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Titles

English title: The Love of Don Perlimplín for Belisa in the Garden
Notable variations on Spanish title: Amor de Don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín: aleluya erótica en cuatro cuadros (versión de cámara), Los amores de Don Perlimplín y Belisa en el jardín
Date written: from 1922 to 1926
First publication date: 1938
First production date: 1933
Keywords: morality > vice-virtue, identity > class/social standing, love > lust, violence > suicide, family > marriage, identity > gender, love, honour > chivalry
Genre and type: tragedy, tragicomedy, farce

Title information

The name ‘Perlimplín’ is reminiscent of the French word, ‘perlimpinpin’, meaning magic fairy dust.

Pitch

Love cannot be bought, it cannot be predicted. Sometimes we discover too late where our passions lie.

Synopsis

Amor de Don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín (The Love of Don Perlimplín and Belisa in the Garden)is a short play divided into four parts – a prologue followed by three scenes. It takes the audience on a journey through Perlimplín’s whirlwind sexual awakening, his wife’s infidelity, and lastly his suicide. At the beginning of the prologue, Perlimplín’s servant Marcolfa tries to persuade her master that, at 50 years old, it is high time he got married. He insists that he is content with his books. A wife, Marcolfa counters, can offer much greater pleasures than books! Eventually, she persuades Perlimplín that marriage is a good idea and he resolves to marry Belisa, the daughter of a neighbour. This flirtatious young woman spends her time scantily-clad on her balcony, showing off her beauty to whomever might happen to pass by. Like Perlimplín, Belisa is also reluctant to marry. However, she consents to do so when her mother points out that Perlimplín’s wealth will attract much younger lovers to her bed.

In scene 1 Perlimplín and Belisa prepare for their first night together as husband and wife. As Belisa waits in the bedroom, five whistles mysteriously sound. When Perlimplín enters he confesses to his wife that he did not love her upon marriage. However, after spying her naked body through the keyhole in a door he is now wildly in love! The five whistles sound again, much to Perlimplín’s confusion. Belisa reassures her husband that the noises are nothing to worry about.

As the couple prepare to consummate their marriage, two Sprites – or Duendes, as they are sometimes called – draw a curtain over the scene. When they lift the curtain to reveal the bedroom again, Perlimplín now has two huge golden stag’s horns on either side of his head. He is bemused to find that the doors to the five balconies are open. There is also a ladder hanging from each balcony and five mysterious sombreros lying beneath each one. Feigning innocence, Belisa claims that the balcony doors have simply blown open in the wind. The ladders are traditional in her mother’s land, she claims; the sombreros merely those of passing drunks.

Scene 2 begins in Perlimplín’s dining room. Marcolfa tearfully informs her master that, while he slept on his wedding night, five men from the five races of the earth enjoyed the sexual pleasures of his young wife. Yet Perlimplín is unperturbed. He is happy, and that is what matters. In fact, when he overhears Belisa talking to herself about a red-caped young stranger who has been pursuing her, he resolves to help her secure the love of this enigmatic admirer. At the end of this scene, Perlimplín claims he has spotted the red-caped stranger and rushes from the stage, reassuring Belisa that all will be well.

Scene 3 takes place in Perlimplín’s garden at night. In secret, he and Marcolfa wait for Belisa. She is expected at 10 o’clock, believing that the red-caped stranger awaits her. In fact, Perlimplín had Marcolfa deliver a false message to his wife. Instead, when Belisa arrives, Perlimplín emerges from the shadows and declares that he intends to kill her lover – the red-caped stranger. He rushes off stage to carry out the deed. To Belisa’s horror, the red-caped stranger then stumbles into the garden clutching a knife to his chest. He is mortally wounded. Belisa rushes to him, only to discover that he is in fact Perlimplín. As he dies, Belisa realises that, all along, Perlimplín was her dashing red-caped admirer.

Sources

Lorca takes the character of Don Perlimplín from traditional sources. Don Perlimplín is a comic hero whose peripatetic life and death is related in little rhyming couplets and pictures. In 1848 a version of the Don Perlimplín story was published in Barcelona under the title Historia de Don Perlimplín (Story of Don Perlimplín). Another version of the Don Perlimplín tale was published in Madrid entitled Vida de Don Perlimplín (Life of Don Perlimplín). The date of this publication is unclear but it is believed to have taken place after the 1848 version. Both stories follow a similar narrative and the Don Perlimplín of these tales is ugly, short and hunch-backed.

