This mess is more than just a play... it has lots of other parts- Loa, Letra, Sainete....
According to Wikipedia:
La historia gira en torno a dos parejas que se aman pero, por azares del destino, no pueden estar juntos aún. Esta comedia de enredos es una de las obras más destacadas de la literatura hispanoamericana tardobarroca y una de sus características más peculiares es la mujer como eje conductor de la historia: un personaje fuerte y decidido que expresa los anhelos —muchas veces frustrados— de la monja. Doña Leonor, la protagonista, encaja perfectamente en este arquetipo.4
El manejo de la intriga, la representación del complicado sistema de relaciones conyugales y las vicisitudes de la vida urbana constituyen a Los empeños de una casa como una obra poco común dentro del teatro en la Hispanoamérica colonial.5
Summary: Ana and her brother Pedro move from Madrid to Toledo. Ana gets the hots for a guy named Carlos in Toledo, but UH-OH, Carlos is interested in somebody else-Leonor. Leonor's dad, Rodrigo, is not a fan of Carlos, so Leonor and Carlos plan to elope-ish. Meanwhile, Juan is interested in Ana. Now, Ana finds out that she and Leonor are chasing the same man. THEN, Carlos and his servant show up at Ana's house 'cause they're running from the law. And then, Celia (Ana's faithful servant) goes to stay at Juan (who is interested in Ana)'s house. Juan tells off Ana for her lack of love, but Leonor overhears (a scene like de Zayas where everyone is talking to someone other than who they think). Then, when it all comes to like, Juan and Leonor think Ana is Carlos' lover.
Carlos then sends his servant to explain things to Leonor's father...oh, and just to fly under the radar, the servant dresses as Leonor. Entonces, el criado cambia su actitud y le promete que esa misma noche será su mujer. Al final todos los enredos se resuelven felizmente: Carlos queda con Leonor, Ana con Juan y Castaño (servant) con Celia. Don Pedro queda solo, principalmente por haber urdido (devise) todo el engaño para conseguir a una mujer que él sabía era un imposible.
The play begins with a LOA, a short composition in verse.
-Remember, in baroque theatre, cross-dressing was pretty normal.
-La estructura pentagonal de las parejas —cinco protagonistas— está diseñada para remarcar la soledad y el castigo de Pedro, quien queda como «galán suelto»
-Arellano's house is like a laberynth, which plays into all of the confusions in the play
-dos mundos morales: por un lado, encontramos uno propiamente moral, del que forman parte la pareja de enamorados Leonor-Carlos —una dama y un galán que se comportan de acuerdo a su condición social— y, por otro, el mundo inmoral de los celos, la envidia, la hipocresía, la ambición…, formado esencialmente por la pareja de hermanos Ana-Pedro.
Sobre la autora y la obra
-
Sor
Juana
o
Vida
o
Sor Juana was the voice of the Baroque period in
Hispanic-America (according to Anderson-Imbert)
-
This was her only theatrical work (her focus was
on poetry)
What Anderson-Imbert has to say on Los
empeños:
-
“A cloak-and-sword comedy” (103)
-
Deceptions, misunderstandings, darkness,
concealments, disguises, cloaked figures (103)
-
Action lasts a few hours and takes place in
Toledo (103)
-
Even the characters are confused; they don’t
know whether they dream or are awake and do not understand what is happening
around them (103)
-
“Don
Pedro loves Dona Leonor, but Dona Leonor loves Don Carlos. Don Juan loves Dona
Ana, but Dona Ana loves Don Carlos. At the end, the only happy couple
are the sincere lovers – the good Don Carlos and the discreet and beautiful
Dona Leonor, in whom Sor Juana seems to have portrayed herself” (104)
-
Reference to Spanish literature – says that the
plays of Spain are always better (104)
-
One Mexican character – the comic servant,
Castaño (104)
-
Important scene – servant Castaño, disguised as
a woman, suddenly directs himself to the audience and consults the women on
intimate items of apparel --- this involves deception/disguise, and breaks the
character-audience/fiction-reality barriers (104)
Personajes del trama
principal (no de los sainetes)
-
Don
Carlos – Carlos loves Leonor, marries Leonor at end
-
Don Juan – he likes Ana, marries Ana at end
-
Don Pedro – Ana’s brother; he loves Leonor but
ends up alone
-
Don
Rodrigo – Leonor’s father
-
Doña
Leonor – la protagonista; she loves Carlos, she marries Carlos at end
-
Doña Ana – Pedro’s sister; she likes Carlos more
than Juan, she marries Juan at end
-
Celia – Ana’s faithful servant, marries Castaño
at end
-
Hernando
– Rodrigo’s servant
-
Castaño
– Carlos’s servant, marries Celia at end
-
Dos
embozados (cloaked men?)
