English Literature: Comment on Julia's Letter from the Convent to 'Don Juan'

Saturday 2 January 2021

Comment on Julia's Letter from the Convent to 'Don Juan'

Julia's Letter from the Convent to Don Juan:

The letter which was written by Donna Julia from the convent to Don Juan highlights the positive aspects of her character. Donna Julia apparently seems to me a sex-box. But in this letter she explains why she feels fascination for Don Juan. She was not satisfied with her husband Don Alfonso. As a man of fifty he was not competent to satisfy the sexual hunger of her, so she felt fascination for Don Juan. Eventually she was discovered in her bed room with Don Juan and her conjugal life comes to an end. She was sent to the convent for purification.

Julia's Letter from the Convent to Don Juan

But Donna Julia could not forget Don Juan. She, in her letter explained that a man has many things to do. He may spend his time on learning or journeying. But a woman always looks upon love as a means of her existence. She has written:

 

"Man's love is of his life a thing apart,

‘Tis woman's whole existence; man may range

The court, camp, church, the vessel, and the mart,

Sword, gown, gain, glory, offer in exchange

Pride, fame, ambition, to fill up his heart,

And few there are whom these cannot estrange,

Man has all these resources, we but one,

To Love again and be again undone."

 

The reasons that she has incorporated into the letter behind her illicit union with Don Juan have touched the hearts of the readers. Besides, the readers' adverse attitude towards her has been remitted to a great extent after the recitation of this letter. Though at first she appeared to be a hypocritical, unchaste and pedant character, after going through the letter we can blame the defective social norms and traditions too, that lead her to commit sinful activities.

 

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