Popular Culture Review Vol. 13, No. 1, January 2002 | Page 83

Fetter Sellars’ D on G iovan n i

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a soprano of Asian descent. Don Giovanni’s choice of exploits, then, often pairs
sexual and sociological conquest.
Related to the racial tensions of don Giovanni’s seductions is the overt
violence he manifests towards women. Eric A. Plant describes a more conventional
portrayal of don Giovanni: "'He does not consciously intend to hurt the women he
seduces. Not being aware of any wish to harm them, he is constantly surprised and
a bit irritated that they do not view what has happened with his bland equanimity”
(6). With some exceptions, most notably Thomas ShadwelTs The Libertine, the
literary and musical don Juan first resorts to gallantry and deceit when trying to
win a woman’s heart. James Mandrell, Ruth Plaut Weinreb, and Shoshana Felman,
among others, have convincingly shown that linguistic and visual deceit is an
integral part in the seductions by Tirso’s, Moliere’s, Mozart’s and Shaw’s don
Juan. Only when these ruses fail, does he use force. Although it requires considerable
suspension of disbelief, in orthodox don Juan literature, many women, believing
the cloaked stranger to be their fiance or a potential husband, willingly submit to
verbal wooing. Until they realize that their seducer is not who he claimed to be or
that his intentio ns are less than honorable, the women are often sexually satisfied
partners. Furthermore, this don Juan enjoys sex, seduction, conquest, and/or
deception. Sellars’s don Giovanni, however, adds brute force to the linguistic
manipulation and mistaken identity of his bag of tricks. During the rape of donna
Anna, don Giovanni’s face betrays no sign of sexual pleasure. Anger and disgust
are the only emotions visible on his face. The wounds on donna Anna’s upper
chest indicate that she was a most unwilling victim. While the conventional don
Juan dismisses his conquests with lighthearted arrogance, this don Giovanni casts
them aside with irate vengeance. It is as if he used his conquests as acts of retribution
for crimes against his race and class. The drug dealer’s anger is far more disturbing
than the trickster’s conceit. Both protagonists tally up their respective conquests.
Nevertheless, whereas the traditional don Juan’s seductions testify to his sexual
prowess, this contemporary don Giovanni’s triumphs bring him that much closer
to evening up a racial and economic score.
In keeping with a structural point of the traditional story, Sellars shows
that the other members of society are latent don Juans although they may not be as
flamboyant in their disregard for human or supernatural law. The lack of a living
model of rectitude has always given don Juan a certain amount of ethical latitude.
Other men in the play either want to be like don Juan or they resort toworse deceits
and cruelties in their attempts to avoid being like him.^ Given these parallels, then,
it is to be expected that don Giovanni is not the only one who exerts violence on
women’s bodies. The audience hears but never sees the jealous Masetto slapping
Zerlina on several occasions. The battered wife constantly tries to convince her
husband that she loves only him. These insinuations of violence are not revisionist.