-
Dos
coros de música
Temas/ideas importantes
-
Estilo
de escritura
o
Escrito
en verso
o
Lots of asides, in which the audience learns
about other stuff going on and the characters reveal their private feelings/thoughts
o
Some mythological references (especially in
letters)
o
Use of rhetoric – affected modesty
-
Técnicas
literarias
o
Hipérbaton
(alterar el orden lógico de una frase)
o
Personificación
(en la loa al principio, por ejemplo)
o
Apostrofe
(al amor, varias veces)
o
Retórica
(modestia afectada)
-
Influencia
del barroco
o
Disfrazas
o
Engaños
(de palabra, de apariencia)
o
La
gente que parece estar ausente realmente está presente (y escondida y
escuchando, media vez)
-
Realidad
vs. apariencia
o
This plays into the barroco thing. There are
disguises (think Castaño dressing up as a woman) and lots of deceptions that
make things appear different from how they actually are.
-
Género
o
Female
protagonist – Leonor
o
La
escena que Castaño se disfraza como mujer (Es el único caso de un hombre
vestido de mujer dentro de una larga tradición donde lo corriente, por no
considerarse injurioso, era vestir a una mujer de hombre)
o
Sátira
de los papeles sociales de los géneros
§ En vez de abrir con los amores y enredos
de los hombres, empieza con los amores y enredos de las mujeres. Las mujeres
también participan en la seducción y el engaño, en vez de ser sólo víctimas.
§ Doña Leonor, la mujer inteligente: es una
especie de alter-ego de Sor Juana. Es
bella, inteligente y virtuosa. Cuenta su
biografía, la cual parece muchísimo a la vida de SJ.
-
Spain
vs. México
o
Castaño
es el único del “Nuevo Mundo” – es mestizo
o
In one of the sainetes, they say that
plays/theatre/literatura from Spain are/is always best
-
Amor
o
“es
tan ciego Amor”
o
Love is like the motivating force for almost all
the characters (of the upper class) in almost everything they do (Ana, Carlos,
Pedro, Juan, and Leonor…)
-
Los
celos, la envidia
o
Ana is jealous of Leonor’s great beauty and her
relationship with Carlos.
o
Leonor is jealous when she thinks maybe Carlos
is visiting Ana secretly
o
Juan is jealous because he thinks maybe Ana and
Carlos have something going on
-
Clase
social
o
Leonor says that to be born noble is a curse
o
Division of social class – upper noble class
(Leonor, Carlos, Ana, Juan, Pedro) and lower class servants (Celia and Castaño)
o
Celia manipulates Ana sometimes (like when she
lies about how don Juan got in)
-
Honor
o
Leonor has lost her honor since she was caught
trying to run away with Carlos
o
Leonor worries about her honor because of being
in a house with Pedro
o
Carlos is careful about not screwing up Ana’s
honor; he hides from Pedro in the house because he doesn’t want Ana to have any
problems
Apuntes del texto
Loa que precedió a la comedia que se sigue
-
Música asks everyone to be silent and pay
attention
-
They’re going to judge who/what is best – la
Fineza, la Diligencia, la Fortuna, el Acaso (Fate), or el Mérito?
-
All the different qualities think they are best
-
Personification – the different qualities
converse/argue
o
"que la Diligencia siempre al Mérito
acompañó", "Muchas veces hemos visto que puede la prevención quitar
el daño al Acaso (fate)."
-
Merit and
Fortune debate one another. Fortuna says: "¿No soy de la paz y la guerra
el árbitro superior?"
