Jacinto Benavente, Spanish dramatist and Nobel laureate, was born on August 12, 1866, in Madrid. Though Benavente traveled extensively throughout Europe, his plays were often centered in Madrid and dealt mainly with varying portrayals of Madrid society. Benavente’s earliest works quickly established his reputation for witty dialogue and satire that set him apart from many of his Spanish contemporaries. The most famous of his plays, Los intereses creados (The Bonds of Interest), uses puppet theater to convey a subtle allegory on the existence of evil in society. Below, an excerpt, in which the brilliant but poor hero Crispín directs his well-dressed companion Leander to pose as a nobleman so as to gain entry to an inn.

Crispín: In this situation all we can do is to use our wits, and also our effrontery, because without that, wits are no good. The plan I’ve come up with is for you to speak very little, and curtly when you do, to lend ourself the air of a person of quality; every so often I give you permission to beat me a little; when anyone asks you a question, make a secretive reply; anything you volunteer to say should be spoken solemnly, like a judge pronouncing sentence. You’re young and attractive; up to now you’ve merely wasted your good points; now’s the time to turn them to advantage. Put yourself in my hands, because nothing is so helpful to a man as someone alongside him pointing out his good features; when a man is on his own, modesty is folly and self-praise is madness, and when they’re combined he’s lost to good society. We men are like merchandise: we’re worth more or less depending on the merchant’s skill in showing us off. I assure you that, even if you were glass, it’s up to me to pass you off as a diamond. And now let’s call at this inn, because our first requirement is to encamp within view of the theater of operations.
Leander: At the inn, you say? And how will we pay for it?
Crispín: If it takes so little to scare you, let’s look for a hospice or a charity ward, or let’s beg for alms, if we take the religious route; and if we take the criminal route, let’s go back to the highway and rob the first man who comes by. If we face up to our true situation, we have nothing else to resort to.
Leander: I’ve got letters of recommendation to highly placed people in this city who could help us out.
Crispín: Tear up those letters at once and don’t even think of such a low action! To introduce ourselves to anyone as being in need! Fine letters of credit those are! Today they’ll receive you with great politeness and tell you their home and person are yours; the second time you call at their door, the servant will tell you his master isn’t home or even in residence; and at your next cisit they won’t even open the door. This is a world of tit for tat, a chamber of commerce, an exchange bureau: before you request anything, you’ve got to offer something.
Leander; But what can I offer when I have nothing?
Crispín: What a low idea you have of yourself! Now, I ask you, isn’t a man worth anything in himself? A man can be a solider, and his bravery can help gain a victory; he can be suitor or a husband, and his sweet medicine can cure some lady of rank or some well-born young miss who feels she’s dying of melancholy; he can be the servant of some powerful lord who takes a liking to him and raises him to the position of confidential adviser; and so many other things that I don’t need to enumerate. To rise in the world, any rung of the ladder is suitable.
Leander: What if I lack even that rung?
Crispín: I’m offering you my shoulders to raise you up. You’ll find yourself at the top.
Leander: What if we both tumble to the ground?
Crispín: Then, may it be soft for us!

*Photo courtesy Asia Lillo.