Harlan: Moreto’s “El desden” 
107 
These points of contact between Diana and the scornful 
loved ones of the other plays discussed are not enough, even 
all combined, to say that Moreto got this character from any 
source but his own. There is nothing unusual about the char- 
acter of a lady who is hard to win, who is scornful toward the 
opposite sex, but the psychological insight shown in the char- 
acter of Diana, worked out to perfection, is unusual, and that is 
what Moreto has accomplished in his play. 
The character of Carlos has no real counterpart in the com- 
pared plays. The scorn of Pedro in Los milagros del desprecio, 
Ricardo’s indifference in La hermosa fea, Cesar’s rudeness in 
Para veneer a amor , querer vencerle, after showing himself 
the ardent lover, Juan’s tricks in De cosario a cosario are not 
at all comparable to the fine disdain of Carlos, concealing his 
real feeling toward Diana. The battle of wits, where Diana 
and Carlos are both on their guard to surprise a weakness in 
the other, finds its nearest suggestion in Tirso’s Celos con 
celos se curan , and then, the resemblance is but general. 
With a general resemblance of El desden con el desden to 
Celos con celos se curan and, in lesser degree, to Encon- 
trdronse dos arroyuelos ; with a set of characters initially 
juxtaposed as in Lope’s La vengadora de las mujeres; with the 
character of Diana standing out alone, scarcely comparable to 
any with whom she has a few points in common ; with the same 
to be said about Carlos ; with the character of Polilla suggested 
by Hernando — and possibly by Moreto’s Moclin — and the 
whole worked out into a unit of excellent human psychology, 
the least that can be said in Moreto’s favor is that he was 
most successful in using any suggestions found in other dram- 
atists. 