-
Parallel
format with opposites: No es! Sí es! (arguments between
Música and each of the qualities)
-
All the qualities call for Dicha
(Happiness/Luck?) to come and decide which of them is best. Dicha comes and
they all praise her. She points out the good in all the qualities and no “best”
quality is chosen…
Letra que se cantó por “Divina Fénix, permite”
-
Directed
at “Divina Lysi”
-
“Ni
agadarte solicita… Sólo es una ofrenda humilde” – “not even trying to please
you, it’s just a humble offering”
-
Idea of affected
modesty in S.J.’s very humble tone
-
“Seguro,
en fin, de la pena, / obra el amor” – no love without pain?
Jornada I (en
casa de Don Pedro)
-
Doña Ana and Celia are waiting for Pedro (Ana’s
brother) to get home. In their conversation, we learn that the siblings moved
from Madrid to Toledo together for business reasons. Don Juan fell in love with
Ana in Madrid and then followed her to Toledo. She was into him at first but is
bored with him now and more into Don Carlos.
o
“el
amor que es villano / en el trato y la bajeza, / se ofende de la fineza”
-
Ana explains that Pedro is into another chick,
Leonor – she is the reason he didn’t want to go back to Madrid, but the problem
is that Leonor is in love with someone else (Carlos).
-
Ana tells about how Pedro tricked Leonor and
Carlos to try and win Leonor for himself. While Leonor was with Carlos, Pedro
pretended to be la Justicia and had someone pretend to rob her, and then had
someone leave Leonor at his house (to get her in his house that way).
o
“mi
hermano… sin riesgo habrá conseguido / traer su dama a su casa”
o
“sin
que él parezca culpado / ni ella pueda estar quejosa”
-
Celia says lies are nothing new in love
(referring to the way Pedro is tricking Leonor)
-
Celia doesn’t understand why Ana doesn’t like
Don Juan anymore. Ana says that he’s been a great “amante” and has always
followed her, etc. The reason she’s not so interested anymore is because
someone else has caught her attention – Don Carlos.
-
Aside: Celia says that she has don Juan hidden
in Ana’s room, because he wants to know why Ana has been acting cold towards
him.
-
The “Justicia” men arrive and leave Leonor at
Pedro and Ana’s house with Ana. Leonor falls at Ana’s feet begging for help.
Celia and Ana are amazed by her beauty. Leonor wants to kiss Ana’s feet out of
gratefulness for being safe.
-
Leonor tells Ana her “sad” story
o
“Yo
nací noble; éste fue / de mi mal el primer paso”
o
“Decirte
que nací hermosa / presumo que es excusado” – I’m obviously beautiful
o
“Inclineme
a los estudios / desde mis primeros años” – studious, like S. Juana
o
Everybody
loved her – “no acertaba a amar a alguno, / viéndome amada de tantos”
o
One day, don Carlos showed up. He is very
handsome.
§ Rhetoric: “te pido /
licencia para pintarlo, / por disculpar mis errores”
§ Rhetoric: “En fn, yo
le amé; no quiero / cansar tu atención contando… la historia caso por caso”
o
Carlos and Leonor fell in love and wanted to get
married. Leonor’s dad was already checking out other suitors, so they decided
to flee. They ran into trouble with the Justicia – Carlos killed Leonor’s
cousin who was trying to stop them and then managed to escape, but they got
Leonor and brought her to Ana’s house. Now Leonor is without honor and scared
that they will execute Carlos.
§ “me hallo / sin crédito, sin honor, / sin
consuelo…” (parallel structure: sin,
sin, sin, sin…)
-
Ana is intrigued to find out that Leonor has a
relationship with Carlos, the same guy she wants to get with. She is still
determined to get Carlos for herself.
-
Carlos shows up with his servant, Castaño. He
has followed la Justicia to the house and is scared he’s lost Leonor and says
“si ya perdí el alma, / poco me importa la vida.” Castaño serves as comic relief – “A mí sí me importa mucho.” Carlos and
Castaño ask Ana to hide them from La Justicia. Meanwhile, Ana wonders if Carlos
could forget about Leonor and love her instead? Ana hides them and Castaño
remains impressed by her beauty – “Shouldn’t you have fallen in love with her
instead?”
