THE COUNT OF VILLAMEDIANA
38.5
the same chivalrous devotion, the same dedication to honor, which
we found in Castile. Though there are two kinds of sexual behavior
which are peculiarly Andalusian, are typical of the place, and have
contributed to the misinterpretation of donjuanism.
One of these is the organized polygamy whose prototype was
the harem, an invention of the Arabs, who left deep marks upon
the character and customs of Andalusia. Nevertheless, it is obviously
a mistake to confuse the moorish harem with the female clientele
of Don Juan. The etymology of the word harem indicates that the
custom was established for progenitive purposes, and in Don Juan
the desire for fatherhood is nonexistent, and often he is sterile. The
harem stays in one place, and Don Juan is a wanderer. The Sultan
recruits the women for his harem by force, or with money, and
without recourse to his own personal charms. The harem is always
run on peaceful, well-organized bourgeois lines. Don Juan is just the
opposite: each of his adventures is an anti-social action. Therefore,
to confuse the one with the other is an inexcusable frivolity.
The Sultan's numerous wives are organized into a
status quo
of accepted hierarchies. Don Juan's affairs, on the other hand, follow
on the heels of each other, each no better than the last. Each passion
gives rise to indifference, and to the desertion of the beloved, whom
he abandons in order to seek, somewhere else, the next one. It is
true that there have always been, and still are, Andalusians whQ
dream of being sultans, and quite a few of them enact a parody
of this dream, while keeping within the laws of contemporary society.
They will have a legitimate wife who represents the Sultana, shares
the responsibility of the home, is the mother of their children, and
in the long run the mistress of their deepest affection. Behind her
back they enjoy a host of paramours with whom they satisfy their
more ephemeral passions. In fact this sort of shamefaced harem is
by no means exclusively Andalusian, even though its origins may be
traced to Andalusia. It exists more or less openly all over the Latin
world, and beyond. So firmly is it established, that often the legitimate
wife, like the Sultana of the harem, is aware of, and condones her
husband's polygamous affairs. There are even cases in which the
legitimate wife is secretly proud of her husband's diverse sexual ac–
tivities. This was true of the protagonist of Benavente's fine play
Senora Ama,
and she was drawn from life.
