Composition
Lord Byron was a prolific writer for whom "the composition of his great poem, ''Don Juan'', was coextensive with a major part of his poetical life"; he wrote the first canto in late 1818, and the seventeenth canto in early 1823. Canto I was written in September 1818, and canto II was written in December 1818 through January 1819. Cantos III and IV were written in winter of 1819–1820 and canto V was written in October–November 1820. Cantos I and II were published on 15 July 1819, and cantos III, IV, and V were published on 8 August 1821. Byron began to write canto VI in June 1822, and had completed writing canto XVI in March 1823. Given the moralistic notoriety of the satirical, epic poem, John Murray refused to publish the latter cantos of ''Don Juan'', which then were entrusted to John Hunt, who published the cantos over a period of months; cantos VI, VII, and VIII, with a Preface, were published on 15 July 1823; cantos IX, X, and XI were published on 29 August 1823; cantos XII, XIII, and XIV were published on 17 December 1823; and cantos XV and XVI on 26 March 1824.Structure
The poetical narrative of ''Don Juan'' (1819–24) is told in sixteen thousand lines, arranged in seventeen cantos, written in '' ottava rima'' (eighth rhyme); each stanza is composed of eight iambic pentameters, with the couplet rhyme scheme of ''ab ab ab cc''. The ottava rima uses the final rhyming couplet as a line of humour, to achieve a rhetorical anticlimax by way of an abrupt transition, from a lofty style of writing to a vulgar style of writing. In the example passage from ''Don Juan'', canto I, stanza 1, lines 3–6, the Spanish name ''Juan'' is rhymed with the English sound for the words ''true one''. Therefore ''Juan'' is spoken in English, as , which is the recurring pattern of enunciation used for pronouncing foreign names and words in the orthography of English.The Argument
''Don Juan'' begins with the birth of the hero, Don Juan, in Seville, Spain. As a sexually precocious adolescent boy, Juan has a love affair with a married friend of his mother. When the woman's husband discovers her affair with the boy, Don Juan is sent to the distant city of Cádiz. On the way, he is shipwrecked on an island in theSynopsis
Canto I
In Spain. Don Juan lives in Seville with his father, Don José, and his mother, Donna Inez. The romantic Donna Julia, the twenty-three-year-old wife of Don Alfonso, fancies and lusts for the sixteen-year-old boy Don Juan. Despite attempting to resist his charms, Julia enters into a love affair with Juan, and falls in love. Suspecting his wife's infidelity, Don Alfonso bursts into their bedroom, followed by his bodyguards who find no-one and nothing suspicious upon searching their master's bedroom, for Juan was hiding in the bed; Don Alfonso and his posse leave the room. Later returning alone to his bedroom, Don Alfonso comes across Juan's shoes and they fight for the woman, Donna Julia. Breaking off the fight with Don Alfonso, Don Juan escapes. To thwart rumours and the consequent bad reputation that her son has brought upon himself, Donna Inez sends Don Juan away to travel Europe, in hope that he develop a better sense of morality. The cuckold Don Alfonso punishes his faithless wife, Donna Julia, by interning her to a nunnery.Canto II
Exiled from Seville. Don Juan travels toCanto III
A digression. To give his political opinions about the Ottoman Empire's hegemony upon Greece, in "The Isles of Greece" section of canto III, Byron uses numeration and versification different from the style of verse and enumeration of the text about Don Juan. Moreover, on returning to the adventures of Don Juan, the narrator vividly describes a catalogue of the celebrations of the lovers Haidée and Don Juan. At the time of Juan's ship-wrecked arrival to the island, the islanders believed that Lambro (Haidée's father) was dead, but he returns and witnesses the revels and his daughter in company of a man. Towards the end of canto III, Byron again digresses from the adventures of Don Juan in order to insult his literary rivals, theCanto IV
Sold into slavery. On the island, the lovers Haidée and Don Juan wake to discover that her father, Lambro, has returned. Aided by his fellow pirates, Lambro enslaves Juan, and embarks him aboard a pirate ship delivering slaves to the slave market in Constantinople. Haidée despairs at losing her lover, and eventually dies of a broken heart, whilst pregnant with Don Juan's child.Canto V
