Three variations on Don Juan: Treatments by Ramon Maria del Valle-Inclan, Manuel and Antonio Machado, and Miguel de Unamuno, 1926--1929

This thesis focuses on three theatrical treatments of Don Juan as he is portrayed by four writers of the so-called Generation of '98: Valle-Inclan's Las galas del difunto (1926), Antonio and Manuel Machado's Juan de Manara (1927), and Unamuno's El hermano Juan o el mundo es teatro (1929), with an emphasis on the innovations to the legend contributed by the authors, and the historical, cultural, and religious elements prominent in their plays. The most significant difference between these three treatments of the 1920's and the earlier ones, of the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries, is the theme of redemption. In the earlier versions, Don Juan is punished or expects punishment in exchange for his evil deeds. However, in the modern renditions, Don Juan's role is redemptive. Valle-Inclan exposes a society in need of redemption in his treatment, and Don Juan both receives and offers redemption in the adaptations of the Machados and Unamuno