-
In
Leonor’s house: the servant Hernando tells Leonor’s father (don Rodrigo)
that Leonor has gone out, but that he doesn’t know with whom.
o
Rodrigo
is pissed – “¡Oh mujeres! ¡Oh monstruo venenoso! / ¿Quién en vosotras fía…?” Rodrigo
thought his daughter would be smarter about men despite her extreme beauty. Rodrigo
doesn’t know how to go about getting revenge.
o
Hernando suggests that maybe Leonor is with
Pedro de Arellano, since the rumors indicate that Pedro is really into Leonor. He then advises Rodrigo – “tú estás
cansado y viejo, / don Pedro es mozo, rico y alentado.” How about you
just marry them off and avoid any problems that way?
o
Rodrigo
likes Hernando’s idea – “Buscar a mi ofensor aprisa elijo / por convertirle de
enemigo en hijo”
-
In Pedro’s
house again: Don Juan is trying to talk to Leonor, thinking that she is
Ana. Leonor is trying to get away from him.
o
Juan
to Leonor – “tú, huyendo de quien te quiere; / yo, siguiendo a quien me mata”
o
Leonor tries to explain that she’s not the woman
he wants to talk to (si como sospecho / me juzgáis otra, os engaña / vuestra
pasión”). Juan thinks that she’s lying and pretending to be someone else when
she truly is Ana. Juan grabs her to make her listen to him and Leonor shouts
out.
-
Carlos and Ana hear the noise from Juan and
Leonor’s altercation and wonder what the noise came from. They go to check it
out and Ana is shocked to recognize Juan’s voice. Carlos goes up to Leonor,
thinking she is Ana. Ana thinks Carlos is still Juan and tells him to leave her
alone. He clarifies saying it is Carlos, and she is confused and doubtful.
-
Celia comes out with a light and the four people
(Ana, Juan, Carlos, and Leonor) all recognize each other. Juan, seeing Carlos,
thinks that he must be Ana’s lover. Leonor, seeing Carlos, thinks the same.
Juan confronts Ana, saying that must why she was cold towards him; he says he
will kill Carlos for vengeance.
-
In all the confusion, Pedro arrives and Ana
tells everyone to pause the drama and hide. The men both agree and Celia hides
them.
-
Ana laments
her situation. “¡Cielos, en qué empeño estoy: / de Carlos enamorada, /
perseguida de don Juan, / con mi enemiga en mi casa, / con criadas que me
venden, / y mi hermano que me guarda!”
-
Pedro greets Ana and asks her where she has
hidden Leonor. Pedro says he will talk to her later, he doesn’t want to cause
her any bad (more than he already has…). He thanks Ana for helping him out.
o
Ana:
“Hermano, yo por servirte / muchos más riesgos pasara / pues somos los dos tan
uno” (love between siblings)
-
At end of scene – parallel asides and then parallel apostrophes directed to
“amor”
Letra por “Bellísimo
Narciso”…
-
“Bellísima
María… árbitro de las luces”
-
Rhetoric: asks “Lysi divina” to pardon any errors; “para
tu aplauso / nunca hay voces capaces” (affected
modesty)
Sainete primero de palacio
-
Witty tone
-
Alcalde is going to decide the best Quality/Thing
and give it a reward (between Amor, Obsequio, Respeto, Fineza, and Esperanza)
-
Repetition:
“Andad, andad adentro”
-
Irony: Can't give
reward to Respect, “Porque lo extento de las deidades, no admite pretensión; y
el pretenderlo y conseguirlo, será perdérseles el respeto.” Can't give it to
Fineza, “lo fino del amor está en no mostrar el serlo.”
-
Relationship
between Esperanza and Desconfianza
-
Parallel
structure at end – each quality has a four-line copla
Jornada II
The next morning, at Pedro and Ana’s house.
-
Scene I: Carlos and Castaño talk about what’s
going on and Carlos says everything is so weird it seems like a dream. Castaño
serves for comic relief; he says that he used Leonor’s dresses as a bed – “que
pues yo las cargué a ellas, / ellas me carguen a mí.” Carlos says he saw Leonor
in the house; Castaño is skeptical, saying “como has perdido a Leonor, / se te
aparecen Leonores,” but he is more interested in what happened with Ana. He’s
not at all sure about Carlos having seen Leonor in the house and warns him,
“mira, muy bueno es ser loco, mas no es bueno serlo tanto.” Yet afterwards,
Castaño says that he also saw Leonor… in a life-like painting on Carlos’s
pocket watch. Carlos is going to wait and see why Leonor is in the house before
deciding what to do.