The Sultana of Constantinople. At the slave market, Don Juan converses with an Englishman named John Johnson, telling him of his lost love Haidée, whereas the more experienced John tells him of having to flee from his third wife. A black eunuch from the harem, Baba, buys the infidel slaves Juan and John, and takes them to the palace of the sultan. Taking them to an inner chamber, Baba insists that Don Juan dress as a woman, and threatens castration if Juan resists that demand. Finally, Juan is taken into an imperial hall to meet the sultana, Gulbeyaz, a beautiful, twenty-six-year-old woman, who is the fourth, last, and favourite wife of the sultan. The proud Juan refuses to kiss the foot of Gulbeyaz, but compromises by kissing her hand, grateful of being rescued from enslavement. At the slave market, Gulbeyaz noticed Juan, and asked Baba to secretly buy him for her, despite risking discovery by the sultan. She wants Juan to ''love'' her, and then Gulbeyaz throws herself upon his breast. With Haidée still in his thoughts, Juan spurns Gulbeyz's sexual advances, saying: "The prisoned eagle will not pair, nor I / Serve a sultana’s sensual phantasy." Enraged by the rejection, Gulbeyaz thinks of having Juan beheaded, but, instead, she cries. Before they can progress with their sexual relationship, Baba rushes in and announces to Gulbeyaz and Juan that the sultan is arriving: "The sun himself has sent me like a ray / To hint that he is coming up this way" (V. clviv, 1151).''The Complete Poetical Works of Byron'' (1905), p. 849. Preceded by an entourage of courtiers, concubines, and eunuchs, the sultan arrives and notices the presence of "Juanna", and is regretful "that a mere Christian should be half so pretty" (V. clv, 1240).''The Complete Poetical Works of Byron'' (1905), p. 851. In a Muslim culture, Don Juan is a ''giaour'', a non-Muslim. The narrator Byron then comments that "That in the East, they are extremely strict, / And ''Wedlock'' and a ''Padlock'' mean the same" (V. clviii, 1258).Canto VI
The seraglio. The sultan and the sultana retire for the evening, and Don Juan, still dressed as the woman "Juanna", is taken to the crowded harem, where the odalisques reside. Juanna must share a couch with Dudù, a pretty seventeen-year-old girl. When asked his name, Don Juan calls himself "Juanna". The narrator tells that Dudù is a "kind of sleepy Venus ... very fit to murder sleep.... Her talents were of the more silent class ... pensive...." Dudù gives Juanna a chaste kiss and undresses. At three o'clock in the morning, whilst the harem sleep, Dudù screams and awakens agitated, whilst the snoring Juanna continues asleep. The odalisques ask the reason for her screams, and Dudù relates a sexually suggestive dream, of being in a wood, like Dante, of dislodging a golden apple that tenaciously clings to the bough, of almost biting that forbidden fruit, when a bee flies out from the apple and stings her to the heart. The matron of the seraglio decides to place Juanna with another odalisque, but Dudù begs to keep her as companion in her couch. The narrator Byron does not know why Dudù screamed whilst asleep. In the morning, the sultana Gulbeyaz asks Baba to tell her how Don Juan, as "Juanna", passed the night at the harem. Baba tells of Juana's night, but omits details about Dudù and her dream. Suspicious, the sultana becomes jealous and then enraged, and instructs Baba to kill Dudù and Juan in the usual manner, by drowning. The eunuch pleads with the sultana that killing Don Juan will not cure what ails her; Gulbeyaz then summons Dudù and Juan. Before canto VI concludes, the narrator Byron explains that the "Muse will take a little touch at warfare."Canto VII
Escape. Don Juan and John Johnson escape the harem in company of two women. Consequent to fleeing the palace of the Sultan of Constantinople, the four reach the Danube river during the Russian Siege of Izmail (1789–1790), a Turkish fort at the mouth of the river, on the Black Sea. The Imperial Russian field marshalCanto VIII
At war. As brave soldiers in the Imperial Russian army, Don Juan and John Johnson prove fearless in the savagery and carnage of the Russian siege upon the Turks. To conquer the fort of Izmail, the Russians kill 40,000 Turks, including the women and the children. Being a man of noble character, Don Juan rescues a ten-year-old Muslim girl from two ChristianCanto IX
In Russia. At the Imperial Russian court, the uniformed Don Juan is a dashing, handsome, and decorated soldier who readily impresses EmpressCanto X