In both Story of Don Perlimiplín and Life of Don Perlimplín Don Perlimplín is born to parents oblivious to his ugliness. They insist on his beauty, despite the comical visual evidence to the contrary in the form of illustrations that accompany the rhyming couplets that tell the tale. During his childhood Don Perlimplín is sent to live with a tutor who beats him. His parents then die, leaving their son a lot of money which he uses to dress well and attract a wife. He gets married with great aplomb. Don Perlimplín’s wife, however, dies soon after the wedding. In Story of Don Perlimplín, he travels to Paris to console himself in his grief. In Life of Don Perlimplín he retreats in grief to the Spanish Court rather than Paris. In both, however, he falls in love once again, only to be challenged to a duel by a rival. Don Perlimplín wins this duel but is imprisoned for murder. He manages to escape from prison and flees on a boat to Algiers. Here, he encounters a sultan who makes him his servant in Story of Don Perlimplín. In Life of Don Perlimplín he is immediately imprisoned by the sultan. In both, he incurs the wrath of the sultan by wooing a young woman of the court. In Story of Don Perlimplín he is punished by beheading. In Life of Don Perlimplín he is also sentenced to death, either by poison or knife (see García Lorca 1990: 12-26).

There are implied parallels between Don Perlimplín and Christ in that they both sacrifice themselves. The dining room set design is likened to a primitive drawing of the Last Supper. His blood is spilt at the end in a way that calls to mind Christ’s death (García Lorca 1990: 4).

Lorca acknowledges similarities between Don Perlimplín and the eighteenth-century appearance of the character of the elderly magistrate in the 1919 ballet El sombrero de tres picos (The Three-Cornered Hat) by the Spanish composer Manuel de Falla (García Lorca 1990: 192).

The horns that appear on Don Perlimplín’s head to signify that he is a cuckold are a reflection of Le cocu manifique (The Magnificent Cuckhold), 1921, by the Belgian playwright Fernand Crommelynck. In this play a young man, Bruno, becomes maniacally concerned that his beautiful wife might be unfaithful. He decides to elect a male lover for her, in the hope of controlling her unfaithfulness. When this does not satisfy her, he becomes the cuckold of the title permitting her to sleep with whomever she wishes in the town (García Lorca 1990: 192).

• García Lorca, Federico. 1990. Amor de Don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín, ed. Margarita Ucelay. Madrid, Cátedra (in Spanish)

• García Lorca, Federico. 1990. Yerma and The Love of Don Perlimplín for Belisa in the Garden, trans. David Johnston. London, Hodder and Stoughton

Critical response

Amor de Don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín (The Love of Don Perlimplín and Belisa in the Garden) has been considered by some critics to be one of Lorca’s lesser pieces of theatre. This is in part due to its being shorter than most of his other plays, as well as the fact that the playwright himself described it as a ‘skeleton from a great drama’ (García Lorca 1986: 521). Nevertheless, as Sarah Wright points out, a number of scholars have called attention to the play’s complexity and depth – as a part of Lorca’s corpus worthy of study in its own right (2000: 40). Two interconnected aspects of the play that have been debated by a number of critics are, firstly, the nature of Perlimplín’s suicide and, secondly, the meaning behind his words ‘Belisa has a soul now’. Rupert C. Allen points out that many scholars have taken Perlimplín’s final words literally (1974: 99); as evidence of Belisa’s gradual realisation of her love for her husband. Allen suggests that these dying words may allude to the fact that, by committing suicide, Perlimplín is leaving Belisa with a guilty conscience for her actions and for his death (1974: 100). In conjunction with this, Allen notes that some scholars have overlooked the vengeance aspect of Perlimplín’s death and have tended to focus on it as being solely an altruistic act (1974: 94-104). Sarah Wright, in a much later study, points out that critics are divided over the suicide, since some perceive Perlimplín to be a manipulator who gets revenge on his errant wife by leaving her guilt-ridden at the end of the play (2000: 39).

• Allen, Rupert C. 1974. Psyche and Symbol in the Theater of Federico García Lorca: Perlimplín. Yerma. Blood Wedding. Austin and London, University of Texas Press

• García Lorca, Federico. 1986. Obras completas, vol. III, ed. Arturo del Hoyo. Madrid, Aguilar (in Spanish)

• Wright, Sarah. 2000. ‘Perlimplín’s Seduction: Masquerade and the trompe l’œil’. In The Trickster-Function in the Theatre of García Lorca, ed. Sarah Wright, pp. 39-61. Woodbridge, Tamesis

Further information

In her critical study about the history of the creation of the play, Margarita Ucelay notes that fragments of the play can be found that date back to 1922, and that the final draft was probably completed in early 1926 (in García Lorca 1990: 26-129).

In the 1960s in Germany the play was televised in a translation by Enrique Beck (In seinem Garten liebt Don Perlimplin Belisa).

The playhas been adapted as an opera on a number of occasions: Wolfgang Fortner, 1962 (in German); Bruno Maderna, 1962 (Italian-language radio production); Karel Goeyvaerts, 1972 (in French); Conrad Susa, 1984 (in English); Simon Holt, 1998 (in English). Simon Holt’s version was entitled The Nightingale’s to Blame with reference to the nightingale from the final scene when Perlimplín announces his resolve to murder Belisa’s red-caped lover.

