Plot Summary
Dom Juan is essentially a Casanova. He exasperates his servant Sganarelle and must constantly be extricated from sticky situations by his disapproving father. He excels at trapping countless women because he engages in secret, mock marriages that appease the girls, but leave him with no strings attached when he tires of them. He has most recently lured the beautiful Elvire from a convent to "marry" her in this manner.
Despite Sganarelle's indignation and warnings of Heaven's wrath, Dom Juan has left Elvire and now plans to ensnare the fiancée of a friend. In order to do so, Dom Juan and Sganarelle get into a small boat on the same lake where his friend and the fiancée are going to go sailing. Suddenly, the boat is capsized and both master and servant face danger until they are rescued by a peasant. In no time at all, Dom Juan is proposing marriage to two peasant girls who argue with each other about which one of them he will choose. The disillusioned Sganarelle then informs the girls that Dom Juan will not actually marry either of them.
At this point, Dom Juan learns that Elvire's brothers intend to kill him in revenge for abandoning their sister. Sganarelle and his master disguise themselves to make their way back to the city. On the way, Dom Juan saves a stranger from bandits. This stranger turns out to be one of Elvire's brothers. This man now owes Dom Juan his life; even after he finds out his savior's identity, he decides to have mercy on Dom Juan instead of avenging his sister.
Starting out for the city again, Dom Juan and Sganarelle come across the tomb of the Commandant that Dom Juan killed. Dom Juan jokingly tells Sganarelle to invite the statue to dinner, but is surprised when the statue actually nods its acceptance. Even more frightening for Sganarelle is the fact that the statue actually appears at dinner time. The servant attributes the incident with the statue to Heaven's due wrath.
Dom Juan is not concerned by "Heaven's wrath," though, and decides to pretend to become religious. Heaven's wrath cannot tolerate this insincerity, however, and swallows Dom Juan up in a flaming abyss after his hypocritical rants. Thereupon Sganarelle comments:
"By his death everyone gets satisfaction. Heaven offended, laws violated, girls led astray, families dishonored, relatives outraged, wives ruined, husbands driven to despair, they all are satisfied. I am the only unlucky one. My wages, my wages, my wages!"
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