26 pages • 52 minutes read
José Zorrilla y MoralA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
One night during carnival season, a masked Don Juan Tenorio arrives at the Hosteria del Laurel (Laurel Tavern). The young gallant writes a mysterious letter, commanding his servant, Marcos Ciutti, to deliver it to a certain “Doña Inés” and bring back a reply. Meanwhile, more masked revelers converge upon the Laurel Tavern; many are Don Juan’s own friends and acquaintances, eager to learn the result of a wager made a year ago between Don Juan and another gallant, Don Luis Mejía. Also among the throng are Don Gonzalo de Ulloa—comendador mayor (a high-ranking official) of the order of Calatrava—and Don Diego Tenorio. Each has his own reasons for attempting to discern Don Juan’s true character.
When 8pm arrives, it is revealed that Don Juan and Don Luis wagered which of them could do more harm in twelve months: Don Luis states, “By the book, and we ended up betting we two which of us would best know how to effect the worst, with the best of luck, in the space of a single year, meeting again today, here, to prove it” (19). Before an avid audience, the two men meet, unmask, and regale each other with tales of their misdeeds during the past year, which include seductions, abandonments, brawls, duels, killings, and thefts. When they compare written records, Don Juan is revealed as the victor. His list of sexual conquests, however, lacks two kinds of women: a nun, and the bride of a friend. Don Juan boasts that he can manage to attain both in six days and informs his rival that the bride in question will be none other than Doña Ana de Pantoja, whom Don Luis intends to marry. Incensed, Don Luis warns Don Juan that the stake in this wager will be one’s mortal life. Don Juan readily accepts the terms.
Just then, an outraged Don Gonzalo and Don Diego confront the younger men. Don Gonzalo reveals himself as the father of convent-bred Doña Inés, Don Juan’s prospective bride, and declares he would rather see his daughter dead than married to such a scoundrel: “And farewell, Don Juan; but see don’t think now of Dona Ines. For rather than consent that she marry you, by God, I swear it’s true, I’d make sure to the grave she went” (26). Don Diego, Don Juan’s own father, likewise expresses his disgust and publicly disowns his son. Don Juan openly defies both men, vowing to live his life to please only himself.
In an attempt to forestall Don Juan’s seduction of Doña Ana, Don Luis lodges an accusation that results in his rival’s arrest by the night watch. However, Don Juan has employed similar tactics so that Don Luis is arrested by another night patrol. Freed with the help of his friends, Don Luis hurries to Doña Ana’s house to warn her. She agrees to let her betrothed into the house at ten o’clock, so that he can prevent an entrance by Don Juan. But Don Juan, also freed from custody, overhears their conversation and plots to impersonate Don Luis, in order to gain access to the house and Doña Ana. Encountering Don Luis in the street, Don Juan has his own men bind, gag, and carry off his rival, then bribes Doña Ana’s maid to give him the key to the house at ten o’clock that night.
Don Juan’s other scheme—to abduct Doña Inés from her convent—also progresses. Meeting with Doña Inés’s duenna, Brígida, whom he has bribed to deliver a letter to the young woman, Don Juan learns from her that the innocent Doña Inés already loves him, without ever having seen him. Entrusting Don Juan with a key to the convent garden, Brígida reveals the location of Doña Inés’s cell before taking her leave.
At the Convent of the Calatrava Order, the Abbess praises Doña Inés for her piety and longs for the day when the girl will take her final vows as a nun. Alone, however, Dona Inés confesses that her religious vocation, once so strong, has withered because of her newfound passion for Don Juan. Brígida arrives at their shared cell and quickly directs Dona Inés’s attention to Don Juan’s letter, hidden in a book of hours. On reading her suitor’s impassioned verses, Doña Inés is so overcome by love that she swoons at the sight of Don Juan entering her cell at nine o’clock that night. Pleased with his success, Don Juan easily carries off the unconscious girl, accompanied by a fearful Brígida, from the convent. Shortly after their flight, Don Gonzalo arrives at the convent to make certain that his daughter remains cloistered and discovers that she has already been kidnapped by Don Juan, and rides to her rescue.
