SOURCE: “‘Don Juan,’ 1665-1925,” in Molière: Don Juan, Cambridge University Press, 1995, pp. 1-17.

In this excerpt, Whitton reviews the performance history of Don Juan, one of Molière's more challenging comedies from an interpretive standpoint. For Whitton, the servant character of Sganarelle is a crucial factor in interpreting the play and its ambiguous main character for modern audiences.

Tales about statues of the dead coming to life to exact retribution from the living were endemic in medieval folk legend, and in literature stretching back to antiquity. But the fusion of the Stone Guest motif with the story of an unrepentant womaniser first appeared in Spain in 1630. Written by a monk, Tirso de Molina, The Joker of Seville and the Guest of Stone recounts the life of Don Juan Tenorio, whose adventures are punished when the statue of a Commander whom he had killed, and whose daughter he...