-
Scene II: Celia comes and tells Carlos to go to
the garden, because Pedro might come into the room where he is hiding. In an
aside, Celia reveals that it’s really so that he won’t accidentally see Leonor.
Celia and Castaño chat in a somewhat flirtatious/playful way.
-
Scene III: Ana asks Leonor how her night was and
Leonor responds cleverly. Ana
admires Leonor’s intelligence, “quien es tan entendida / es lástima que sea hermosa.”
Leonor indicates Ana’s beauty as well, saying, “tú estás tan segura / de que
aventajas a todas / las hermosuras.” Leonor wonders (in an aside) how to
ask Ana why Carlos was at her house. When she asks her, Ana avoids answering
and says her brother (Pedro) wants to talk to Leonor.
-
Scene IV: Pedro shows up to talk to Leonor. He
pledges his intense love for her and says she will be well-taken care of in his
house, then tells Ana to entertain her. Ana, in an aside, reveals her plan to
make it so that Carlos sees Leonor and Pedro together to make him suspicious
and jealous. Meanwhile, Pedro basically asks Leonor what Carlos has that he
doesn’t. Leonor tells him it’s inappropriate to be talking to her about love at
such a time.
-
Scene V: Castaño tells Carlos he must be going
crazy too, because he sees Leonor. Carlos looks and sees Leonor with Ana and
Pedro, with music. (Carlos: “¿Ves
cómo no fue cosa de ilusión el que aquí estaba?”). Carlos is totally in
love with Leonor; he says he won’t judge her until he knows the full situation.
The music starts; it’s a song about
love – lyric: “Cuál es la pena más grave que en las penas de amor cabe?” There’s
a sing-songy response about all the different negative aspects of love. (Parallel structure/repetition: “No es
tal, sí es tal”) Parallel structure takes on a new level when the characters
discuss the song and are in disagreement about which aspect/pain of love is the
worst. Ana, Leonor, and Pedro are going to go out to the garden; Ana reminds
Celia to do something as previously instructed and reminds her of her promised
reward if all goes well (a new dress).
-
Scene VI: Celia’s little monologue about the
nature of life as a servant – masters don’t always follow through with their
promises. Celia has made Ana believe that a different servant let don Juan in
the night before. Celia goes to talk to Carlos, and he asks her why “aquella
dama” (Leonor) was with Ana and Pedro. Celia acts like it’s a big secret, and says “Temo, señor, que es pecado /
descubrir vidas ajenas,” but then procedes to tell him anyway, saying that “es
una dama / a quien adora mi amo, / y anoche, yo no sé cómo / ni cómo no, entró
en su cuarto.” Celia acts innocent and says maybe Pedro wants her to be “fraile
descalzo.”
-
Scene VII: Carlos is freaking out thinking that
maybe Leonor wants to get with Pedro after all. “Wasn’t I the one chasing her?
Didn’t she want to be with me?” However (this dude is amazing), he still gives
her the benefit of the doubt. He’s still unhappy with the situation so he tells
Castaño, “let’s go get Leonor!” Castaño: “Are you crazy? Don’t you know there
are like a million servants in this house?” Carlos: “Um, do you think I’m a
coward? I said, let’s go.” Castaño: “Fine, fine, let’s go… next stop will be
the gallows…”
-
Scene VIII: Rodrigo (Leonor’s father) shows up, talking
to Juan; he wants Juan to talk to Pedro for him. Juan: “yo / por la ley de caballero, / os prometo reducer / a vuestro gusto a don
Pedro.” As an aside, Juan sees Carlos and is pissed and suspicious,
thinking he spent the night there with Ana.
-
Scene IX: Celia comes out and is worried because
don Juan and “un viejo” have seen Carlos. Carlos doesn’t care; he’s no coward,
yo! (“nada temo”). Rodrigo approaches Carlos and tells him that he and Juan
need to talk to Pedro, and Carlos realizes “aún ignora don Rodrigo / que soy de
su agravio el dueño.” Juan is getting ever more pissed just seeing Carlos.
Celia is concerned and tells Carlos to hide so Pedro doesn’t see him; Carlos
agrees because he doesn’t want anything to happen to Ana. Juan reveals (aside) that
he has a key to the garden so he plans to come back and get his revenge against
Carlos.
