The emphasis Bryon placed on education in Don Juan, Canto 1 surprised me and made me think Bryon’s points about education went beyond merely demonstrating the incompatibility of Donna Inez and Don Jose.
Bryon first introduces education early in the story, using it to demonstrate the incompatibility of Donna Inez and Don Jose. Donna Inez is a “learned lady,” whereas Don Jose, on the other hand, is the opposite. The narrator refers to him as a cavalier who never mounted a horse. The narrator, semi-sarcastically, says “ye lords of ladies intellectual, / Inform us truly, have they not hen-peck’d you all?” The emphasis on Inez’s education sets up the incompatibility between her and Don Jose, but that isn’t the end of education in Canto 1.
After Don Jose’s death, Donna Inez begins educating Don Juan, presumably because she doesn’t want him to end up uneducated like Don Jose. Don Juan, at Inez’s command, learns arts, sciences, and languages: “no branch was made a mystery / To Juan’s eyes, excepting natural history.” This line especially seems to imply Byron dislikes/mocks excessive learning. Don Juan learns all these things Inez wants him to learn, but doesn’t seem to learn anything “useful,” according to the narrator. The narrator points out Don Juan learns “languages, especially the dead” and “sciences, most of all the abstruse.” Byron/the narrator sees Don Juan’s education as useless because he isn’t learning anything that will help him in life.
The emphasis on the pointlessness of Don Juan’s education is obviously Byron digging at overly studied people, but I also think it sets up the rest of the story, especially Don Juan’s interactions with Donna Julia. As Donna Julia falls in love with Don Juan, she understands her feelings have changed from platonic to romantic, whereas Don Juan seems socially inept. Don Juan doesn’t understand the shift in their relationship dynamic—presumably, because he had a very in-depth academic education, but very little social education.
