Don Juan · Chapter
Canto XII explained
Juan, now somewhat blasé from his adventures, moves through English high society.
What happens
Juan, now somewhat blasé from his adventures, moves through English high society. He observes Parliament and the Prince Regent, while the orphan Leila becomes a fashionable mystery. Various dowagers and peeresses compete to educate her, and Juan entrusts her to Lady Pinchbeck, a reformed woman of society. The canto ends with Byron's meta-commentary on his own poem and a promise to turn to 'Political Economy.'
Themes in this chapter
Satire of Society
Byron satirizes the English marriage market, the competition among dowagers to educate Leila, and the superficiality of high society.
Hypocrisy and Cant
The canto exposes the hypocrisy of virtuous women who 'hate all vice except its reputation' and the double standards of chastity.
Illusion and Reality
Juan's experience of the 'Great World' as a microcosm on stilts contrasts the appearance of high society with its underlying triviality.
Characters to notice
- Don Juan
Now a young man of the world, somewhat blasé, observing English society and Parliament.
- Leila
The little orphan from the East, now a fashionable mystery in London society, with her education being contested by dowagers.
- Lady Pinchbeck
A reformed woman of society, now deemed amiable and witty, who becomes Leila's guardian.
Key passages
“And as for Chastity, you’ll never bind it By all the laws the strictest lawyer pleads, But aggravate the crime you have not prevented, By rendering desperate those who had else repented.”
Strict laws against chastity only make the crime worse by driving people to despair who might otherwise have repented.
Byron critiques the counterproductive nature of rigid moral laws.
“The little Leila, with her Orient eyes, And taciturn Asiatic disposition, (Which saw all Western things with small surprise, To the surprise of people of condition, Who think that novelties are butterflies To be pursued as food for inanition,)”
Little Leila, with her Eastern eyes and quiet Asian nature, was unimpressed by Western novelties, much to the astonishment of society people who chase new things like butterflies.
Leila's exotic background and calm demeanor make her a fashionable mystery in London.
“Don Juan saw that Microcosm on stilts, Yclept the Great World; for it is the least, Although the highest: but as swords have hilts By which their power of mischief is increased,”
Juan saw the so-called 'Great World' as a tiny world on stilks—the smallest yet highest—like a sword whose hilt increases its power to do harm.
Byron dismisses high society as a petty, dangerous microcosm.