-
Scene
X: Monologues/thoughts revealed: Rodrigo muses about karma/fortuna; everything
happens for a reason – “dispone que paguemos / con males que recibimos / los
males que habemos hecho.” Juan is still pissed about Carlos and Ana.
Carlos wonders why Rodrigo is there and plans to eavesdrop.
-
Scene XI: Pedro comes out to talk to Rodrigo and
Juan. He is surprised to find Rod in his house.
Juan says he's there "al servicio vuestro" and says Rod has a problem
with him. Rod accuses Pedro of having taken Leonor, but says he’s not going to
waste his time lamenting something already done, and says he’s got a good
family/bloodline so it shouldn’t be a problem for him to become his son-in-law,
even though he (Rod) isn’t that rich. Pedro knows he's screwed – if he says
Leonor isn't there, Rod can find out she is. If he says she is there and that
Carlos took her, he will give her to him, and that’s no good because he wants
to marry Leonor (This is all a little
confusing.) Pedro says Leonor came to his house because she knew his
sister, Ana, was sick. There is some doubt about honor since she spent the
night at his house, so Rod says, "You better marry her." Pedro tries
to say, "I'll just need a day or two (stalling...)" Rodrigo agrees,
but Pedro is worried that Leonor might not be interested in this
marriage.
-
Scene XII: Carlos doesn’t know what to do; Castaño
suggests that he go for Ana (she’s rich and hot, so why not?). Carlos rejects this idea, since he’s still
hung up on Leonor. Castaño: “Fine, well let’s go look for her then.”
Letra por “Tierno, adorado Adonis”
I, quite frankly, get nothing out of these letters. I feel like it was
just Sor Juana being random and showing off her skill with verse. I can’t think
of any other valid explanation for their inclusion…
-
Lots of focus on beauty
-
Talking about Cupid – “cupido soberano”… “dos
corazones unes”
Sainete Segundo
-
The characters of the sainete talk about the
characters of the play (metafiction?)
– “Mientras descansan nuestros camaradas / de andar las dos jornadas”)
-
Affected modesty?
(This is a bit confusing) – talking about the current comedia, “Diósela
un estudiante / que en las comedias es tan principiante, / y en la poesía tan
mozo, / que le apuntan los versos como el bozo”
-
References a famous Spanish plays/playwrights –
Calderón, Moreto, Rojas, Celestina
-
The plays from Spain are always better (“siempre
las de España son mejores”)
-
“Is Acevedo the author/writer of this play?” – “Hmm,
I don’t know!”
-
We should pretend to be musketeers and we’ll
destroy/end this play with whistles (since it’s so crappy?) All of the
characters start to whistle while Acevedo laments that they are whistling at
his comedia…
Jornada III
-
Scene I: Leonor tells Celia she’ll kill herself
if she doesn’t let her leave the house. She’s really not at all into her father’s
idea to marry her off to Pedro, and she’s worried that Carlos wants to get with
Ana. Celia thinks that Ana’s plan is working so far and is happy she’s on the
way to getting her promised dress; she suggests that Leonor just suck it up and
marry Pedro – she will maintain her honor and get revenge on Carlos. Leonor isn’t
buying that idea… she’d rather kill herself than stop loving Carlos. Leonor asks
Celia to let her go and says she will go become a nun rather than marry Pedro.
Celia’s not sure b/c she’s scared of punishment (word play with estrella/estrellar). Celia is stuck in a difficult
position; she’s going to pretend to let Leonor go but make sure she is caught.
-
Scene II: Don Juan’s monologue; his
preoccupation with his honor and vengeance (against Ana). Baroque language: “Certidumbre falsa” – “duda verdadera” (I know we learned the name for this literary
technique, but can’t think of it…)
-
Scene III: Carlos can’t find Leonor anywhere in
the house. He tells Castaño that he wants to tell don Rodrigo that he was the
one who took Leonor from the house, so that Rodrigo will let him marry her
instead of Pedro. Carlos is going to send Castaño with the message since he
doesn’t want to leave Leonor alone in the house. Castaño is scared to go; he tells Carlos a story about a bullfighter
and risking lives without any control over the situation.
-
Scene IV: Castaño decides to dress up as a woman
as a way to get to Rodrigo’s house without any trouble. Once dressed, he jokes
that he’s so pretty some man might fall in love with him.
