EL CELOSO PRUDENTE

CelPru

REPARTO

I

Fisberto, who is noble but poor, has two daughters, Lisena and Diana. Diana, the older, has the reputation of not ever having been in love. One night Lisena goes to the garden of their home, carrying a letter and a picture of Prince Sigismundo, the son of the King of Bohemia. Diana has followed her and manages to find out from Lisena that the letter was written by Sigismundo, who is supposed to marry Leonora, the Princess of Hungary, but who really loves Lisena. In spite of Diana's fame as a severe, hard-hearted person, she promises to help Lisena and Sigismundo. She hides the letter and picture in the sleeve of her dress. Shortly thereafter, Sigismundo, with the aid of Fisberto's lackey, Gascón, enters the garden for his rendezvous with Lisena. While Gascón, serves as a lookout and Diana withdraws to the side, Sigismundo and Lisena are left to their tryst. Meanwhile, Lisena's servant, Carola, who is aware that Lisena has a lover but does not know who it is, comes to the garden, where she meets Gascón and they talk. Then Fisberto arrives, having been told by his servant Orelio that he saw someone leaving the garden. He and Orelio find the two young women, who deny that anyone else was there, but Fisberto takes Diana's arm and finds the letter and picture hidden in her sleeve. He immediately assumes that Diana is the one who has lost her honor.

Leonora in the meantime is on her way to the court of Bohemia to marry Sigismundo. Alberto, Sigismundo's brother, tells his father that neither Leonora nor Sigismundo is enthusiastic about marrying the other and that he (Alberto) loves Leonora and wants to marry her. The King, however, refuses to delay the wedding. Now Fisberto arrives to inform the King that Sigismundo has dishonored Diana. At first the King thinks this is a trick of Alberto to keep Sigismundo from marrying Leonora, but Fisberto shows him the letter and the picture, and then explains that all he wants is a good husband for Diana and that as far as he is concerned Sigismundo and Leonora can go ahead and get married. The King decides to marry Diana to Don Sancho, a Spaniard who has performed great military feats in Saxony. The news that Diana is to marry Sancho makes Sigismundo very happy, because Lisena does not have to marry and is still free. He is also overjoyed to find that Alberto loves Leonora and promises to help the two of them get married.

II

Sancho and Diana are married and the King gives them titles: he as Count of Alba Real, she as Duchess of Florabel and Alba Real. So that the King and Fisberto continue to believe that Diana is his beloved, Sigismundo pretends to be resentful about the marriage and leads Sancho to believe that he loves Diana. Enrique, who has been absent for two months because of business for the King, returns. He loves Lisena, but upon his return he learns from Gascón that she has been promised by her father to Duke Arnesto.

Meanwhile, Sigismundo and Gascón conspire to arrange for Lisena to come to her window to talk to Sigismundo at eleven o'clock that night, pretending to be Diana in order to protect herself in case of discovery. (The King cannot do anything if Sigismundo talks to Diana, since she is already married.) In order to mislead him, Alberto tells the King, who has not yet seen Leonora, that she looks just like Lisena and that Leonora and Sigismundo are starting to care for each other. Shortly thereafter, Sancho overhears the King tell Sigismundo that he knows all about Sigismundo and Diana -- the letter, the garden, everything. The King gives Sigismundo the letter and the picture and orders him to obey him henceforth and not have to be forgiven again. Sancho is understandably upset upon hearing all this, and his consternation increases when he overhears Gascón tell Sigismundo to meet "una Diana" at the window at eleven that night. To add to his woes he picks up the letter and picture, which Sigismundo left behind and reads the letter, believing, of course, that it was intended for Diana. His first impulse is to kill Diana, but he decides that it would be wiser to be quiet and to wait.

Alberto and Sigismundo are carrying out their plan for Lisena to go to court the next day, pretending to be Leonora. The real Leonora, who loves Alberto, is helping with the plot by instructing Lisena in the things she will need to know in order to impersonate Leonora and by using her brother's imminent death as a pretext for not leaving her quarters and giving away the ruse.

Enrique mistakes Sigismundo for Duke Arnesto (who, according to Gascón, is supposed to marry Lisena) and tells him that he is a former suitor of Lisena. He also says that he knows that Fisberto is marrying Lisena to the Duke and that he wishes them well. Sigismundo does not know what Enrique is talking about, and later, when he talks to Lisena at the window, he asks her about Duke Arnesto, but she does not understand about him either. While Sigismundo and Lisena are at the window Sancho listens, thinking that Diana is the woman at the window, and since Lisena is pretending to be Diana she says nothing to disillusion him on this point. Sigismundo and Lisena part, promising to meet again the next day. Gascón and Carola, meanwhile, are also out that night, but Sancho comes upon them and fires Gascón, saying that he should not be carrying on with the servants.

III

Lisena, posing as Leonora, is going to the palace to meet Sigismundo. Gascón is to serve as her coachman, and the servants know the secret. Sancho is still worried about his honor, but he does not want the affront known. He wants a secret revenge, especially after hearing from Orelio the story of a tailor who was falsely accused, lashed and then forgiven when the truth was discovered, but thereafter was known as "whipped." Diana overhears Sancho speaking of his disgrace and how he can avenge himself and restore his honor by burning down his house with her in it and then pretending it was an accident. She tries to explain what has happened, but he says he was just imagining such a situation and leaves. She goes to the estate of Valdeflores where Sigismundo and Lisena are in order to be safe until the truth is known. Enrique, too, has found his way to this place, where he talks to Lisena, who pretends to be Leonora. When the King and his entourage arrive, she tells them that she (as Leonora) has decided to go on with the wedding, because her father has decided that she should marry the King of Poland, but she loves Sigismundo and has accepted him as her husband. The King agrees that they shall marry. Sancho, meanwhile, discovers Diana's absence and he sets out for the estate where the others are, planning to keep quiet and await the opportunity for vengeance.

As everyone gathers at the estate Lisena continues with her impersonation of Leonora, although Diana and Fisberto recognize her and call her by name, arousing the King's suspicions. Alberto, however, satisfies the King (his father) by saying that they have been led to think that Leonora is Lisena and that Leonora finds it a very amusing joke. The real Leonora is standing with Alberto, who is holding her hand, and the King soon asks who she is.

Her reply that she is the real Leonora enrages the King, but she begs him to forgive them and let Lisena and Sigismundo's marriage stand, so that she can marry Alberto. The King relents. Lisena explains to her father that she, not Diana, was the one that Sigismundo loved all the time, that Diana just happened to be holding the letter and picture when he came to the garden. On hearing this, Sancho is greatly relieved, knowing that his honor is intact, and is glad that he kept still. Diana confirms that she only went along with the confusion of identity in order to help Lisena, and that she loves only Sancho. As a reward for all of his scheming and other assistance, Sigismundo makes Gascón his chamberlain. As the play ends Sancho, in an aside, repeats that he is glad he remained quiet because now no one has anything to talk about ("al buen callar llaman Sancho").