If this play was written today, it would be very unbelievable for Don to seduce a woman so quickly; however, in the time of Moliere, loyalty and the promise of marriage was very sacred and often unbreakable. I also felt sympathetic to Pierrot because he seemed to have sincerely loved Charlotte. However, the way Pierrot described her love for him foreshadowed that it would be easy of Don Juan to seduce her. Finally, it was amusing to see how Don Juan persuaded both Charlotte and Mathurine to believe that he loved and would marry both women. Even when he addressed both women he was careful not to mention anyone’s names and was very ambiguous.
Clever Ambiguity
From the very beginning, Don Juan surprised me. I could not figure out how a man could use women to such an extent. It was interesting to see how he twisted his words to Sganarelle and made it seem as though he was in the right. Sganarelle is a very humorous and sarcastic character. His reaction to Don Juan is often very sarcastic but he is also forced to be loyal for fear of his life. Sganarelle’s character is that of the audience because the audience also sees the true nature of Don Juan.
I do agree that to get a woman to marry him, Don Juan would encounter more problems today than he did in the 17th century, but I do not think that marriage and commitment motivated Don Juan’s lascivious behavior. I disagree that Don Juan would encounter more trouble seducing women in our time than in his own period. In fact, I think he would be even more successful now, seeing as women are more likely now than 350 years ago to have sex with a charming Frenchman they may not know so well. Today, Don Juan would have to make no marriage proposals! I don’t know though that he would have rather lived in our time because I believe part of what Don Juan enjoys about womanizing is the chase.
-Robin Cohen
I do agree that to get a woman to marry him, Don Juan would encounter more problems today than he did in the 17th century, but I do not think that marriage and commitment motivated Don Juan’s lascivious behavior. I disagree that Don Juan would encounter more trouble seducing women in our time than in his own period. In fact, I think he would be even more successful now, seeing as women are more likely now than 350 years ago to have sex with a charming Frenchman they may not know so well. Today, Don Juan would have to make no marriage proposals! I don’t know though that he would have rather lived in our time because I believe part of what Don Juan enjoys about womanizing is the chase.
-Robin Cohen