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 “cultivated man.”
In the following essay, originally published in 1945, Boyd examines several figures and events that may have inspired various characters and scenes in Don Juan.
In the following essay, Punter examines Don Juan through the lens of psychoanalysis, noting particularly the theories of Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung and Otto Rank.
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 supernatural, and other themes that appear throughout the poem.
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 Byronic hero is “more phantom than man.”
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, and female power.
In the following essay, Rishmawi examines Byron's shifting attitudes toward the East between the Oriental Tales and Don Juan. Rishmawi contends that, unlike the passionate, firsthand accounts that appear in Byron's Oriental Tales, the East of Don Juan is based on readings and observation and, accordingly, is depicted in a more subtle and satiric manner.
In the following excerpt from an essay originally written in 1988, Richardson maintains that in Don Juan, where the title character assumes the dress of a woman and an Oriental, Byron uses the motif of transvestism to critique Western patriarchy and imperialism.
In the following essay, originally published in The Byron Journal in 1987, Barton assesses the relationship between Don Juan and Haidée and the significance of Lambro's advances toward the couple in Canto II of Don Juan. Barton argues that this incident is the focal point of the poem.