-
Scene V: Pedro sees Castaño and thinks he is
Leonor, and wonders where s/he is going and why s/he won’t speak to him. Castaño
says he’s leaving b/c everyone in the house sucks (todas bestias!) – Pedro is
shocked by “Leonor’s” weird speech… “Why are you being so indiscreet? Isn’t it
better to just marry me?” Castaño relents and says that if he just lets “her”
go get some air for a bit, s/he’ll marry him tonight. We suddenly hear don Juan’s
voice – “Muere a mis manos, traidor!” and Pedro wonders who it is. Carlos yells
back that Juan will die at his hands.
-
Scene VI: Carlos and Juan are fighting, and Ana
steps in to make them stop (interesting
thought about role of a woman).
Pedro is pissed people are fighting in his house – his idea of a solution is to
kill both Juan and Carlos. Castaño blows out the candle so that nobody can see –
he wants to escape in the dark. Pedro says he can still kill them in the dark.
Leonor enters the scene and runs into Don Carlos, who thinks she’s Ana. It’s
all confusion; no one knows who anyone is. Carlos exits with Leonor, thinking
she’s Ana, and Ana exits with Juan, thinking he’s Carlos; then Celia comes in
with a light and finds Castaño (as “Leonor”) and Pedro.
-
Scene VI/VIII: Rodrigo talks with Hernando about
what happened the night Leonor disappeared. (new rhyme scheme)
-
Scene IX-X: Carlos escapes house with Leonor,
who he thinks is Ana, and runs into Rodrigo. Carlos asks Rodrigo if she can
take care of Ana (poses it as an honor thing, but really wants to go back to
get Leonor). Rodrigo says sure – he’s going to use Ana’s honor as a bribe to
get Pedro to marry Leonor, for his own honor’s sake.
-
Pedro is pissed that Carlos was in his house,
and that he still can’t find his sister Ana. Pedro and Rodrigo run into each
other and start talking. Rodrigo’s little spiel about how important his honor
is, blah blah blah. Rodrigo tells Pedro that Carlos is into Ana (meanwhile, Ana
is hidden listening). Plan: Carlos can marry Ana, and Leonor can marry Pedro.
Ana shows up and goes along with the plan, acting like she was with Rodrigo
before.
-
Ana goes to get Carlos (who is actually Juan),
and Pedro sends Celia to go get Leonor (who is actually Castaño). Leonor doesn’t
know what to do, and watches as Carlos shows up, looking for Leonor.
-
Carlos is surprised to find Rodrigo in Pedro’s
house. Rodrigo tells him to calm down, because he’s made arrangements so that
he (Carlos) can marry “his love” (Rodrigo thinks Ana, Carlos thinks Leonor).
-
Leonor comes out, pissed b/c she thinks that
Carlos wants to marry Ana. Rodrigo presents “Ana” to Carlos, who is like “what,
no, I wanted Leonor!” The confusion starts to unravel a bit, as Carlos reveals
that he is in love with Leonor, NOT Ana. Carlos and Pedro pull out swords;
stuff’s about to go down…
-
Then, Ana comes out with Juan, who she thought
was Carlos but recognized as Juan in the light. Ana decides that she’ll be best
off marrying Juan, and Juan asks Pedro for his permission, which he gives.
-
Pedro then says he will still marry Leonor, and
he approaches Castaño, who is still dressed as a woman and whom he still thinks
is Leonor. (Castaño’s comic relief: “Miren
aqui si soy bello, / pues por mí quieren matarse”)
-
Leonor reveals her true identity and tells
Carlos that she will be his wife. Pedro is super confused and Castaño reveals
his identity (he was still dressed as a woman up to this point, with everyone
else thinking he was Leonor).
-
Rodrigo gives his permission for Carlos to marry
Leonor – he doesn’t care what happens as long as his honor is intact.
-
Ana and Juan marry, and so do Carlos and Leonor.
Celia and Castaño jump on the bandwagon and get married too.
Sarao de cuatro
naciones
Sor Juana, what is all this crap? I’m so sick of you and your
randomness!
Sor Juana and her ridiculous play... Ain't nobody got time for them sainetes, Juana!!
No comments:
Post a Comment