The dog in the manger

Lope de Vega was one of the most prolific authors of the Spanish Golden Age. He managed to revolutionize the theater sector thanks to the publication of his "New Art of Making Comedies", a text in which he gathered the new rules for writing plays and that were more adapted to the times modern. One of the best known works of the author was "The dog in the manger", a piece that today continues to have great dynamism and a strong relevance. In this lesson from a TEACHER we are going to show you a summary of "The dog in the manger" so you can get closer to this great literary work of the Golden Age and learn about one of the most outstanding theater comedies of the time.

Index

1. Introduction to The Dog in the Manger by Lope de Vega
2. Summary Act I of The Dog in the Manger
3. Act II of The Dog in the Manger
4. Act III of El Perro del Hortelano, Lope de Vega
5. Main characters of The Dog in the Manger

Before going fully into the summary of "The dog in the manger" it is important that we briefly know this work by Lope de Vega. It is a

It is one of the most popular comediesof this Spanish playwright and that we have been able to see represented multiple times on theater stages and, also, in the world of cinema. It is a work whose plot has not lost its relevance and, therefore, today it continues to be one of the essentials on many billboards.

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In order to better understand this work, below we are going to offer you a summary of "The dog in the manger" of Act I which is the act in which the characters are introduced and the approach of the situation. The first scene takes place at night when Teodoro appears on the scene to see Marcela, his beloved, the maid of the Countess of Belfor named Diana.

Due to the noises that Teodoro and Marcela make, Diana wakes up and calls her servants to see who was causing this ruckus. She believes that her noises came from a suitor of hers who wanted to conquer her but Marcela discovers the truth and confesses that it was her and Teodoro seeing each other secretly. Diana will criticize him for the indecency of this act and will encourage him to marry so that her relationships are pure and honest.

At this moment, Diana begins to feel emotions that she does not know very well how to control. Feel jealousy of the love that Marcela feels for Teodoro so she tries to feel that love too. It is then that she decides to write an anonymous letter to Teodoro and in it she will express her feelings.

When Theodore receives the letter, he will soon discover that it has been written by Countess Diana and will therefore begin to he will be attracted to her and will try to woo her. Meanwhile, the wedding between Teodoro and Marcela continues and Diana decides to lock up the girl to prevent them from seeing each other before the wedding and from continuing to commit dishonest acts.

With Marcela locked up and out of combat, Teodoro will declare himself to Diana and indicate to her that he no longer has any intention of marrying her because who he really loves is the countess.

Continuing with this summary of "The dog in the manger", we will now talk about Act II in which the knot of the plot takes place. This act begins with a letter: Marcela, still locked in the room, writes to Teodoro. But, determined to break up with her, he doesn't even want to read the letter and ends up tearing it up. He now only wishes to marry Diana, the countess. In an act of sincerity and honesty, Teodoro decides to communicate the new situation to Marcela. She does not take it well at all and, as revenge, decides to seduce Fabio, a great friend of Teodoro.

Immediately afterwards, Diana appears who, carefree and absent from her, asks Teodoro for advice about who is the best suitor for her to marry: if the Marquis Ricardo or Count Federico. Teodoro, confused but keeping his distance with the countess, will end recommending that she marry the marquis.

Realizing that Diana doesn't want anything serious with him, Teodoro goes looking for his first love: Marcela. She will ask for his forgiveness and she, this she, in love as she was with Teodoro, she will end up forgiving him. However, when the Countess finds out that the two lovers are back together, she breaks out of jealousy and decides that Fabio and Marcela should marry.

At the moment, the Marquis Ricardo with whom the countess had decided to marry arrives at the palace. However, Diana tells him that she surely his calling will have been a mistake and that she has no intention of marrying him. In these moments, Diana and Teodoro have a sincere conversation in which he decides to confess his love to her and in which she she will confess, coldly, that no matter how much she felt for him, they could never marry because they are part of different classes social.

Finally, Theodore will explode in anger and he will make Diana see that he does not allow her to be with Marcela but he does not allow her to be with her either. Diana, full of anger at hearing the truth, ends up angry with Teodoro.

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And Act III is the one that concludes "The dog in the manger" by Lope de Vega. In this act we go to the resolution of the conflict and it begins with a scene in which we will meet all the suitors of the countess. Diana is a rich, beautiful and single woman who is looking for a husband but she has not found anyone yet, therefore, in town suitors who want to conquer the woman do not stop arriving.

However, all of them find out about the strange relationships that are having between Teodoro and Diana, so they decide hire someone to end Teodoro's life and, thus, get rid of her problem in the middle. But they end up hiring Tristán, Teodoro's servant, and he is in charge of explaining the situation to his owner.

Faced with these alarming events in which Teodoro's life is at stake due to the tricks of the countess, he she decides to flee from Spain. For this, she needs Diana to give her consent, otherwise she will not be able to cross the border. Diana ends up accepting the condition.

In exile, the servant Tristán will make use of his picaresque to make Teodoro pass as the son of a count who lost a son with the same name. Thus, cheating count Ludovico, Teodoro will become the son of this count and, therefore, will also have the same title. This will be the step that he will need to, once and for all, marry Diana.

At the end of this play, all the characters win: Tristán benefits from being mistaken for a "hit man" and, of course, Teodoro and Diana say "Yes, I do."

Now that you have read the summary of "The dog in the manger", let's talk about the main characters that appear in the play. You have to know that Lope always resorted to creating "type" characters that represented people who were really part of society. In this case we have characters who are from the nobility (such as Countess Diana, Marquis Ricardo or Count Ludovico) and the vassals which are all the other characters.

However, the main people are the protagonists of "The dog in the manger" and that we present to you below.

Diana, the countess

This character is presented to us as someone whimsical, jealous and selfish. He is a very haughty and classist person who has contempt for people who are not from his social stratum. In fact, he comes to treat Marcela and Teodoro as he loves, whom he considers inferior to her.

Teodoro, the secretary

The role of Theodore in the countess's house is that of a secretary, therefore a vassal. This unequal relationship of powers can be seen at all times during the development of the work since it will be Countess Diana who will always take the lead. Teodoro will lose his head for this woman, however, in this attitude we also see that he is an interested character and climbs: he has no qualms about abandoning his engagement with Marcela, the maid, seeing the possibility of "climbing" with the countess.

Other important characters in El Perro del Hortelano

• Tristan: Teodoro's servant plays the role of the "funny" so recurrent in the production of Lope de Vega. He is the best friend of the protagonist and, in fact, thanks to him, the love of him can marry the woman he loves
• Marcela: she is the woman who receives all the love swings between Diana and Teodoro, the most vulnerable and the one who comes out most affected of all the changes of opinion that lovers have
• LudovicoAlthough he only appears at the end of the play, his importance is key to ending the comedy. This is the count that Tristán takes advantage of in order to pretend that Theodore is actually his lost son. The count's desperation will make him end up accepting Teodoro as his son

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