"In a story by Gonzalo Suárez, loosely inspired by Molière's Don Juan." "DON JUAN IN HELL" "While the last vestiges of the empire were dying out and King Felipe was near death, in the shadow of that lost splendor, a man, in defiance of the divine plan and human justice, turned his passions into destiny" "and his will into law." "His fame was as great as his pride, his damnation, eternal... his name, a legend..." "Don Juan." "If you're a devil, I give you my soul, and if you're a ghost, my body." "If you're a man, take me into your service." "No, don't move." "I don't want to see your face." "If it's as horrible as I imagine, and I shudder just thinking about it, then fear will give me the courage to impale you." "But if it's a noble face, shame will drive me to the infamy of killing you." "But most likely, I will drop my sword, which belongs to my master, and I will flee, as I tend to do on these occasions." "Sganarelle." "My lady!" "It's a miracle!" "Forgive me, I thought you were in the convent." "No, Sganarelle." "I've made my decision." "Between God and Don Juan..." "I choose Don Juan." "Between heaven and hell..." "I choose hell." "That's where you'll find him, since he died proud and unrepentant." "Tell me you haven't told me anything." "I don't want to know." "When he was alive, I wanted to see him dead, and now I prefer to imagine him as he was... because my soul can't be saved now." "Don't worry, my lady." "She's an Indian, and can give birth alone like an animal." "I assure you Don Juan and I have nothing to do with this birth." "I believe you, Sganarelle." "But this child, who was born among the dead, can only have one name, his name..." "Don Juan!" "Lord of All!" "I don't like this, your majesty." "Who are you?" "A humble peddler, your majesty." "And who is that?" "My shadow, sir." "Your shadow?" "And what do you do with it when night falls?" "Night never falls, your majesty, on an empire where the sun never sets." "Did you build this device?" "No, most revered excellency." "I found it in the sea." "Don Juan!" "Don Juan!" "Don Juan!" "Don Juan!" " Don Juan!" " Don Juan?" "Don Juan." " Don Juan!" " What Don Juan?" "Don Juan!" "Don Juan." "Oh my, Don Juan!" "Get down, get down." "I'm getting down." "You can hear a woman's voice, your majesty." " What does it say?" " A name." "It says a name." " What name?" " Don Juan!" "What does this mean?" "It means his majesty will be able to hear rumors and words from seven leagues away, and up to twenty if the wind is right." "What use could mere rumors and empty words have?" "What's said in the world will be heard in the palace, and the empire's sun will know its own shadow." "Even if it isn't the Devil's work, it still isn't pleasing to God's eyes." "Proceed accordingly, and administer the Holy Office's usual justice." " Who is Don Juan?" " A king of nothing, my Lord of All." "What does Don Juan feel after making love?" "Disdain?" "Weariness?" "Or... does he feel like starting again?" "My master is a savage, a pig, a heretic." "No laws, human or divine, can stop him." "He doesn't believe in heaven or hell, and he considers foolish the things we all foolishly believe." "Your master doing what he does..." "I understand that." "But for my lady to do what she's doing, that saddens my heart." "Don Juan makes us do things we'd never do." "I've done things I'd never do again, unless he asked me to." "I'd be better off serving the Devil." "Don Juan." "God lets the rich have sins worth damning yourself for, and leaves the poor with virtues that aren't worth living by." "Sganarelle, I'd trade places with your lord." "Because he can damn himself with his acts... and I can only do it with my thoughts." "Did you hear that?" "Come on." "And what does my lady feel after making love?" "I don't know..." "I've never thought about it." "I think I'm a bit afraid... happy... and I feel like starting again." "My lord!" "My husband!" "Sir." "Sir!" "Not a word, Pedro." "It's a surprise." "Say you dreamed you were with him." "That you were his horse and he was your rider, and his sword went in your body, making you sweat with pleasure." "Tell him that, or whatever else!" "Goodbye!" "Sganarelle, his boots!" "Jump!" "Good evening, my lord." "I dreamt about you." "Do I look like a cuckold?" "No..." "Why do you say that?" " Rumors." " Rumors?" "Lies." "If you only knew!" "You