ABSTRACT
The character of Don Juan has undergone many transformations since the writing of Tirso de Molina's comedia, El burlador de Sevilla, around 1630. Don Juan takes care to disillusion him: Finally, Don Juan creates an illusion of change by his very inconsistency, which he readily confesses in his first scene with Sganarelle in Moliere's Dom Juan. Rank considers that the structure based on the concept of the double antedates the myth of Don Juan and is reinforced by it. During the Classical period Don Juan appeared primarily as an entertaining figure, whether one considers the burla in El burlador de Sevilla, his mockery and defiance in Moliere's Dom Juan, or the scherzo in the versions of Don Giovanni by Da Ponte and Mozart. Thus, when she sings a last non mi dir after his death it is no longer intended for the insignificant Ottavio but for Don Juan himself, whom she chooses to follow to hell.
