“Don Juan” by Molière: on the Problem of National Sources of French Comedy with Spanish Plot

Abstract

This article is devoted to analysis of French sources of the play “Don Juan” by Molière (1665) which reproduces the famous Spanish plot about Don Juan. In the process of research, we demonstrate that Molière’s play dating back to the Italian reworkings of the play by Tirso de Molina, largely uses ready-made phrases and plot moves borrowed from the French comedies about Don Juan by playwrights Dorimon and Villiers, as well as the plays “The Salamanca Scholar, or Generous Enemies” by Paul Scarron (1655) and Pierre Corneille’s “The Liar” (1644). Interpretation of the significant coincidences found in plays allows us to conclude about the French theme in Moliere’s “Don Juan” which is informed by rethinking of a nobleman’s (gentleman’s) honor and the popularization of the social ideal of “honnête homme”.