Character List
Don Juan The son of an easygoing father and a strict mother who is doted on by his parents. At the age of sixteen he has an affair with Donna Julia.
Don José Juan's father, who is unfaithful to his wife and careless of his reputation.
Donna Inez Juan's mother, a learned woman plagued by the infidelity of her husband. One of her chief interests is the education of her son.
The Narrator A friend of Don Juan's family. He is dismissed from the story in the first canto and his place is taken by the omniscient author.
Donna Julia The wife of Don Alfonso and a friend of Don Juan's family. She is twenty-three and unhappily married.
Don Alfonso The husband of Donna Julia. He is fifty and fails to provide his wife with the love she yearns for.
Antonia Donna Julia's maidservant who helps her in her intrigue with Don Juan.
Pedrillo Juan's tutor, the victim of cannibalism by the survivors of the wreck of the Trinidada.
Haidée The beautiful seventeen-year-old daughter of Lambro, a Greek smuggler, pirate, and slave trader, and of a Moroccan mother who has died before the story opens.
Lambro A sternly inflexible and completely self-controlled man who, because his native country is not free, preys upon the commerce of all countries. Haidée is his most treasured possession.
Zoe Haidée's faithful maidservant and companion. She is "wiser than Haidée by a year or two."
Raucocanti A member of an Italian operatic troupe sold into slavery by their treacherous manager. On the slave ship carrying them to Constantinople, he entertains Juan with malicious character sketches of the other members of the troupe.
John Johnson A cynical but practical English soldier of fortune captured by the Turks while fighting with the Russians. Like Juan, he is sold as a slave.
Baba A eunuch in the harem of the Sultan of Turkey who is the trusted servant of the sultana. He is shrewd and reliable.
Gulbeyaz The twenty-six-year-old fourth (and favorite) wife of the Turkish sultan. She has seen the handsome Juan on his way to the slave market and sends Baba to buy him.
The Sultan The ruler of the Turkish Empire who has four wives and 1,500 concubines. He is fifty-nine, solemn, cruel, unscrupulous, lazy, and ignorant. He has fifty daughters and forty-eight sons.
The Mother of the Maids The woman who is responsible for maintaining discipline in the sultan's harem.
Lolah A dusky beauty who is a concubine in the sultan's harem.
Katinka A harem beauty from Russian Georgia. Both she and Lolah volunteer to share their beds with "Juanna."
Dudu A "kind of sleepy Venus," a "large, and languishing, and lazy" beauty. Since there is no bed in the harem for Juan (dressed as a girl by Baba), Dudji has to share her bed with "Juanna."
Suwarrow Byron's name for General Suvorov (or Suvaroff), a historical character, one of the ablest generals in the armies of Catherine the Great. He is in charge of the Russian forces that capture Ismail from the Turks.
Leila A ten-year-old Turkish orphan whose parents have been killed during the assault on the Turkish fortress of Ismail.
Catherine the Great The sixty-one-year-old Czarina of Russia who falls in love with Don Juan.
Tom The English robber who in a holdup attempt on Don Juan is mortally wounded by him.
Lady Pinchbeck The woman selected by Don Juan to supervise the upbringing of his orphan ward Leila.
Lord Henry Amundeville A wealthy young English nobleman who is a member of the Privy Council and who becomes a friend of Don Juan.
Lady Adeline Amundeville The socially efficient twenty-one-year-old wife of Lord Henry who decides that she must get Don Juan married to save him from designing females like the Duchess Fitz-Fulke.
The Duchess Fitz-Fulke A voluptuous, intriguing, fun-loving friend of the Amundevilles. She and her husband get along by never spending any time together.
Aurora Raby A sixteen-year-old orphan heiress and friend of the Amundevilles. She is the only Roman Catholic in her social circle. She is pious, austere, sincere, and charitable. Like other young ladies, she becomes interested in the handsome Don Juan. She is the last character introduced into Don Juan.