• García Lorca, Federico. 1990. Amor de Don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín, ed. Margarita Ucelay. Madrid, Cátedra (in Spanish)

Editions

• García Lorca, Federico. 1938. ‘Amor de Don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín’. In Federico García Lorca, Obras completas, vol. I, ed. Guillermo de Torre. Buenos Aires, Editorial Losada

• García Lorca, Federico. 1955. ‘Amor de Don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín’. In F.G.L., Amor de Don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín, Así que pasen cinco años, El maleficio de la mariposa. Madrid, Editorial Magisterio Español

• García Lorca, Federico. 1955. ‘Amor de Don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín’. In F.G.L., Amor de Don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín, Así que pasen cinco años, El maleficio de la mariposa. Madrid, Editorial Magisterio Español

• García Lorca, Federico. 1955. ‘F.G.L. Amor de Don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín’. In Literatura del siglo XX, eds. Ernesto G. Da Cal and Margarita Ucelay, pp. 253-81. New York, Dryden Press

• García Lorca, Federico. 1955. ‘F.G.L. Amor de Don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín’. In Literatura del siglo XX, eds. Ernesto G. Da Cal and Margarita Ucelay, pp. 253-81. New York, Dryden Press

• García Lorca, Federico. 1968. ‘F.G.L. Amor de Don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín’. In Literatura del siglo XX, 2nd edn, eds. Ernesto G. Da Cal and Margarita Ucelay, pp. 254-74. New York; London; Toronto, Holt, Rinehart and Wilson

• García Lorca, Federico. 1968. ‘F.G.L. Amor de Don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín’. In Literatura del siglo XX, 2nd edn, eds. Ernesto G. Da Cal and Margarita Ucelay, pp. 254-74. New York; London; Toronto, Holt, Rinehart and Wilson

• García Lorca, Federico. 1975. ‘Amor de Don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín’. In F.G.L., Amor de Don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín, Así que pasen cinco años, El maleficio de la mariposa, ed. Ricardo Doménech. Madrid, Editorial Magisterio Español

• García Lorca, Federico. 1975. ‘Amor de Don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín’. In F.G.L., Amor de Don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín, Así que pasen cinco años, El maleficio de la mariposa, ed. Ricardo Doménech. Madrid, Editorial Magisterio Español

• García Lorca, Federico. 1976. Así que pasen cinco años. Amor de Don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín, ed. E.F. Granell. Madrid, Taurus

• García Lorca, Federico. 1976. Así que pasen cinco años. Amor de Don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín, ed. E.F. Granell. Madrid, Taurus

• García Lorca, Federico. 1980. ‘Amor de Don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín’. In F.G.L., Obras, III, Teatro I, ed. Miguel García Posada. Madrid, Akal

• García Lorca, Federico. 1983. F.G.L., La casa de Bernarda Alba, Amor de Don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín, ed. Enrique López Castellón. Madrid, Ediciones Busma

• García Lorca, Federico. 1986. Obras completas, vol. III, ed. Arturo del Hoyo. Madrid, Aguilar

  Contains the play Amor de Don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín

• García Lorca, Federico. 1988. F.G.L., Así que pasen cinco años, Amor de Don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín, 2nd edn, ed. Eugenio Fernández Granell. Madrid, Taurus

• García Lorca, Federico. 1990. Amor de Don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín, ed. Margarita Ucelay. Madrid, Cátedra

• García Lorca, Federico. 1996. Amor de Don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín, ed. Margarita Ucelay. Madrid, Cátedra

Information about the editions

A digital Spanish language version of Amor de Don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín is available by clicking on this link to the online version of the play text (no publishing details).

Useful readings and websites

• Allen, Rupert C. 1974. Psyche and Symbol in the Theater of Federico García Lorca: Perlimplín. Yerma. Blood Wedding. Austin and London, University of Texas Press

• Fergusson, Francis. 1955. ‘Don Perlimplin: Lorca's Theatre-Poetry’, The Kenyon Review, 17.3, 337-48

• García Lorca, Federico. 1986. Obras completas, vol. III, ed. Arturo del Hoyo. Madrid, Aguilar (in Spanish)

  Contains the play Amor de Don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín

• Wright, Sarah. 2000. ‘Perlimplín’s Seduction: Masquerade and the trompe l’œil’. In The Trickster-Function in the Theatre of García Lorca, ed. Sarah Wright, pp. 39-61. Woodbridge, Tamesis

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Entry written by Gwynneth Dowling. Last updated on 12 May 2011.

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JohnCobb wrote 3 Mar 2011, 1:33 p.m.

Don Perlimplin Theatre sans Frontieres are touring UK with a production of Don Perlimplin entitled Lorca: Amor en el jardin October-November 2011
info@tsf.org.uk

Gwynneth wrote 8 Mar 2011, 10:13 a.m.

Teatre sans Frontieres Thanks for the information. I'll add it to the Production History section.