"The Valencian Widow" by Lope de Vega, summary Automatic translate

This book is a classic Spanish comedy of intrigue, written in 1595. The playwright masterfully explores the theme of anonymous passion, forcing the noble heroine to hide her face from her lover and build their relationship exclusively in the dark. The play’s text served as the basis for a well-known Soviet television play in 1956. The music for this film adaptation was composed by Aram Khachaturian, and his orchestral suite subsequently achieved independent international acclaim.

The beauty’s voluntary seclusion

The action takes place in Valencia. After the death of her husband, Camilo, the young widow Leonarda locks herself in her house. She spends her days reading the religious works of Fray Luis and refuses to leave her chambers. Her maid, Marta, views such asceticism with open doubt.

Elderly Uncle Lucencio comes to visit his niece. The old man catches her in front of a mirror and begins to persuade her to remarry. Lucencio warns that strict isolation will breed town gossip. He believes the neighbors will inevitably conclude that the widow is hiding a lover or living with a servant. Leonarda rejects her uncle’s entreaties. She replies that married life brings only debts, squabbles over the dowry, and bruises from a jealous husband.

Meanwhile, three young Valencian men try to win the heart of an unapproachable widow. Lisandro, Valerio, and Otón meet in the town square. They recite poetry and share stories of their nightly misadventures.

Otho tried to recite a sonnet under Leonarda’s balcony, but a neighboring shoemaker nearly injured him with a heavy brick. Valerio sang a serenade and received a bucket of dirty water from the window. Lisandro lay in wait for his rivals in the darkness at the widow’s door. He mistakenly pierced a wineskin abandoned by fleeing street thieves with his sword.

The rivals agree to use deception. Otón and Valerio disguise themselves as traveling salesmen. Otón offers Leonarda popular books, showing her editions of Cervantes, Espinel, and Gálvez de Montalvo. Valerio tries to sell her engravings by Titian and Martín de Vos. Leonarda sees through the suitors’ masquerade. She calls the servants and orders them to throw the impostors out into the street.

Dark dates and masks

On her way to church for mass, Leonarda notices a handsome young nobleman. The beauty is immediately captivated by the youth. She asks her personal page, Urban, to find out the stranger’s name. It turns out the youth is also named Camilo, like the heroine’s late husband. During a brief conversation, Camilo accidentally gives the page a gold doubloon instead of small change for the offering.

The nobleman’s generosity captivates Leonarda. She instructs Urban to don a carnival mask and deliver a secret love message to Camilo. The page finds the young man and reveals the mysterious lady’s strange condition: the gentleman must arrive at the rendezvous completely blind. Out of burning curiosity, the young man accepts the invitation.

That night, Urban waits for Camilo near the Royal Bridge. A servant pulls a thick flannel hood over his guest’s head. Urban leads the blind gentleman through the alleys of Valencia. Along the way, they encounter the jealous Otto, but manage to escape unnoticed.

In Leonarda’s spacious house, the guest is seated in a chair and the hood is removed. The room is plunged into absolute darkness. The hostess and Marta hide their faces behind velvet masks. Camilo is struck by the sharp wit of his invisible companion. He jokingly compares himself to a bound hunting falcon with a sack over its head.

Leonarda strictly forbids her guest to touch her face. She gives her cavalier a ring with a precious stone. A maid brings a late supper. The hostess invents mythological nicknames for the participants of the secret meeting. She calls herself the moon goddess Diana, and Martha becomes Iris. The page Urban is given the name Mercury, but he prefers to be called Bacchus and drinks wine. Before dawn, the flannel hood is placed back on the young man’s head and he is led away from the mansion.

That same night, the three rejected suitors stand guard at Leonarda’s door. Lisandro, Otón, and Valerio hide in the corners of the stone portal. They are spotted by a night patrol of alguacils. The city guards force the nobles to uncover their faces by lantern light. Left alone, the rivals recall old Lucencio’s prophetic words. The nobles vow to severely punish the page Urban.

Insults in the square

That afternoon, Camilo quarrels with his longtime lover, Celja. The woman demands money, complains about his torn clothes, and accuses the young man of being cold. Leonarda and Marta, hidden under their loose cloaks, witness this scandal. Leonarda is overcome with jealousy. The widow decides to teach the fickle nobleman a lesson.

Meanwhile, Uncle Lucencio is receiving the courtier Rosano. The envoy has arrived from Madrid to propose marriage to Leonarda, the personal secretary of one of the capital’s nobles. Rosano leaves the old man’s house late at night. Armed suitors of the widow await him on the street. Lisandro mistakes the envoy for Leonarda’s secret lover. He attacks Rosano, severely wounding him with his sword.

Urban rushes to his mistress with very bad news. It turns out that a city patrol stopped him and Camilo on the street. The guards forced them to remove their masks. Camilo instantly recognized the escort as Leonarda’s page.

To divert suspicion from his mistress, the page was forced to lie. Urban said, "I serve Leonarda’s old cousin." Leonarda demands that the servant play along with this fictitious story to the end. The widow wants to conceal her involvement in the nightly trysts.

In the morning, Camilo sees Urban on the stone steps of the temple. The servant respectfully leads by the arm a very old, sick, and ugly woman. Camilo is horrified by the sight of his supposed lover of the night. He hastily writes an angry letter.

In the note, the young man mocks the addressee’s false teeth, deep wrinkles, and sparse gray hair. He ends the letter by rudely calling the old woman a bald witch. Urban delivers the text to Leonarda. The beauty’s pride is bruised by the insulting words, but she invites the young man to a final secret meeting.

The lantern and the finale of the comedy

Camilo heads to Leonarda’s mansion, carefully concealing a small lantern under his cloak. Before leaving, his personal servant, Floro, asks permission to marry the abandoned Selja. Camilo happily relinquishes the woman to his comrade and promises a generous dowry of a thousand ducats.

Finding himself in a dark bedroom, Camilo refuses to meekly endure his blindness. He suddenly opens the metal shutter of the lantern he brought. The light of the burning candle illuminates Leonarda’s frightened face. The young man recognizes the beauty and fervently apologizes for his morning letter.

Awoken by the noise of voices, Lucencio and his servants arrive. His uncle is outraged by the presence of a stranger in his niece’s chambers. Camilo asks for Leonarda’s hand in marriage. Lucencio, clearly relieved, accepts the proposal, freeing himself from the hassle of dealing with his fiancé, Rosano, from the capital.

The page Urban announces his imminent wedding to the servant Martha. The three nocturnal suitors enter the house by the light of flaming torches and finally admit defeat. The nobles wish the newlyweds long and carefree years of marriage. The play ends with a general reconciliation between the characters.