Don Juan [16] - Carl/Karl

From The Big Book of Molière Monologues by actor/author Timothy Mooney. A collection of over 160 of Molière's funniest monologues in new rhymed iambic pentameter versions. In Don Juan, we see the reckless libertine Don Juan from the “inside,” privy to the strategies and arguments that pass between the charlatan and his servant. The ending, however, finds wickedness will be punished, as, seemingly, death itself pursues Don Juan, who refuses to give over his libidinous lifestyle up until his very final moment. With such an ending, Molière may have envisioned this as a powerful morality tale. Molière was somewhat disingenuous in his protestations of the play’s innocence. He clearly painted Don Juan as the more attractive character, and for the great bulk of the action we find Don Juan getting away with seductions, lies and cruelties with impunity. The punishment of death at the end of the play feels, like the ends of so many Molière plays, contrived, as much for the sake of irony than as a lesson.see less