SOURCE: “Did Tirso Employ Counterpassion in His Burlador de Sevilla?” in Hispanic Review, Vol. XX, No. 2, April, 1952, pp. 123-33.

In the following essay, Marni considers the question of whether or not counterpassion (the principal that considers if a punishment fits a crime) was used in de Molina's El burlador de Sevilla.

The spiritual damnation of Don Juan by Tirso de Molina posed no problem either to the famous Mercedario himself or to his contemporary fellow-Christians. For them it was a simple matter of dogma. Divine justice dooms unrepentant mortal sinners to everlasting punishment.¹ But does not Don Juan express repentance?

Deja que llame quien me confiese y absuelva,

he cries, only to be told

No hay lugar; ya acuerdas tarde,

and to feel, immediately thereafter, the pangs of hell:

¡Que me quemo! ¡Que me abraso! ¡Muerto soy!²

The modern reader is inclined to ask: “Did God deal fairly...