Midnight finds Brígida and Doña Inés safely lodged in Don Juan’s country house beside the Guadalquivir River on the outskirts of Seville. When Inés awakens, Brígida tells her the convent was on fire and Don Juan saved them. Not entirely convinced, Doña Inés prepares to flee the house but is prevented by the arrival of Don Juan, who has returned from his seduction of Doña Ana. Doña Inés pleads for her release, but Don Juan assures her of her safety and makes a persuasive and impassioned declaration of love. Overwhelmed, Dona Inés then confesses that she loves Don Juan and cannot live without him. Genuinely moved by her devotion, Don Juan vows to redeem himself so that Don Gonzalo will consent to their marriage: “My soul! Those words indeed change my whole state of being, and I know perhaps I am seeing paradise open to me. Dona Ines, it is not Satan, in sin, who creates this love in me: it is God, who wants, perhaps through you, to win me to Him” (71-72).
Don Juan’s noble intentions are thwarted, however, by the arrivals of Don Luis and Don Gonzalo, both determined to avenge the dishonor done to their loved ones. Refusing to believe Don Juan’s supplications, Don Gonzalo will not grant him Dona Inés’s hand in marriage and furthermore accuses him of cowardice. Don Luis inflames the situation by taunting Don Juan. Enraged by their combined insults, Don Juan shoots Don Gonzalo and runs his sword through Don Luis, then leaps into the river to escape the police pounding at his door. Emerging from her chamber, Doña Inés discovers her father’s corpse and is devastated to learn that Don Juan has killed him, but the prospect of Don Juan being punished for his crimes dismays her, too.
Part One of Don Juan Tenorio consists of Acts 1-4. In this part of the play, the plot centers on the bet between Don Juan and Don Luis. Both men are profligate womanizers and excel in the craft of dueling.
However, Don Juan's new bet highlights how honor is perceived and defined in a patriarchal system. Our protagonist crows that he can bed both an engaged woman and a novitiate. In a patriarchal system, the honor of a family greatly rests on the purity of its women. As such, Dona Ines exemplifies the epitome of feminine perfection: she is an obedient daughter, and when her father consigns her to a convent, she makes no objections. Her sexual (and, therefore, secular) desires are subsumed under the auspices of patriarchal honor.
In the play, female purity not only bequeaths honor to a family but it also crowns a woman's reputation. Thus, any hint of deviancy or indiscretion renders her unsuitable for marriage. However, female desire is approached in very simplistic terms in the play. In Act 3, the abbess tells Dona Ines that the latter has retained her innocence because she knows nothing of the world. Additionally, having known nothing of the world, Dona Ines also cannot long for the pleasures of the world.
The abbess chooses to ignore the reality of inherent feminine sexuality. So, she does not comprehend Dona Ines' frustration. As for Dona Ines, she is herself ignorant of the source of her ennui. She thinks that her grief is mainly due to the knowledge that she must renounce all familial ties after taking her religious vows. For the remainder of her interaction with Brigida in Act 3, she voices her fear of her deep yearnings. They frighten her because they are so foreign from everything she has ever experienced.
In Act 4, however, Dona Ines begins to recognize what those yearnings contribute in her journey to full womanhood. Don Juan's caressing words awaken her to the reality of her innate sexuality. As for Don Juan, he courts Dona Ines with all the pomp and elegance of a courtly love. His profuse expressions of overpowering passion make Dona Ines fall under his spell. Here, in the tradition of courtly love, Dona Ines' moral purity cleanses the old sinner of his waywardness. Yet, we also see Don Juan remonstrating with Don Gonzalo, who refuses to bless the union between his daughter and the supposedly reformed rake. For his part, Don Juan accuses the older man of not caring about his salvation. Don Gonzalo's reply is ominous: "And what have I to do, Don Juan, with your salvation?" Don Gonzalo will not "save" Don Juan; he cannot, according to the dictates of convention. It is Dona Ines who must bequeath Don Juan his salvation.
However, Dona Ines cannot perform this duty at this point in the play. Her moral virtue has been subsumed by her father's convictions. In Don Gonzalo's mind, Don Juan has dishonored his daughter by his actions and therefore cannot be allowed to marry her. Angered by Don Gonzalo's stance, Don Juan reverts to his innate self. He shoots Don Gonzalo and stabs Don Luis, and both men die. This tragic scene demonstrates that honor in a patriarchal society is strictly defined. Any aberrations from respected convention result in censure and marginalization. Don Juan cannot redefine honor in such a society, even if his convictions are sincere.