Don Juan

Don Juan, also known as Don Giovanni (Italian), is a legendary, fictional Spanish libertine who devotes his life to seducing women. Famous versions of the story include a 17th-century play, El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra (The Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest) by Tirso de Molina, a 1665 play, Dom Juan, by Molière, a 1787 opera, Don Giovanni, with music by Mozart and a libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte, and a satirical, epic poem, Don Juan, by Lord Byron. By linguistic extension, from the name of the character, "Don Juan" has become a generic expression for a womanizer, and stemming from this, Don Juanism is a non-clinical psychiatric descriptor. Pronunciation In Spanish, it is pronounced . The usual English pronunciation is , with two syllables and a silent "J", but today, as more English-speakers are becoming influenced by Spanish, the pronunciation is becoming more common. However, in Lord Byron's verse version the name rhymes with ruin and true one, and traditionally the name was pronounced with three syllables, possibly or , in England at the time and by later critics. This would have been characteristic of English literary precedent, where English pronunciations were often imposed on Spanish names, such as Don Quixote . Story There have been many versions of the Don Juan story, but the basic outline remains the same: Don Juan is a wealthy Andalusian libertine who devotes his life to seducing women. He takes great pride in his ability to seduce women of all ages and stations in life, and he often disguises himself and assumes other identities in order to seduce women. The aphorism that Don Juan lives by is: (translated as "What a long term you are giving me!"). This is his way of indicating that he is young and that death is still distant—he thinks he has plenty of time to repent later for his sins.