ABSTRACT
This chapter underlines how these textual transformations are interesting because the process of changing, borrowing, reworking, adding, and subtracting is at the heart of Dom Juan's mendacious enterprises. It stresses that the move towards a more rhetorical character is central to an understanding not only of Molière's version but of the portrayal of deception in the period and its shift from physical means of disguise to an exploration of more verbal, communicative forms. With this increased focus on employing his verbal skills, Molière&apos also makes his seducer articulate his rejection of his past and offer up a new authoritative version of himself and his deeds. Molière&apos has his Dom Juan focus much more on the opponents he can quash on a personal level. It is societal deceptions and his manipulations on this front that preoccupy him, as is made clear by his speech on hypocrisy.