were riding me, opening my flesh with your spurs." "You were my rider and I was your horse." "Look..." "I'm sweating." "Three, there were three, daughters of Elena." "Three, there were three, and not one was good." "What does my master feel before making love?" " Whore!" " Oh, yes." "No, you're hurting me." "No!" "His name!" "I want his name!" "I want that man's name!" " Don Juan." " What Don Juan?" "Don Juan, sir." "Don Juan, just Don Juan." "You'll say... that this Don Juan... came here at night... and, using deception, and, unable to overcome... the lady's resistance... he strangled her." "That's how it was, sir." "I will bring the crime... to the attention of the king." "I order that he be hunted down and killed wherever he is, without giving him time to commit a greater sin, or the opportunity to repent." "The king's soldiers are approaching." "They're coming for us." "You must go." "You and you." "Take her and protect her." "I want that child to be born." "Break the shell so it doesn't fall into the Holy Office's hands." "According to you, I would have to live chained to Lady Elvira, because she's my wife." "It seems so unfair!" "How can I close my eyes to other women, and not give in to natural urges?" "Especially when time goes by so fast, and the years weigh on you." "That's reason enough to keep your head." "Lady Elvira is still faithful to you, despite having been abandoned." "Maybe it's not in her nature to do anything else." "Fidelity is the death of passion." "Passion is the key to the moment, the moment is the door to life, and life doesn't lie in the same bed twice." "You won't last long jumping from the same windows." "I almost broke my spine." "I told you." "You need to bend your knees when you fall." "I get too scared, sir." "Do what I do." "When you jump, don't think about the fall." "It's not the fall that worries me." "It's the impact, and the pain." "Okay, Sganarelle, let's go." "It's starting to get cold." "Oh no, sir!" "They've stolen our clothes!" "I doubt we'll find a good tailor here." "If we had the horses, we could chase them down." "During romantic adventures, horses are hard to hide and their tracks are easy to follow." "Besides, if we'd brought the horses, they'd have been stolen too." "Sganarelle, I think it's about time you did something for me." "Grab those clothes." " But they're women's dresses, sir!" " Come on, go." "Lady, what are you doing?" "Get out of here, Sganarelle!" "Grab the clothes and run!" "Come on, run!" " Mother!" "When a man is alone with his shadow, he has only two options:" "change or die... and if he can't change... then he must die." "What will become of you, my good friend... my dear companion..." "Does a man's shadow die with him?" "What place will the shadow occupy in the kingdom of shadows, where all is shadow?" "Go home!" "This world is cruel." "It's always innocents like me who pay!" " As you can see, justice is blind." " Human justice is." " And divine justice?" " When it pisses, it doesn't miss." "Doesn't heaven's rain soak saint and sinner alike?" "Good point." "The homeless get wetter than nobles in palaces, but that proves God saves his justice for later, and lets things here be as they are... however the Holy Inquisition decrees." "I'm not sure, your majesty, that this Don Juan... is guilty of the crime he's accused of." "What does it matter, Lhermite?" "He's not being punished for the crime..." "He's being punished for the sin." "As the poet said to the man's neck:" ""Now you know what his ass weighs."" "Why are you shaking, Sganarelle?" "Because they stole not only our clothes, but our fate as well." "They were mistaken for us, sir." "These ropes were meant for us." "Let's leave them the clothes and the ropes they've earned, and let's be on our way." "Better they take us for bearded ladies, than for diseased, filthy beggars." "Sganarelle!" "You go that way." "Sir, sir!" "Run, Sganarelle, run!" "Sir, sir!" "Who are you, princess?" "She's an Indian, sir." "She's pregnant too." "It'll be better to let her go." "She didn't like us, Sganarelle." "I'm not surprised." "She's a princess... and we look like plucked hens." "Lies are such a poor remedy for love!" "What a useless mistake it is to cover the wound with jealousy!" "With reason you've been called the mosquitoes of love!" "Oh jealousy, mosquitoes of love you've been