16 
Indiana University Studies 
Laura are represented by Juana, Beatriz, and Leonor, while 
Polilia and Hernando play very much the same part in the two 
plays. The two pages in Los milagros del desprecio are not 
found in Moreto nor can Don Luis be said to be the counter- 
part of the Count of Barcelona. 
A more detailed comparison brings us to examine the sim- 
ilarities and differences in the characters who are matched, 
generally speaking. 
Both Carlos and Pedro are represented, at the beginning of 
the respective plays, as being very much in love, in fact help- 
lessly in love, with women on whose hearts no impression 
seems to be made by any of the various suitors. In the case 
of Carlos, however, the object of his love does not know of 
his love for her. They both put themselves in the hands of 
another, in each case the gracioso of the play, but in El desden 
con el desden, Carlos is not simply the blind follower of Polilia 
as Pedro is of Hernando. Polilia is of great help to him, but 
in the last analysis, Diana is brought around, not by the wiles 
and tricks of Polilia alone, but by being worsted by Carlos 
himself in a fair battle of being beaten “at her own game”. 
Carlos comes into direct and frequent contact with Diana, 
whereas Pedro sees Juana but once, when he reviles her for 
her cruelty, before the end of the play . 34 There is entirely 
lacking between Pedro and Juana that subtlety of wit which 
stands out in the relations between Carlos and Diana. Both 
lovers win out in the end, but Pedro does so entirely as the 
result of Hernando’s deception and thru no wit nor ability of 
his own. Pedro is very kindly disposed toward Juana when 
he thinks of her following him in the mud and darkness , 35 but 
Hernando does not have to resort to the drastic means which 
Polilia uses on Carlos in the garden scene when it is all Carlos 
can do not to look at Diana. Carlos is, in every way, a much 
more important character, a stronger character than Pedro. 
He stands out in relief, not only in this play of Moreto’s, but 
as a type seldom met in any of the plays of the entire period. 
The importance of Bearne and Fox is about the same in 
Moreto as Alonso and Juan in Lope, but in the latter work 
they are real rivals of Pedro, while in El desden con el desden 
they are friends of Carlos and all three are working toward 
the same end, by joint agreement. 
34 Los milagros. Act II, scene iv. 
35 Los milagros. Act III, scene xv. 
