Dracula is Don Giovanni! Both

Dracula is Don Giovanni!


  • Both anti-heroes claim three ‘victims’ (the peasant girl Zerlina, Donna Elvira and Donna Anna in the case of Don Giovanni; Lucy Westenra and Jonathan and Mina Harker in the case of Dracula);
     

  • Each is faced by enemies who include two pairs of lovers and an elderly man; 
     

  • Both have parallel master-servant relationships (with Leporello and Renfield, who both complain of being denied the pleasures enjoyed by the central characters);
     

  • Apart from the seduction of the peasant girl Zerlina, all the significant developments in Mozart’s opera, and particularly Don Giovanni’s sexual assaults, take place at night;
     

  • When he seduces Donna Anna, he does so wrapped in a vampiresque cloak. She wakes up as if from a dream, in the same way as Lucy does after being attacked by Dracula.
     

  • Mr Barrico also notes that Mozart’s opera features a character from the ranks of the “undead”. Donna Anna’s father, the Commendatore, has enough vampire-like attributes to return to life after his murder and drag Don Giovanni down to hell.
    [The Guardian]