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PARTISAN REVIEW
ever, it is difficult to dissociate him, in the mind of the public, from
his Spanish connotations. The mere mention of Don Juan evokes
Andalusian nights saturated with flowers, the deep blue of the sky,
mysterious narrow streets, cloaked figures, funerals by night, and
an enraged or merciful God, appearing (as though the miraculous
were no more than natural) to the Spaniards, who experience no
terror before the supernatural.
Yet
all
this Spanish glamour which surrounds the figure of Don
Juan is pure ornament. It has nothing to do with the essential psy–
chology of Don Juan, who represents one of the universal approaches
to human love, and an approach less typical of Spain than of any
other country in the world. The fact is that all these props are so
dazzlingly picturesque, they so captivate the emotions, that they ob–
scure the biological core of the problem. Nevertheless, this element
of the picturesque, which is subsidiary to the main theme, does exer–
cise a decisive influence upon the popularity and power of the great
myths. The same thing is true of prominent figures of history, who,
to a great extent, are myths also. Don Juan is popular because of
his nocturnal wanderings about Seville, and his quarrels with the
statues of the dead, whose stone beards 4e irreverently pulls. None
of which has anything to do with donjuanism. In the same way,
Faust is famous because of Mephistopheles, a secondary character
in the vast metaphysical tragedy which Faust symbolizes.
To proceed with our demonstration, we must first of all analyze
the two component parts of the legend of Don Juan. In the first
place there is the fascinating man who attracts women, seduces them,
deserts them and replaces them with others, in an endless pursuit
of amorous experience. The second element of the legend is the re–
ligious theme, which merges with that of carnal passion. Under this
heading we must list the protagonist's irreligious nature, his cynicism,
his perpetual defiance of society, Church and God. And perhaps also
the moral of the story, whether it takes the form of the punishment
of the sinner or that of his final pardon.
Only the first of these two elements is essential to the psy–
chology of Don Juan. The second one, however picturesque, con–
tributes nothing basic to his personality. Which is why it has faded
out so quickly, though in the beginning it was one of the most
glamorous parts of the legend, and helped to establish the figure of
