Zerlina: A Study on How to Overcome Anxiety

Zerlina is a character from Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni (Il dissoluto punito ossia il Don Giovanni), K 527, which premiered in Prague in 1787, with libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. The libretto and adaptation exclusively used by Kierkegaard is the one by Laurids Kruse from 1807.1 Zerlina is described as a beautiful and charming peasant girl, who is about to be married when she and her bridegroom Masetto run into Don Giovanni. Her innocence and naïveté do not protect her against Don Giovanni’s advances, and she is seduced in the famous duet, “Là ci darem la mano” (There we will entwine our hands), duettino No. 7.2 This duet is very important for the opera because it is where Don Giovanni demonstrates his art of seduction. The aria also works as a touchstone because it is where the two actors playing Don Giovanni and Zerlina are able to show their acting talents. Zerlina is not portrayed as anything spectacular, but an ordinary peasant girl; Don Giovanni choosing her and seducing her in the duet is not seen as making her into someone special. After being seduced, Zerlina is left bewildered and perplexed as to what happened, how it happened, and by the end does not find herself to blame.