called!" "Sir!" "There is Lady Elvira's squire." "Tell him I'll wait for his lady at the inn tonight." "What does it matter if a man falls asleep, oh heavens, fatigued by love's miseries, if its calls arouse him to jealousy?" "Our Father... art thou in heaven?" "How may a sinner like me hallow thy name?" "How distant is thy kingdom!" "What manner of power hath he who opposes thy will?" "Do not give us this day our daily pain." "And forgive him his debts, as I also have forgiven him." "Lead me not into temptation... and deliver him from evil." "Amen." "A day will come, Sganarelle, when the wonders we imagine now will be everyday miracles." "And I hope some of the sins we now consider as such, will be cause for derision and amusement." "I know what sin you're referring to, my lord... and I highly doubt that while men are men and women are women, those sins will ever stop being sins." "In that case, Don Juan will remain Don Juan." "And Sganarelle, his servant." "Here!" "See?" "I knew she wouldn't come." "She's still offended, and this is no place to meet a lady." "Forgive me, sir, but if I were free to speak," "I'd disapprove of what you've done to her." "She's your wife, the best one we've ever had." "The best, Sganarelle!" "The best!" " Besides, marriage is a sacrament." " That's another matter." "I'd say marriage is a deal between two people." "I don't think it's recorded in heaven's archives." "It's not as if God bothers or worries about us being together." "I know your grace has reasons for doing and believing as you do, but there are other unbelieving masters who mock God for no reason." "If I had such a master, I'd tell him:" "How dare a worm laugh at sacred things!" "Do you think being noble will protect you from damnation?" "If I were that master, I'd say:" "I can settle matters with God on my own." "I spoke as if you were someone else and I could speak freely, but I can't speak freely and you're you, so I'd never say any of that." "Say it, I give you permission." "My master is... like a warrior without a battlefield who invents war to do battle." "You try to flatter me, but you don't know me." "You judge me, but not accurately." "You use God to condemn me... and metaphors to hide your thoughts." "It's all much simpler than that." "I was born with a wound that can only find comfort in a woman's eyes." "In their eyes?" "Only in their eyes?" "Only in their eyes... and only at the instant of their gaze!" "I seek the momentary flash of the sword, not the pain from the wound it produces." "And I don't take any pleasure in it that isn't mutual." "That's why I don't regret the consequences of my acts, and why I refuse to settle down." "I understand, I understand, though not entirely... and I suspect that your wound and that flash and so on give comfort to one and pain to many, and therein lies the sin." "Well said." "My sin is other people." "Sir, Lady Elvira sent me." "My lady, sir, is waiting for you." "Man of God!" "I'm not a man of God or a doctor." "How can I help you?" "I don't want treatment or to confess." "I want your sword." "Ask me for something, anything, but not my sword." "I only want you to kill me." "You'll never find a better use for your sword." "Or a worse one." "Why must I kill you?" "That broken shell was my hope." "This dead shadow was my life." "I don't have the strength to follow my path, now that death is approaching step by step." "What sort of device is that?" "A show of my arrogance which offended the arrogance of the king." "And what the hell is it for?" "You could hear voices before now there's only the wind." " What voices?" "Words... from far away." "Did they make any sense?" " None at all." " You truly deserve to die... but I see no reason to kill you." "I won't do it out of pity, since I lack that virtue, or out of rage, since you only inspire pity in me." "I don't want your pity." "I want your sword." "Give me one good reason to kill you without rage or pity!" "I'm cold and you're in a hurry." "I asked for a good reason and you gave me two, but I won't kill you because no reason justifies taking a life, even that of a man who no longer has a reason to live." "What does a man feel when he's dying?" "Why are you smiling?" "What's your name?" "Juan." "There are as many deaths as men on Earth, but none of them get the death they expect, because life is ironic, and death is a