Russian life. The cold clime of Russia makes Don Juan fall ill, so Empress Catherine sends him west-ward, to the warmer, temperate clime of England, accompanied by Leila. Ostensibly, Don Juan is a special envoy from the court of Imperial Russia with nebulous diplomatic responsibilities for negotiating a treaty between Russia and Britain. In fact, Don Juan's special-envoy job is a sinecure, by which Empress Catherine secures his health, his favour, and his finances.Canto XI
In Britain. Having arrived to England, and then making his way to London, Don Juan muses upon the democratic greatness of Britain as defender of the freedoms of ordinary men—until interrupted by a menacingCanto XII
Leila safeguarded. In effort to pursue his life and interests, in England, Don Juan first safeguards his adopted daughter, Leila, by seeking, finding, and employing a suitable guardian for her, in the person of Lady Pinchbeck, a woman whom London society consider a person of good character, possessed of admirable wit, but rumoured to beCanto XIII
In society. At the house of Lady Adeline Amundeville and her husband, Lord Henry Amundeville, the narrator informs that Don Juan's hostess, Lady Adeline, is "the fair most fatal Juan ever met", the "queen bee, the glass of all that's fair, / Whose charms made all men speak and women dumb". Anglo–Russian diplomatic relations require meetings between Lord Henry and Don Juan ("the envoy of a secret Russian mission") whom the lord befriends into a regular guest at their mansion in London. Lady and Lord Amundeville invite distinguished guests to a party at their estate in the country. The narrator then describes the country environs of the Amundeville estate and the décor of the estate house, which then are followed with mock-catalogues of the social activities and of the personalities of the upper-class ladies and gentlemen who are the high society of royal Britain. The narrator Byron views the country party of the Amundevilles as English ''ennui''. Canto XIII concludes with the guests and their hosts retiring for the evening.Canto XIV
Country life. During a fox hunt, Don Juan acquits himself in riding to the hounds, proving to be a handsome, dashing, and witty man who is very attractive to the lady guests at the Amundeville country house, including the flirtatious Duchess of Fitz-Fulke, who has set her eye upon him. Jealous of the experienced duchess, who has had many love affairs, the hostess, Lady Adeline, resolves to protect the "inexperienced" Don Juan from the sexual enticements and depredations of the Duchess of Fitz-Fulke. Although Lady Adeline and Don Juan both are twenty-one years old, and, despite having a vacant heart and a cold, but proper marriage to Lord Henry, she is not in love with Don Juan. Later, the narrator Byron tells the reader whether or not Lady Adeline and Don Juan entered into a love affair; about which canto XIV contains the line: Tis strange—but true; for truth is always strange; Stranger than fiction".Canto XV
The company of women. Lady Adeline is at risk of losing her honour, because of her apparent relation with Don Juan, whose passive, seductive manner is deceptive, because he never seems anxious to consummate the seduction; and, being personally modest, Don Juan neither brooks nor claims superiority. To thwart the social disgrace suggested by the appearance of sexual impropriety, Lady Adeline advises marriage to Don Juan, with which suggestion he agrees, but acknowledges that he usually is attracted to married women. In effort to deduce a suitable match for him, Lady Adeline deliberately omits mention of Aurora Raby, who is a Catholic, sixteen-year-old girl most suitable to pair and marry with Don Juan. Although attracted to Aurora, because she is purer of heart than the other women Lady Adeline mentioned, the adolescent girl reminds Don Juan of Haidée, the daughter of the pirate Lambro, who sold Juan into slavery at Constantinople The narrator then describes the elaborate dinner at which Don Juan is seated between Aurora and Lady Adeline. Initially laconic, Aurora soon warms to the spirit of the occasion, and contributes conversation during dinner.Canto XVI
