244 Byron, George Gordon Byron, Lord
Or Coelebs’ Wife set out in quest of lovers
(1.16.1–4)The speaker characterizes Juan’s mother as the
perfect woman, so perfect that she possesses no
“female error.” By comparing her to literary or text-
book models of female education, the speaker casts
Donna Inez as a model of the fictional or theoretical
world; her attention to her son’s education reinforces
this equation. This bookish approach to instruction,
later characterized as “strictly moral” (1.39.4), ill-
prepares the young man for congress with the world.
The failing of Juan’s education is related to the
characterization of his mother; As the speaker later
relates, Inez’s “perfection is / Insipid in this naughty
world of ours” (1.18.1–2).
That insipidity translates into a sheltered educa-
tion for Juan, his studies governed by a refusal to
admit “a page of any thing that’s loose / Or hints
continuation of the species” (1.40.6–7). To illus-
trate this lack in the boy’s knowledge, the speaker
describes the ways in which the lessons of mythol-
ogy are cleansed to protect the young mind (1.42–
45). The lack of more practical, worldly instruction
in morality leaves the teenaged Juan open to seduc-
tion at the hands of Donna Julia. As the pair begin
their ill-fated affair, Juan cannot understand why
their discourse has become strained for of love
“he had no more notion / Than he who never saw
the sea of ocean” (1.70.7–8). His lack of worldly
knowledge, frequently offered as the rationale for
his sexual escapades, leads him into a variety of
scrapes and becomes a way of excusing what would
be considered immoral and licentious behavior in a
gentleman.
The education afforded Juan by his mother, who
takes great care to keep him pure, contrasts sharply
with the education Juan arranges for his ward, Julia.
Lady Pinchbeck, described as a woman who “had
been talked about” in her youth (12.47.1), has had
closer contact with the world, a trait which renders
her better qualified, in the speaker’s eyes, to educate
young ladies:
I think you’ll find from many a family
pictureThat daughters of such mothers as may
know
The world by experience rather than by
lecture
Turn out much better for the Smithfield
Show
Of vestals brought into the marriage mart
Than those bred up by prudes without a
heart. (12.46.3–8)The speaker juxtaposes “experience” and “lecture,”
drawing a clear distinction between the two modes
of learning to underscore the importance of practi-
cal knowledge in preparing young people to meet
the world. While the young ladies being educated
are prepared for entrance into a constraining social
“marriage mart,” the preference for broader educa-
tion is clearly illustrated. The speaker’s subsequent
description of Lady Pinchbeck suggests that more
worldly experience in youth could still result in one
being “an exemplary wife” (12.47.8). Juan’s deci-
sion to entrust Leila’s education to this woman
demonstrates, in the speaker’s eyes, a more reasoned
approach to moral upbringing; by guiding youth
through the pitfalls of experience, adults can best
prepare them for the choices that lie ahead.
The speaker portrays Juan as a “wealthy orphan”
who is disadvantaged by an overly protective mother
and should be pitied because “too soon they are
parents to themselves” (17.4.1). Education, a foun-
dational topic for the text, should encompass more
than abstract, chaste knowledge to better equip
youth to enter the world. Without guidance in mak-
ing life choices, they may end up, like Byron’s pro-
tagonist, learning difficult life lessons while being
tossed on the sea of humanity.
Anita DeRouenFutility in Don Juan
Lord Byron still remains associated in the minds of
a great majority of readers as one who lived life on
his own terms and in defiance of social constraints
in more ways than one. As an individual, his life was
marked by numerous scandals and endless adven-
tures. While poverty and deprivation defined his
early life, later, at Cambridge University, he spent
less time studying than enjoying himself. Wit and