surprise." "And you, how do you feel?" "I can't see you." "Take my hand." "Are you there?" "Yes." "I can't feel you." "If you still want me to, I'll kill you." "It's not necessary." "There's no time left." "By the time you pull out your sword, the heavens will have pulled out my soul." "The Lord be with you." "Drink." " What about you?" " I don't drink, thank you." "Lady Elvira ordered that it all be done with the greatest discretion." "She told me to tell you she was coming, and that I should go." "Do you like this wine?" "It's good, but it makes me sleepy." "Does it make you want to sleep or dream?" "He who lives his dreams doesn't need to sleep to dream." "It's not so simple because he who makes his dreams real has to end up having real nightmares." "They are real, it's true." "I'd still rather have them in real life than in dreams, because in dreams I'm nothing, and in life I have my sword." "And what use is swordsmanship in a battle with heaven?" "I'm not worried about celestial battles, but about those down here, where the wounds are often more mortal than the sins." "You're right, since the worst sins are cured by repentance, and the slightest wounds are made fatal by doctors' concoctions." "How are things in the world?" "You must know better than I do, since I only know about my own life, and as a confessor, you hear about everyone else's." "But the things they tell me about are happening to you." "And what do they say is happening to me?" "I can't tell you all that they tell me... and don't think I believe all of it..." "only half of it, but I make them do double penance because lying is also a sin." "How do you tell truth from lies if you know nothing of the world?" "Well, I have to leave." "Go to the confessional, and wait." "And don't be naive, Don Juan." "Brother Durán knows a lot about the world." "No matter what they say, there's nothing like tobacco." "Tobacco and dancing are the passions of the aristocracy." "And without tobacco or dancing, life isn't worth living." " I can't dance." " It purges and enlivens the brain, and thanks to tobacco, any man can seem discreet." "I enjoy offering it to anyone to mark the start of a good friendship." "Tobacco makes us all equals, and dancing does too." " What's that?" " What?" " There's a noise." "Music!" " And who is she?" " La Flaca!" " Do you know her?" "I danced with her." "I taught her how." "If you want, I'll teach you too." "Don't lift your foot too much or make any wild movements." "Move your hand in the air with the rhythm of the steps, and lean like you're bowing." "Come here." "Come on, let's go." "It's very easy." "Here, come on." "No, no, no." "Don't hold me." "Let your fingers go as if you were sinking in an empty glove." "Now look down modestly so you don't distract your partner." "Yes, that's it." "Very good." "And now..." "One, two." "One, two..." "No, don't lift your knee so much." "And don't let your modesty prevent you from raising your chin." "That's it, like that." "Now keep going." "Come on." "One, two." "One, two, three..." "Very good!" "Come on, keep it up." "One, two, three..." "My lord left because he was told you were waiting for him elsewhere, and he went there." "I want you to tell your lord that the king has ordered him hanged wherever he is." "My lady, someone else has been hanged in his place, and what's worse is someone paid with their life for my only sin:" "being a loyal servant to my lord." "I want you to tell him to go far away, forever." "Wow, forever!" "That's not a word my lord knows." "Fickleness is his greatest virtue and the cause of all his sins, as well as the reason for his eternal damnation." "I'm not here to save his soul." "I'm here to save his life!" "Our life!" "Our life, you mean!" "From what I can see, my life and his hang from the same rope." "I want you to tell him I don't want to see him again." "I will." "And tell him I forgive him, despite all the pain he's caused me." "Because I know he wasn't looking to hurt me." "He was looking to free himself." " Okay, I hope I don't forget." "That is all." "Tell me, Sganarelle..." "What was she like?" "Her..." "I don't know." "It doesn't matter, since my lord is like the conquistadors, who have a wound whose only remedy is found in a woman's eyes, any woman, so long as it's not the one it should be... and never the same one twice." "He'll have a