Don Juan · Chapter
Canto XVI explained
At Norman Abbey, Lord Henry and Lady Adeline entertain guests.
What happens
At Norman Abbey, Lord Henry and Lady Adeline entertain guests. The legend of the Black Friar is recounted and sung by Adeline. Don Juan, visibly disturbed, later encounters the ghostly figure in the gallery at midnight.
Themes in this chapter
Illusion and Reality
Juan's encounter with the Black Friar blurs the line between supernatural belief and psychological projection.
Satire of Society
The chapter mocks aristocratic pastimes, art dealing, legal disputes, and moral hypocrisy.
Mortality and Transience
The ghostly friar and the gallery of portraits evoke the passage of time and the presence of death.
Characters to notice
- Don Juan
Visibly disturbed by talk of the Black Friar; later encounters the ghost in the gallery.
- Lady Adeline Amundeville
Sings the ballad of the Black Friar and watches Juan's reactions closely.
- Lord Henry Amundeville
Hosts the party, tells the legend of the Black Friar, and discusses various estate matters.
- The Black Friar
Legendary ghost of Norman Abbey; appears to Juan in the gallery.
Key passages
“Beware! beware! of the Black Friar, Who sitteth by Norman stone, For he mutters his prayer in the midnight air, And his mass of the days that are gone.”
Be cautious of the Black Friar who haunts Norman Abbey, praying at midnight for the past.
Adeline's song recounts the legend of the ghostly friar.
“Juan was petrified; he had heard a hint Of such a Spirit in these halls of old, But thought, like most men, that there was nothing in’t Beyond the rumour which such spots unfold...”
Juan was frozen in fear; he had heard rumors of the ghost but dismissed them until now.
Juan's skeptical rationalism gives way to terror upon seeing the apparition.