# Canto II explained — Don Juan

> Chapter companion for Don Juan by Lord Byron.

## What happens

Don Juan embarks from Cadiz for Italy, suffering severe seasickness and pining for Julia, before a shipwreck leads to a desperate survival at sea. He eventually washes ashore on a Greek island, where he is discovered by Haidée, and they fall deeply in love, pledging themselves in a natural, solitary wedding.

## Themes in this chapter

### Love and Marriage

Juan and Haidée's natural, solitary wedding contrasts with societal marriage, which Byron critiques as a bond of treachery and thanklessness.

### Satire of Society

Byron satirizes education, marriage, and social hypocrisy, mocking the ineffectiveness of Juan's upbringing and the constraints on women.

### Mortality and Transience

The shipwreck and survival at sea highlight human fragility, while the fleeting nature of love and life is underscored.

## Character check-ins

### Don Juan

Departs Spain, suffers seasickness, survives shipwreck, and begins a love affair with Haidée.

### Donna Inez

Sends Juan to Cadiz for embarkation and starts a Sunday school after his departure.

### Donna Julia

Remembered by Juan as he reads her letter and vows constancy before seasickness overwhelms him.

### Pedrillo

Juan's tutor, who accompanies him on the voyage and is later killed during the shipwreck survival.

### Haidée

Introduced as Nature's bride and Passion's child; she finds Juan on the shore and they become lovers.

## Key lines

> Haidée was Nature’s bride, and knew not this; Haidée was Passion’s child, born where the Sun Showers triple light

Haidée is innocent of societal conventions, driven purely by natural passion and the warmth of her homeland.

_Highlights Haidée's untamed, natural character in contrast to corrupt society._

> And now ’twas done⁠—on the lone shore were plighted Their hearts; the stars, their nuptial torches, shed Beauty upon the beautiful they lighted: Ocean their witness, and the cave their bed, By their own feelings hallowed and united, Their priest was Solitude, and they were wed

Juan and Haidée exchange vows in a private ceremony on the shore, with nature as their witness and priest.

_Describes their idyllic, unsanctioned union as pure and sacred._

> So Juan wept, as wept the captive Jews By Babel’s waters, still remembering Zion

Juan cries for his lost homeland like the exiled Jews in Babylon.

_Biblical allusion emphasizing Juan's sorrow at leaving Spain._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/don_juan_se/chapters/canto-ii
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/don_juan_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/don_juan_se/chapters