DON JUAN
A monologue from the
play by Molière
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NOTE: This monologue is reprinted
from The Dramatic Works of Molière, Vol. II. Ed.
Charles Heron Wall. London: George Bell & Sons, 1898. |
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DON JUAN: What! would you have a man bind himself to
the first girl he falls in love with, say farewell to the world
for her sake, and have no eyes for anyone else? A fine thing,
to be sure, to pride oneself upon the false honour of being faithful,
to lose oneself in one passion for ever, and to be blind from
our youth up to all the other beautiful women who can captivate
our gaze! No, no; constancy is the share of fools. Every beautiful
woman has a right to charm us, and the privilege of having been
the first to be loved should not deprive the others of the just
pretensions which the whole sex has over our hearts. As for me,
beauty delights me wherever I meet with it, and I am easily overcome
by the gentle violence with which it hurries us along. It matters
not if I am already engaged: the love I have for a fair one cannot
make me unjust towards the others; my eyes are always open to
merit, and I pay the homage and tribute nature claims. Whatever
may have taken place before, I cannot refuse my love to any of
the lovely women I behold; and, as soon as a handsome face asks
it of me, if I had ten thousand hearts I would give them all
away. The first beginnings of love have, besides, indescribable
charms, and the true pleasure of love consists in its variety.
It is a most captivating delight to reduce by a hundred means
the heart of a young beauty; to see day by day the gradual progress
one makes; to combat with transport, tears, and sighs, the shrinking
modesty of a heart unwilling to yield; and to force, inch by
inch, all the little obstacles she opposes to our passion; to
overcome the scruples upon which she prides herself, and to lead
her, step by step, where we would bring her. But, once we have
succeeded, there is nothing more to wish for; all the attraction
of love is over, and we should fall asleep in the tameness of
such a passion, unless some new object came to awake our desires
and present to us the attractive perspective of a new conquest.
In short, nothing can surpass the pleasure of triumphing over
the resistance of a beautiful maiden; and I have in this the
ambition of conquerors, who go from victory to victory, and cannot
bring themselves to put limits to their longings. There is nothing
that can restrain my impetuous yearnings. I have a heart big
enough to be in love with the whole world; and, like Alexander,
I could wish for other spheres to which I could extend my conquests.
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MONOLOGUES BY MOLIÈRE |
