Maski Molierowskiego Don Juana

Abstract

This article considers selected literary, ideological, and social contexts of the origins of Molière’s Don Juan (1665) in order to demonstrate links between particular cultural phenomena of the mid-seventeenth century and the construction of the play’s protagonist and some thematic motifs. The author reviews various hypotheses concerning the literary and cultural roots of Molière’s version of the story of Don Juan, to focus on the evocation of Spanish cultural contexts. She also emphasizes that the author managed to incorporate into the story of the legendary seducer ample commentary pertaining to factual reality. Ideas rooted in aesthetic explorations and current ideological discussions and disputes contributed to the creation of a protagonist whose experience also corresponds in many aspects to that of the present-day reader and theatergoer.

Keywords

• molière
• french drama
• «dom juan ou le festin de pierre»
• lope de vega
• honor