hard time seeing himself in that woman's eyes again, because she's dead." " Dead?" " Strangled." " My God!" "That's why they want to hang him, and you with him, as his accomplice in the murder." "Strangled?" "My lord and I have never had to do anything so extreme." "I know, Sganarelle." "And now, goodbye." "Oh..." "Tell him to forgive the trap I was forced to make him fall into." "I didn't want to be the woman who fell for his words twice." "Brother Durán's wine will console him." "Hail Mary." "Brother Durán?" "I'm not Brother Durán." " Where is Brother Durán?" " If you wish, I'll go look for him." "There's no time for that." "I'm on the way to my final prison, and I want to confess." "What is your name, Father?" "Brother Juan." "They're taking me to the castle where I was born." "I'll be confined there until I die." "That is my will, and that will be my penance, because I'm in mortal sin." "If the sin is mortal, then it will die with you." "It would be more serious to die with immortal sins." "I don't want empty words." "I want to confess." " I'll go find Brother Durán." " No!" "I don't want Brother Durán!" "Take my confession!" "What are your sins, my child?" "Out of all my sins, Father, there's one... for which I'll be condemned to eternal fire, because I can repent for having killed, though never with my own hands." "I can repent for having humiliated others, although only with words." "I can repent for my arrogance and my ambition, and for the accumulated riches and the power, which are now useless to me." "But... my sin of the flesh, when my flesh... is now just skin... that I can't repent." "I still tremble... at the thought of that sweet memory." "I would be a hypocrite if I said... that I repent it." "What can I do, Brother Juan..." "if there's nothing I can do?" "I absolve you." "Absolution without repentance is sacrilege!" "The sacrilege is mine, and the absolution yours." "Those are the Devil's words." "Do you know any friar who isn't?" " I don't deserve such a joke, sir!" " It's not a joke." "If I forgive you with my limited goodness, why won't God forgive you with his infinite goodness?" "I forgive you, I absolve you!" "Goodbye!" "No!" "Go away!" "Move aside!" "I absolve all of you!" "The king is dead." "Long live the king." "Close that window!" "It's so cold!" "Are you in a rush?" "Don't be so impatient, Lhermite." " What is today's date?" " September 13th, your majesty." "It's my wish that you respond to my questions with a simple tilt of the head, without saying a word or making any movement, so you don't confuse my thoughts." "Tell me..." "Is it true that I've lived... and I've been king?" "Is it true that I've been king?" "It hasn't been a dream?" "What a strange sensation." "Are you sure?" "I think the weather is nice, and we shouldn't let it go to waste." "Open the window, Lhermite." "The night... it's so dark..." "His majesty's final wish is that laughter be declared a capital sin." "May his will be done." "Let's exile the jester." "The horses are ready, sir." " The horses can wait." " The horses can, but your father can't." "And our pocketbook can't either." "He shouldn't bother with that woman, since he has a better one." " Not just one, a thousand!" " A thousand, and yet none." "Too bad women aren't coins, because if none are a thousand," "I'd be rich and could give my lord money so he wouldn't have to ask his father for it." "I wasn't born a queen, I'm not a lady, and men like you won't even use me as a whore." "Sir!" "Sir!" "Excuse me, sir." "If we don't leave soon, we'll be late." "What do you feel with a man in your arms?" "Some smell like pigs, others like goats, but they use me as a mattress, not as a pillow." "I appreciate you granting me your favors for nothing." "It's never been said better!" "Another day, on another occasion, I'll return what you gave me." " I gave nothing and got nothing." " Thanks for everything." " It's nothing." "Come in, Sganarelle." "Take your clothes off." "Come on, take them off." "That's an order." "Do it without shame or fear." "This woman isn't like the others." "She has no false modesty or silly prudishness." "She doesn't trade her bed for sacraments, and she only gives up her body where others lose their soul." "I'll disrobe if my lord orders me to." "As you can see, I'm disrobing, but I'd like to know why my lord is putting me in this