Dona Ana's Seduction in El Burlador de Sevilla

tin Millares Carlo, II (Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Econòmica, 1957), 9-97. 10 Two plays mentioned by Valency and later by Hesse as related to El mayor -monstruo los celos are Lodovico Dolce's Miriamo (e. 1560) and Lupercio Leonardo de Argensola 's Alejandra (e. 1581), both of which share elements with Calderón's work but differ greatly in dramatic conception. Among the Spanish dramatists to base plays on the Herod-Mariamne story are Tirso de Molina (La vida de Heredes) and Cristóbal Lozano (Herodes Ascalonita y la hermosa Mariana). " Albert E. Sloman, The Dramatic Craftsmanship of Calderón: His Use of Earlier Plays (Oxford: The Dolphin Book Co. Ltd., 1969). 12Albert E. Sloman, The Sources of Calder ón's 'El príncipe constante' (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1950). 13Robert Sloan, "Action and Role in El príncipe constante," MLN, 85 (1970), 167-83. 14T. J. Reiss, Toward Dramatic Illusion: Theatrical Technique from Hardy to Horace (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1971), p. 34. ^ Ibid., p. 52. 16Tristan, La Mariane, ed. Jacques Madeleine (Paris: Librairie Hachette et Cie, 1917), V, iii, p. 123. For the text of Mariamne, see Le Théâtre d'Alexandre Hardy, ed. E. Stengel, II (Marburg: N. G. Elwert'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung , 1884), 185-229. 17D. Westgate, "La Mariane and the Formation of Classical Tragedy," NFS, 4 (1965), 12-13. See also F. K. Dawson, "An Idea of Tragedy: Tristan l'Hermite's Mariane and La Morte de Sénèque," NFS, 2 (1963), 4. 18Westgate, pp. 5 and 12. Claude K. Abraham expresses a similar opinion in "Tristan L'Hermite's Mariane: L'Etrangère," FR, 40 (1967), 657. 19Daniella Dalla Valle, Il teatro di Tristan I'Hermite: Saggio storico e critico (Torino: Giappichelli, Editore, 1964, pp. 230 ff. ^»{¿«T^î DONA ANA'S SEDUCTION IN EL BURLADOR DE SEVILLA Vicente Cabrera, Colorado State University Tirso de Molina's critics disagree about Doña Ana's seduction. Was she or was she not seduced? Among those who do not believe she was seduced are M. L. Radoff, W. C. Salley, and Bruce Wardropper; among those who think she was are Alexander Parker and Duncan Moir. These are the passages in which they mention their positions on this subject. Radoff and Salley in their article, "Notes on the Burlador" state: It is hardly conceivable that Don Juan would be telling a lie in this last scene of a moral lesson, and it is less likely that the shade of Don Gonzalo would let it pass unchallenged . His answer is pertinent to this point and significant to the understanding of Tirso's ethical scheme: No importa, que ya pusiste tu intento? Wardropper, in his article, "El Burlador de Sevilla: A Tragedy of Errors," writes: Among the objects of Don Juan's attention only Doña Ana is realistic. She does not, like Isabella, mistake the intruder's identity (II, 516-9). Nor does she, like Tisbea and Aminta , fall a prey to flattery—possibly for lack of time, because her father, unlike Don Juan's, does not hesitate to seek temporal justice, even if he must be killed in the process. At any rate Don Juan is able later to assure the ghost: A tu hija no ofendí, que vio mis engaños antes (III, 963-4). Doña Ana and her father, Don Gonzalo , are the only ones to triumph over Don Juan: they hold firm to an unselfish moral principle, honor. But since in Don Juan's Spain justice is partial they must triumph in death.2 49 What Radoff, Salley, and Wardropper do is take literally el burladors words. Should the reader believe what Don Juan says? This is the question to be answered after the two opposing points of view are cited. Parker writes of the episodes of the four women as follows: In fact none of the four seductions perpetrated by Don Juan is merely a sin of sexual indulgence; each one is aggravated by circumstances that make it heinous. The seduction of Isabela is treachery towards a friend (Octavio) and, above all, an act of lèse-majesté since it was committed in the royal palace. The dishonouring of Tisbea is...