In the intro to Don Juan in the anthology points out "that this archetypal lady-killer of European legend is in fact more acted upon than active." (672).
This is exemplified in Don Juan's affair with Donna Julia. The narrator first explores the life of Donna Julia and her circumstances. She is married to "a man / Of fifty, and such husbands are in plenty; / And yet, I think, instead of such a ONE / 'Twere better to have tow of five-and-twenty" (439 - 492). This alludes to Julia's unhappiness in being married to an older man while she was described as "charming, chaste, and twenty-three" (472).
He was only a sixteen year old, while she was twenty three, when their relationship changed from one of Julia seeing Juan as a "pretty child" to one of flirtation. It is described that though they became attracted to each other and more shy than before, it was only Donna Julia who understood why "But as for Juan, he had no more notion / Than he who never saw the sea of ocean." (559- 560). The narrator is showing that Donna Julia is older, and more knowledgable in matters of love and sex than Don Juan is. In fact, Don Juan is completely ignorant, though he is typically a character who can woo any woman.
It is then Julia who "resolved to make / The noblest efforts for herself and mate" to remain virtuous and true to her husband. All the while, Don Juan is still ignorant that this is even necessary.
All this focus on Julia being the one with the "cunscious heart", and not Don Juan, depicts the irony of Byron's version of the European flirt. This is a character who is supposed to make any woman swoon because of his looks, charm, and love tactics. Yet in Byron's poem, Don Juan is just a boy who a married woman happens to be attracted to. It almost seems accidental. Byron takes the idea of the "lover-boy" and makes a mockery of him in this way.
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