position." "Don't be vain and think you've anything that could scandalize her eyes." "Seen one man, seen them all." "Now everyone in bed!" "I had a dream, Sganarelle." " You were me, and I was you." " What about me?" "You were the mountain valley where my head rested." "If I were you, I'd stop wasting time between those mountains." "You were me, doing what I usually do, and I was thinking what you're thinking now." "No, I've never thought that!" "And what's that?" "That only our wardrobes differ?" "That you could rival me in ingenuity and charm, simply by swapping clothes?" "I was wrong, sir!" "Even when we're naked, our different origins are clear, although we may share the same bed." "I'm talking about with clothes, not without." "You wear my clothes, and I'll wear yours." "Everyone will think you're the real Don Juan." "You flatter me, sir, but clothes don't make the man." "Why don't you ask her for her opinion?" "Ask her as if you were me." "How do we appear to you in the reflection of your pupils?" "Like two peas in a pod." "What'll your father say when he sees your outfit?" "My humble garb will inspire pity in him." "Do you feel so miserable that you desire compassion?" "It isn't compassion I seek, but money to pay for your favors." "Really, for me?" "I don't believe you!" "He doesn't even usually pay for this." " And you, would you pay?" " It'd be impossible." "Unless my lord's father takes pity on us, neither of us will be able to pay you." "And since he wants me to be like him," "I won't be able to do anything he wouldn't do, although if I were who I am..." "that is, his servant, then I'd pay you in gold if I could." " What are you doing?" " Looking at you." "I see myself in your eyes, and it's like I'm looking at myself." "Do you like me?" "I like all of you." "You remind me of my mother's vegetable soup, and you smell like my father's baked bread." "I'm pleased to please people who please me." "Come on, Sganarelle!" "The horses are waiting." " Are you afraid of me?" " It's not fear, but prudence, because... my experience in love tells me that after pleasure comes pain." "God, I've been such a fool!" "I've spent my life asking the heavens for a son, believing he'd bring me comfort and joy, and as my punishment, the heavens have given me one." "And here he is, he's come." "His insolence wears out my patience." "Oh, what a terrible fate!" "To know that my name will only be lifted up again when the gallows raise it out of the mud!" "I regret the day I conceived him, and the hour he came into the world." "I'll turn him away this time." "I know what he wants." "He wants my money, not advice!" "But I won't give him anything this time." "By God, I swear it!" " He's coming, sir!" "He's coming!" " Tell him I've left." "No, no, sir." "My lord isn't here, sir!" "No, no, sir!" "No, no, sir!" "Sganarelle, tell my father that I repent my many sins." "The Lord has taken the blindfold from my eyes, and now I'm horrified to see the darkness in which I've lived." "Tell him I beg him for forgiveness and help." "I can't understand how it's God's will that we renounce worldly pleasures, when God's will is the reason we're in the world." "Would God give us a body and its senses simply to deceive us?" "Forgive and help a man who found it unreasonable to renounce low, earthly reason, in favor of high, divine madness." "I understand you." "Sit down." "Father..." "Before I can forgive you, I need you to understand first." "I too was young once... and it took me time to understand it." "That which is pleasant is bad, because no one should live contentedly while others are unhappy." "By contrast, that which appears depressing is good, because it makes us all equal." "It makes us think about the hereafter." "That's very wise." "Sickness and old age are our best allies in attaining virtue... because as the years pass, our desires diminish." "And in sickness, they vanish altogether." "That's why all wise men are old." "It's only saintliness which can come early in life." "Mind you, it takes great anguish... and a pinch of madness." "If my repentance isn't too late, I'd like to be saintly before I'm old." "Be careful... arrogant saintliness is pride's trap." "Wishing to stand out among other mortals brings a fitting punishment." "All that's left for us, then, is sickness and old age." "Naturally, since those are things