Gregorio Maranon
GRANDEUR AND MISERY
OF THE COUNT OF VILLAMEDIANA
Don Juan and the present era.
The problem of Don Juan
has undergone a complete change since the time when I first wrote
about him. He no longer attracts the attention of critics and na–
turalists; he is becoming a subject for the archeologist. Life changes
so quickly; and, above all, the conditions of our time have altered
the mores of love. Even as late as twenty years ago Don Juan still
stood for a particular theatrical, and at times heroic, masculine re–
volt against established sexual convention. But the convention itself
has changed. I do not say that it is new, merely that it has changed.
For, with regard to love, every possible attitude has at one time or
another been adopted, and every possible emotion been experienced
and made articulate.
The sexual conventions of contemporary society are marked
by the unlimited license they accord to physical love, and by the
increased social influence of women. Such mores are typical of the
critical periods of history. Nevertheless, if sexual love
is
without
any restraint, either moral or social, if amorous passion and enjoy–
ment are never to be regarded as sinful, if the Comendador looks
the other way when his daughter is outraged, and the lord of the
manor intentionally delays his return home suspecting that his ar–
rival might embarrass his wife,
if
woman no longer waits to receive
everything she needs at our hands (so that we may give her every–
thing-even, without being aware of it, our very freedom) but
instead obtains for herself whatever she wants, whether it be a
standard of living or the man of her choice- if this is the present
state of affairs, what is Don Juan to us?
Don Juan was the symbol of the conqueror of women. A false
symbol, in my opinion, as many symbols are. True or false, how-
