Harlan: Moreto’s “El desden” 
15 
Juana’s consent, to kill her. They come on Pedro about to 
fight with Alonso and Juan. Don Luis’s suspicions that his 
daughter is out to meet one of these men seem well founded, 
and he tells her he is going to punish her treachery, whereupon 
Juana calls on Pedro Giron to save her. They decide to take 
the lady home and continue their fight later. Leonor and 
Beatriz are waiting for Juana to come home accompanied by 
the five men, and are enjoying the prospect of seeing her figura- 
tively covered with confusion, and literally with mud, both 
as the result of her evening’s escapade. Luis addresses her 
as Beatriz and says he is going to kill her, thus forcing her to 
reveal who she is. She hastens to say that it was curiosity, 
not love, which prompted her to want to see the new loved 
one of Pedro “por quien mi opinion y fama se ha echado tanto 
a perder”. Pedro says he will show her his beloved, if she 
will give him her hand, whereupon he announces that Juana 
is and always has been the one he loved. They all learn that 
the whole thing has been “cuento de Hernando”. Alonso and 
Juan congratulate Pedro. Juana has the following to say: 
Es verdad, razon teneis, 
Y ya tan humana estoy, 
Que por lo mucho que gano, 
Si ahora estima mi mano, 
Con el alma se la doy. 
To Beatriz, she says : 
. . . No me digas nada; 
Que liarto has hecho con no hablar, 
Con mirarme y con callar. 
Si te reni enamorada, 
Desde hoy te disculpare ; 
Que ya conozco rnejor 
Las fuerzas que tiene amor, 
Despues que me enamor e. 
Leonor and Hernando now reciprocate and the latter ends 
the play: 
Yo lo creo . . . Y estos son 
Los milagros del desprecio. 
A general comparison of the Moreto and Lope plays reveals 
much in common between the two. There are three lovers in 
each play, Carlos, Bearne, and Fox finding counterparts in 
Pedro, Alonso, and Juan in Lope’s play. Diana, Cintia, and 
