EL MELANCÓLICO

Melanc

Escena:  Bretaña.

REPARTO

Todos son franceses menos “la Duquesa de Clarencia”.

I

Leonisa and Firela, two shepherdesses, are going to a stream to wash clothes accompanied by Carlín, who is fond of Firela.  Leonisa confesses that she's in love with Rogerio, even though he's a nobleman and she's just a peasant girl.  She has always been cold and aloof to young men of her own social class.  Rogerio, who is really the illegitimate son of the Duke of Bretaña, has been reared by Pinardo, who has brought him up as his own son and taught him music, philosophy, astrology, metaphysics, architecture, and all the things a young man of the court needs to know.  Rogerio, however has never been in love and Pinardo tells him that he acts as if he were made of bronze and that it's time he change and fall in love.

Meanwhile Clemencia is to marry her uncle, the Duke of Bretaña, although her cousin, Enrique, is trying to talk her out of it.  He says he loves her and wants to marry her and inherit the Duke's title and estate, since the Duke has no heir. Clemencia responds that she loves the Duke because he is her uncle and because he raised her.  Upon overhearing this conversation, the Duke decides to reveal his natural son, Rogerio, and name him as his heir.

The Duke brings Rogerio to his castle, after having told Pinardo of his decision to reveal Rogerio's true identity.  The Duke and Pinardo agree that Rogerio and Clemencia shall marry.  By now Rogerio has seen Leonisa washing clothes at the stream and has fallen in love with her.  When he leaves to go to the Duke's palace he promises to be true to her.  He also tells Pinardo of his love, but Pinardo does not approve, saying he has gone from one extreme to the other.

II

The Duke tries to cheer up Rogerio, telling him that he should be happy because he's noble and is going to marry Clemencia.  Rogerio however, says he misses his mountains, although it is really Leonisa he longs for.  Clemencia and Enrique have reacted to Rogerio's arrival in different ways.  She professes to love Rogerio, while Enrique tells Rogerio that it is all right for him to be a duke but he does not want him to have Clemencia.

When Carlín arrives with a letter from Leonisa to Rogerio he runs into Clemencia, who learns of the letter and its contents.  She then tells Rogerio that she knows about Leonisa and the course of his sadness. Carlín delivers the letter to Rogerio, telling him that Filipo, Lord of Castel and Fuen-Molino loves Leonisa but she is still faithful to Rogerio.  He predicts, however, that her attitude toward Filipo will soon change.

In the meantime Pinardo plans to help Filipo win Leonisa.  He tells Pinardo that her father brought her to the mountains from Bretaña when she was very young but no one knows what their rank had been before they came.  Firela comes with a coral necklace that Leonisa has lost, and Filipo bargains with her for them, giving her a ring for herself and a gold chain to give to Leonisa in their place.

Firela takes the gold chain to Leonisa, telling her that Filipo has her necklace and sent her the chain instead.  On hearing this Leonisa becomes angry, so Firela tells her that Rogerio sent her the chain by Carlín.  Carlín, threatened by Firela with no love, supports her story.  Leonisa then puts on the chain and kisses it.  Filipo appears in time to see her kissing the chain, and he, in turn, kisses the coral beads and tells her that he's overjoyed that she has received his chain so enthusiastically.  Leonisa realizes how Firela and Carlín have deceived her; she takes off the chain and grabs the coral beads from Filipo.  At this point Rogerio returns, and seeing Leonisa with Filipo, he misinterprets the situation, and returns the chain to Leonisa, the coral beads to Filipo.  The arrival of the Duke, Pinardo, Clemencia and Firela interrupts this scene.  Clemencia, seeing Rogerio in despair, promises to cheer him up.  Leonisa is angry with Firela and Carlín for their trickery, and Rogerio returns to the Duke's. He takes Filipo with him as his secretary, saying that Filipo deserves an opportunity to go to the Duke's courts.

III

Rogerio is still melancholy, but, aided by Filipo, he makes wise judgments in business matters.  Clemencia becomes ill and needs a bleeding, and Rogerio says that since Filipo has the coral beads he should go be the bleeder.  Filipo leaves a note telling Rogerio that he found Leonisa's beads and sent her the chain in their place and that he's very much in love with Leonisa.

Enrique arrives with the news that the Pope has given a dispensation for Clemencia and Rogerio to marry, even though they are cousins.  Rogerio asks Enrique for his glove, which he sends to Clemencia, who has suddenly recovered from her illness, along with a note that says "this only comes to you for your own good."  When Enrique identifies the glove as belonging to him, Clemencia concludes that Rogerio must be jealous of Enrique.

Rogerio is now pretending to be bewitched.  Leonisa, who has forced her way into the Duke's castle, tells the others that she can disenchant him.  The two of them argue about the coral beads and the gold chain.  Leonisa tries to explain that she kissed the chain because she thought it was from him, but he persists in believing that she loves Filipo.  At the same time she thinks he is in love with Clemencia, since he is supposed to marry her.  Finally after much discussion they see that they really love each other.

Rogerio is still pretending to be bewitched, and Leonisa tells the Duke that she can break the spell by putting on him the coral beads that Filipo is wearing.  She put them on him, but at that moment Clemencia appears and accuses Leonisa of having cast the spell on Rogerio.  The Duke, believing her, has Leonisa and Carlín imprisoned.  Pinardo comes with the news that the man who was supposed to be Leonisa's father has died and left a letter for him telling him that Leonisa is really Clemencia's sister and daughter of the Duke of Borgoña.  As a baby she was stolen in revenge by a nobleman who took her to the mountains and reared her as his own.  The Duke decides to let Rogerio and Leonisa marry so that Rogerio can be happy rather than melancholy.  Before he can tell Rogerio all this, however Rogerio tells him that he is happy now and will marry Clemencia.  The Duke realizes that Rogerio's change of heart has taken place only because he wants to save Leonisa from being tortured for failing to cure him.

At this point Enrique announces the arrival of the Duchess of Clarencia, who has fled England and is on her way to Paris.  This duchess in reality is Leonisa, dressed as an Englishwoman, accompanied by Carlín, disguised as her servant.  Clemencia recognizes them and the Duke announces Leonisa's true identity.  The play ends happily, with two marriages, that of Rogerio and Leonisa and that of Enrique and Clemencia.