Book Review: Don Juan
“What a terrible thing to be a great lord, but a wicked man”
I’m in the mood for opera. Or at least high drama, I did try watching the new ‘Married at First Sight UK’ recently but that was just too much tack for me to handle. So, lets look elsewhere! I had a recently newsletter drop into my inbox about how the Royal Opera House will be putting a lot of their performances on in the cinema. This way public audiences can access high drama: Opera and Ballet on the big screen and see everything in much greater detail. But anyway, what does all of this have to do with Don Juan? Well, I was browsing through my bookshelf when I came across ‘Don Juan’ which I read last year. The version I am referring to is, of course, the version by Moliere. This version had been transformed into the shattering Opera by Mozart ‘Don Giovanni’ which is still a favourite amount faithful opera fans. And why is it such a favourite? Well, because it’s a massive shit show. I’m not saying its a terrible piece of theatre or music, but wow. Just wow. Don Juan gets exactly what he deserves!
So what happens? Well, Don Juan is a man of little or no morals. He seduces women who he claims to fall in love with at first sight, never pays his bills or wages to his poor and forever suffering valet Sganarelle. Unfortunately for Don Juan he has messed with the wrong woman: Donna Elvira. The phrase ‘Hell hath no fury’ isn’t really apt in this situation, it doesn’t even come close. Because she ends up pursuing him vowing vengeance with her brother, Don Carlos, in tow. The crux of this play rests on the statue of the Commander, a man who Don Juan had previously killed, in a moment of ill judged jest Don Juan invites the statue to dinner, to which the statue agrees. When the commander arrives for dinner Don Juan refuses to repent his sins and is thus dragged away to hell in a hail of fire and thunder, just as Donna Elvira and her brother appear.
like I said, this is high drama. My only issue is the translation, have read a very easy to read English version that I would recommend for those who do not wish to attempt the French route. The easy English means that it is accessible to everyone and the play is entertaining. But the language has been fiddled with to make it more relatable to a 21st century consumer public. There is nothing wrong with that but has it come at the cost of a compromised translation? However, lets talk about the good bits -ish. It is a little unfortunate that nobody really comes out of this play very well, but here we are. The biggest one is the women. Donna Elvira is a spurned woman and then Don Juan makes promises of marriage to two women at the same time and somehow convinces them that the other is absolutely crazy an he is faithful to her and her only. What can I say! It was a simpler time. Women didn’t have much in terms of expectations in life nor were they expected to be very bright. Or maybe Molière didn’t think women were that clever, who the heck knows?! Either way we women look foolish. But a reading of this play in the wake of the #MeToo movement just goes to show that its not necessarily the women who are the fickle ones and easy to turn, but men are the ones who have little or no control. Don Juan effectively exploits his fickle nature in order to do as he pleases, for he cannot carry with him the evidence of affairs, where as women do. Don Juan’s Fickleness is his ultimate hubris in the end whereas the vow for vengeance from Donna Elvira is her strength of character, she is the antithesis to Don Juan’s flakey immoral character.