Seduced by a ghost. Smitten by her beauty, Don Juan thinks of Aurora when retiring to his rooms; that night, he walks the hall outside his rooms, viewing the paintings that decorate the walls. Hearing footfalls in the hallway, he sees a friar in cowl and beads, and asks if it be ghost or dream; despite the figure's pacing, the hood hides the face from Don Juan. In the morn, Don Juan's pale face turns Lady Adeline pale. Noticing the response of her hostess, the Duchess of Fitz-Fulke gives a hard-eyed look to Don Juan, whilst the adolescent Aurora looks at him "with a kind of calm surprise". Lady Adeline asks if he is ill; Lord Henry says that Don Juan saw the "Black Friar" pace the hallway at night, and then tells of the "spirit of these walls", who was often seen in the past, but not of late. That on honeymoon with Lady Adeline, he saw the ghost of the Black Friar haunt the halls of the house. Accompanying herself with a harp, Lady Adeline sings the story of the ghost of the Black Friar; Aurora is silent, whilst Lady Fitz-Fulke appears mischievous. The narrator suggests that Lady Adeline sang to dispel Don Juan's dismay. The domestic staff of the house realise preparations for that evening's dinner party, whilst Don Juan failed to dispel dismay. The domestic affairs of the Amundeville estate include assorted petitioners and a pregnant country girl seeking legal remedy from Lord Henry, in his capacity as justice of the peace. At dinner, Lady Adeline performs as hostess, the Duchess of Fitz-Fulke is at her ease, and Don Juan is again preoccupied with his thoughts. Glancing at Aurora, he spies a smile creasing her cheeks, but is uncertain of its meaning, because she is quiet and her face slightly flushed. When hosts and guests retire for the night, Don Juan again thinks of Aurora, who has reawakened romantic feelings he thought lost in the past. That night, from his rooms, Don Juan again hears footfalls in the hallway, expecting the Black Friar's ghost. The door opens, but the hood conceals the face; Don Juan pursues and pushes the ghost against a wall, and smells a sweet breath, sees red lips and straggling curls, and a pearl necklace that frames a glowing bust. Don Juan pulls back the hood to reveal the voluptuous Duchess of Fitz-Fulke.Canto XVII
Truncated story. When Lord Byron died in 1824, the epic satire ''Don Juan'' was incomplete, and the concluding canto XVII featured little mention of the protagonist, Don Juan, and many mentions of the literary rivals, enemies, and critics who moralistically objected to Byron’s perspectives of people, life, and society; the critical gist was: "If you are right, then everybody's wrong!" In self-defence, Byron the poet lists people who were considered revolutionaries in their fields of endeavour—such as Martin Luther (1483–1546) and Galileo (1564–1642)—whose societies saw them as being outside the cultural mainstream of their times. Canto XVII concludes at the brink of resuming the adventures of Don Juan, last found in a "tender moonlit situation" with the Duchess of Fitz-Fulke, at the end of canto XVI.Dedication to Robert Southey
Critical reception
Background
In the early 19th century, despite the piecemeal publication of the poem in 1819, the contemporary literary critics said that ''Don Juan'' was an immoral poetical work in which narrative Lord Byron was too free in satirising the social subjects of the poem, which made persons and personages readily identifiable.Coleridge, "Introduction", p. 000. Concerning the poem’s origins, Byron said that ''Don Juan'' resulted from the "humorous paradoxes ... provoked by headvice and opposition" of friends and colleagues, rivals and enemies. In a letter (19 September 1818) to the Irish poet Thomas Moore, Byron spoke of satirical intent: "I have finished the first canto ... of a poem in the style and manner of '' Beppo''Artistic recognition
In 1821, in a letter about the cantos III, IV, and V, the poet P. B. Shelley told Byron of his "wonder and delight" at the presentation of events, because in the composition and style, "this poem carries with it at once the stamp of originality and defiance of imitation. Nothing has ever been written like it in English, nor, if I may venture to prophesy, will there be, unless carrying upon it the mark of a secondary and borrowed light.... You are building up a drama such as England has not yet seen, and the task is sufficiently noble and worthy of you." About canto V, Shelley told Byron that "Every word has the stamp of immortality.... It fulfils, in a certain degree, what I have long preached of producing—something wholly new and relative to the age, and yet surpassingly beautiful". In 1824, Walter Scott said that in ''Don Juan'' Lord Byron's writing "has embraced every topic of human life, and sounded every string of the divine harp, from its slightest to its most powerful and heart-astounding tones." In Germany,References
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