Educational Resources / Play Summaries
What happens in the play, told plainly and in English, so a class can walk into the text already knowing where it is going. Four summaries covering three plays, all free to download and to hand out.
One page each, except where a longer version exists.
El narciso en su opinión
Guillén de Castro
Don Gutierre is so in love with himself that his servant can talk him into anything, and the comedia turns that vanity into the engine of the plot.
La muerte del apetito
Sor Marcela de San Félix
Alma is caught between Mortificación, who tells her to deny herself, and Apetito, who tells her not to. To be free she is asked to kill him.
El retrato vivo
Anonymous
Tired of a husband who will not let her out of his sight, Bernarda convinces Cosme that he is not himself but a portrait of himself. The whole household plays along.
Want the text as well?
El narciso en su opinión and La muerte del apetito are both on the Play Texts page, one as a complete annotated edition and the other as a scene ready to stage.
Do you have a summary you use in class? Write to us at secretary@comedias.org and we will add it.
