that he became religious, and this change and hypocrisy, eventually take his life.

Sganarelle, his valet, is always next to him, like his shadow. In my opinion, Sganarelle is the one who represents the voice of reason in this play. He acts as a balance that Don Juan really needs, just like Dorine in Tartuffe. Interesting, is that both of them are coming from the working class, and tell their masters what they truly think. The only difference is that Sganarelle honestly answers his masters' questions, and that way he gives his opinion. Dorine, on the other hand, is the one who takes initiative and openly argues with her master. I see both of the characters as the representatives of the French people who indicate the changes that were going to happen in the pre-revolutionary France.

Moliere is a very deep and funny comedic writer. He makes fun of everything in a very charming way, and perhaps, because of this trait, he was not admired in his lifetime by the authorities as much as he deserved. Through his plays, he criticizes his society, the Catholic church, marriages of convenience, that were very common in that period of time, etc.

It is easy for me to read lines like: "I simply can't put up with such a husband. My patience is at an end; he's just said a hundred insulting things to me." (George Dandin, on page 178). People wish everything could be all different so often that this book is full of things only a fool would admit.

great book! The English translations of the French are superb and enjoyable to read!