Play: Don Juan (or The Feast of Stone)

Overview
Molière's Don Juan (originally Don Juan ou le Festin de pierre), first performed in 1665, presents a sharp, theatrical portrait of the legendary libertine. The play follows Don Juan, a brilliant and incorrigible nobleman whose relentless pursuit of pleasure and defiance of moral and religious order drive the action. Comedy and moral provocation are braided together as Molière pits libertinism against social expectation through wit, farce, and philosophical disputation.

Plot Summary
Don Juan moves through a string of seductions and deceptions, abandoning promises and manipulating those around him without remorse. He persuades two peasant girls, Charlotte and Mathurine, and spurns the noblewoman Elvire after promising marriage, leaving a trail of wounded honor and bewilderment. His servant Sganarelle, comic, anxious, and moralizing, trails him as both commentator and victim, articulating the social and religious expectations Don Juan flagrantly ignores.
The plot intensifies when Don Juan kills the Commandeur, a man whose statue later appears as the "stone guest." In a climactic and famous sequence Don Juan mocks the religious and the supernatural by defiantly inviting the statue to dine; the invitation is accepted, and the supernatural retribution that follows drags the unrepentant Don Juan to his doom. The play closes with Sganarelle left to process the moral of the catastrophe in a mixture of fear, religious counsel, and comic bewilderment.

Main Characters
Don Juan is charismatic, eloquent, and ruthlessly skeptical; his intelligence makes his immorality more dangerous because it allows him to rationalize and seduce. Sganarelle serves as the comic foil and moral mouthpiece: fearful, superstitious, quick to judge and slow to understand, he verbalizes the common-sense outrage that the audience might feel. Elvire, the betrayed noblewoman, represents wounded honor and the societal consequences of Don Juan's libertinism, while the Commandeur (the statue) embodies supernatural justice and the moral limit that finally speaks back to defiance.
Supporting figures, the peasant girls, servants, and those Don Juan offends, populate the play with social contrast, showing how his actions ripple through different strata of society. Their reactions underscore the tension between aristocratic license and communal norms.

Themes and Style
The play interrogates hypocrisy, faith, and the limits of free will. Don Juan's atheism and bravado force other characters to voice religious and ethical positions, turning scenes of farce into arenas of philosophical debate. Molière blends slapstick and verbal wit with darker existential questions, refusing easy amusement while making the audience laugh at the very troubles it is invited to condemn.
Molière's craft lies in balancing comic timing, sharp dialogue, and moral seriousness. The drama's shifting tones, from burlesque seduction to chilling supernatural vengeance, expose the fragility of social order when confronted by a willful, unrepentant intelligence.

Reception and Legacy
The play provoked moral outrage at its premiere because of its audacious depiction of irreligion and its sympathetic attention to a rebellious protagonist. Religious authorities and some contemporaries found the treatment offensive, while others praised Molière's courage and theatrical skill. Its controversial mix of wit and intransigence ensured its place as one of the most debated theatrical works of the age.
Don Juan endures as one of the definitive dramatic treatments of the libertine archetype. Its influence extends through later literary and musical adaptations of the Don Juan legend, and its combination of comedy, moral inquiry, and theatrical daring continues to resonate with audiences and adaptors fascinated by the tension between charisma and culpability.