Don Juan (Byron) Summary
Lord Byron

In the following essay, Parker contends that the narrator of Don Juan is intentionally inconsistent and that Byron patterned him after the literary figure of the rogue. As a poet and as a man, Byro... Read more

In the following essay, originally published in 1945, Boyd illustrates how Don Juan's literary precursors likely influenced Byron's treatment of war, marriage, women, high society, the s... Read more

In the following excerpt, Blackstone examines various themes of Don Juan, including femininity and masculinity, sexuality, love, and power. ‘the Sexual Garments Sweet’ Don Juan is out... Read more

In the following essay, Clancy argues that the character of Aurora Raby is a feminine version of the trademark Byronic hero. Aurora Raby is one of the most fascinating characters in the English epi... Read more

In the following essay, Cooper argues that the shipwreck scenes in Don Juan Canto II symbolize the author's pessimistic view of the world at large. “Life is, in itself and forever, sh... Read more

In the following essay, originally published in Studies in Romanticism in winter 1990, Franklin chronicles the methods by which Byron challenged traditional ideas about marriage, chastity, fidelity, a... Read more

In the following essay, Graham illustrates the ways in which Byron set Don Juan against the mores of Regency England and argues that the poem was written both for and from the viewpoint of the “... Read more

In the following essay, Goldweber analyzes the Biblical overtones in Don Juan. Many literary critics continue to cast Lord Byron as a deviant and a miscreant who was contemptuous, or at least suspi... Read more

In the following essay, Phillipson explores the themes of banishment, dislocation and return in Don Juan, contending that Byron's characters often return in ghostly ways to places past and the ... Read more