granted by the heavens, and aren't products of our base desires and vain ambitions." "I think the heavens are about to grant me those favors, because I'm troubled more and more by handling a sword... and engaging in sin." "So grant me your forgiveness and help." "Not so fast." "Your repentance mustn't come from your laziness, but from conviction." "Close your eyes." "How do you feel when you think about those young, succulent bodies, which occupy your thoughts so?" " Indifferent." " That's not enough!" "Think about after the moist embraces and the delirious words, when a profound weariness unavoidably comes over you." " You're right, Father." "I'm weary of it." " That's not enough either!" "Weariness follows pleasure, which is useless, so to avoid it, one must feel aversion to it." "My thoughts exactly." "Pleasure is useless, so one must feel aversion to it." "I feel aversion to it." "Will you be able to forgive me?" "You have my forgiveness." "And regarding my help..." "you can count on it, so long as you promise me you'll go see your wife, Lady Elvira." "And after declaring to her your good intentions, you must embark on a new life, within the holy framework of marriage." "That's impossible, sir." "I must flee the kingdom." "The Holy Office is pursuing me for a crime I didn't commit, and Lady Elvira is in the convent." "Speak with her, and tell her to wait for you." "And don't return until the king's funeral has ended." "I'll deal with the Holy Office... because those who obey celestial plans appreciate better than anyone the divine glint of gold." "Lord... keep me from seeing him again... because I'm weak, and I'm not even strong enough to damn myself." "That's my only virtue." "You know that I love him, and I want him." "One word would be enough to draw me to him." "One caress would be enough." "Lord, keep him from me." "I beg you." "Because it isn't fear of your hell that's stopping me." "It's resentment from my wounded pride." "I'm not asking you for forgiveness or comfort, because if I get saved, and he gets damned..." "I'll find your eternity odious." "I'm happy you've seen the light." "I admit I was moved to hear you speak judiciously at last." "Judicious comes from judgment, and judgment from judge." "Don't confuse words for judges, since, as you well know, they only send men to prison or the gallows." "Did you really think I was speaking from my heart?" "Honestly, I had my doubts, but I struggled to believe you were both a sinner and a hypocrite." "Nobody is ashamed of that now." "Hypocrisy is a trendy vice." "Trendy vices have always passed for virtues." "No, my lord." "You're speaking like a courtier." "Courtiers follow fashion." "Fashion is born of the imagination." "Imagination comes from the soul." "The soul gives us life." "Life ends in death." "Death makes us think of heaven." "Heaven is over the Earth." "Earth isn't the sea." "The sea has storms." "In storms, ships wreck." "Ships need a good navigator, and the navigator a good captain." "Beautifully reasoned!" "Your husband is here." "He wishes to see you." "My husband, madam, is dead." "He's alive, and he has a very urgent reason for visiting." "He's dead, in my heart." "And nothing could ever bring me to receive him... because I'm no longer his." "He's a man who's truly sorry, and wants to humbly ask for forgiveness." "You mustn't refuse." "He's leaving for distant lands." "Tell him I forgive him." "God has put out the fire that burned in me." "He knows, and he's only seeking your blessing." "No..." "I can't see him." "He needs to see you." "Don't insist." "I can't do it." "He says he's different now." "So am I." "Then you've nothing to fear." "Lord... make the man who doesn't fear the heavens... at least respect this poor woman." "My respects, my lady." "Don't you want to see me?" "Don't you want to talk to me?" "You must hate me, I understand." "I've loved you with infinite tenderness." "For me, there was nothing in this world like your love." "But now I'm only asking you to leave me." "I can't take any more deception." "I can't take any more pain." "My hell will be the memory of your kisses... of your body... of the passionate words I'll never hear again." "That's my hell, Don Juan." "Not yours." "Other caresses... other bodies... other kisses will give life to your life, while I fade away forever, here." "You're the woman