In Don Juan, Byron mocks many of his Romantic contemporaries for their style. According to Byron, poets such as Wordsworth and Southey were overly showy. Thus, Don Juan was a way to poke fun at the romantic tropes these self-interested poets utilized. For instance, Byron uses “romantic” language to describe Donna Julia, saying, “Of many charms in her as natural/As sweetness to the flower or salt to the ocean, Her zone to Venus, or his bow to Cupid” (437-439). But then he gives the parenthetical disclaimer that “…this last simile is trite and stupid” (44).However, while Don Juan is certainly a critique of romanticism, it is romantic in nature due to the fact that it goes against convention, contains a main character that has some elements of the romantic hero, challenges society’s views, and has a self-aware narrator.
Romanticism is about going against convention, and Don Juan certainly goes against convention in terms of romanticism and in terms of an epic. One convention that Byron goes against is that of typical gender roles. Many romantic poets stressed the independent man who was in touch with nature and his sexuality.In terms of sexuality, women were typically the ones acted upon. For instance, in Blake’s The Little Girl Lost, a young innocent girl learns about sexuality from the “masculine” lion.
However, in Don Juan, this pattern is deviated from in that Juan is not the seducer but instead the seduced. He does not have to attempt any wiles or tricks to bed any of the women he encounters because he is that irresistible. Thus, the women take on the more masculine role of being the “pursuers. ” They also take the active role in asserting their authority and independence.For instance Donna Julia, unlike Juan, struggles with her conscience and actually stands up to her husband when he suspects of sleeping with Juan (which she has been doing), saying, “For in silence I have suffered long/ A husband like Alfonso on my side/ Is it for this I have disdained to hold/ The common privileges of my sex? ” Conversely, Juan is completely unheroic. When caught in bed with Julia, he flees after his “only garment quite gave away,” taking on a much more feminine role (1486).
Although Don Juan is satirical in nature, Juan embodies certain tropes of the Romantic Hero.Unlike his family members, Juan ultimately rejects domesticity and the traditional family unit even if it is not by his own choice. Additionally, he is an outcast. After his affair with Donna Julia, his mother sends him off to travel. A similar situation occurs when he washes on an island with Haidee.
However, it is Juan’s passivity that causes him to move from place to place. Juan certainly does not have a sense of “self” like the typical romantic hero because practically all his actions are determined by others, and the narrative focuses more on his actions than his thoughts.Nonetheless, Byron frequently inserts his commentary in the poem, which gives the poem the meditation typical of romanticism. What makes the poem wholly romantic is that Byron acts as a meta-narrator throughout. Taken at face value, Don Juan would arguably not be romantic.
However, since Byron is cognizant of the fact that he is deconstructing typical romantic tropes, this falls in line with the romantic concept of defying convention.In this case, Byron is defying the romantic conventions that he sees in the poets he mocks in his dedication. Also, while the majority of the poem focuses on the fun sexual exploits of Don Juan, Byron does at times take a serious turn. For instance, he critiques war and speaks of gazing upon a corpse “pierced through stomach liver and heart” (275), asking, “Can this be death? Then what is life or death” (281)? This falls in line with the romantic theme of rebellion against society.
Society and literature attempted to romanticize dying in war as an honorable thing, but Byron portrays it as it as the disheartening and dehumanizing experience it really is. Don Juan is a critique of romanticism, but it is also romantic itself. While it pokes fun at many of the elements of romanticism, it also utilizes those elements as well. Byron emphasizes emotion, goes against convention, and challenges society’s views.
Juan is by no means the traditional romantic hero, but Byron, as the narrator, provides a voice full of emotion and contemplation that is thoroughly romantic.