I've kissed on other lips... the skin of my caresses... the shadow of my desire." "Enough." "My decision is final." "I don't want to see you again." "You'll do what you must." "But first I need to talk to you." "I've feigned repentance before my father, and I feign depravity before the world." "You'd want to believe me, my lady, if I told you that I'm trying to be sincere for once." "I can only believe in the pain I feel." "That's what it is to be cursed." "That's what it is to be damned." "I thought I would capture eternity in the cage of an instant, but I only managed to imprison sadness." "Pleasure escapes like water between one's fingers." "I'm tired, my lady." "Tired of myself and tired of my games." "Not because they're sinful, but because they're useless." "It's not punishment I fear... but boredom." "My suffering keeps me from pitying you." "Pity... that's not the feeling I expect from you, and I'd give my life to undo the hurt I've caused you." "I'm not seeking compassion either." "I only want to forget." "Because it isn't love to wish you were as I want, instead of as you are." "Not even the thirst you've awoken in me can be quenched with fire." "The only comfort in this life is knowing that laughter isn't a sin." "God laughs at us, Lady Elvira, and He looks kindly on those who laugh at themselves... but He doesn't forgive those who cry." "I'll only ask you for one thing before leaving:" "I want to see you smile." "What are you doing?" "I've been meditating on the ephemeral human condition, and I'm holding on to this column to avoid being swept away." "By what, the wind?" "You're right." "It gets us all the moment we let down our guard, but you can come down." "We're going." "The wind stopped blowing." "It's time, not the wind, which never stops blowing!" "You entered the convent a moment ago, and now we're off again." " How is my lady?" " Very repentant for my sins." "Did she believe your lies?" "You can't trick someone who knows they've been tricked, and, being unable to trick her," "I'm very much afraid that I've tricked myself instead." "What's that, sir?" "Put her on your mule, Sganarelle!" "We're taking her with us!" "This fuss doesn't concern us, my lord, and those men are armed." "Do what I said." "They're drunk." "Tell your servant to return the Indian woman!" "What are you celebrating?" "Your king's funeral?" "The king of everyone and everything, including you!" "I only recognize one king:" "The one who dictates my desires, and obeys my will!" "I am Luis of Mor, lord of Brandon!" "My lord!" "I know you... you strangled your wife." "You weren't brave enough to hang yourself... and now you amuse yourself by scaring poor women, with your drunk friends." "Who are you to behave so insolently?" "Have mercy!" "My lord lost his wits." "Let us be on our way." "He hasn't long to live." "Don't worry." "I won't fall for the sophistry... of a man who goes around seeking his own demise." "Move aside, Sganarelle." "There will be no mercy!" "I am Don Juan, lord of Mor." "Our lords have died in an unequal battle." "The damned are so heavy!" "Such a feat has never been celebrated in song." "Quiet, troubador." "A moment ago, they were laughing and riding around..." "And now we bear the burden of their sins." "What will become of me if, God forbid, my lord were to die?" "I can't make it on my own." "I work with a partner, not alone." "Poor Sganarelle." "Better times will come for those who, like you, need a master." "Wherever you go, I'll miss you." "You were the course of my discourse, the channel of my thought." "Never again will my words find it." "Oh yes, my lord!" "I'll echo them as long as I live and my memory permits..." "I promise!" "My lord, you won't die from that wound." "We'll reach the other shore." "Boatman, take us to the other side!" "I'm sorry, Sganarelle." " Where I'm going, I must go alone." " No, my lord!" "Here." "My sword." "Take care of the princess." "She needs you." "Teach her the names of the things in this world, and don't give names to those in the hereafter." " What's the other shore like, boatman?" " It's like this one, sir." "I wonder, sir..." "How can a man who's lived without faith, die without faith?" "You're wrong, Sganarelle." "I have faith..." "I have faith that Death is a woman." "My lord Don Juan..." "This marriage will last you your whole life!" "Don Juan..."