You are here:
- Authors, Plays & Translators
- Play index
- Don Gil de las calzas verdes
- Sample translations
Don Gil de las calzas verdes (c.1615), Tirso de Molina
- Don Gil of the Green Breeches : ACT ONE, Scenes Five, Six and Seven From Boswell and McKenna’s 'Don Gil of the Green Breeches' , ACT THREE, Scene Eighteen, Boswell and McKenna’s 'Don Gil of the Green Breeches'
Don Gil of the Green Breeches (1992), translated by Laurence Boswell, Deirdre McKenna
ACT ONE, Scenes Five, Six and Seven From Boswell and McKenna’s 'Don Gil of the Green Breeches'
- Edition
-
Tirso de Molina. 1992. Damned for Despair and Don Gil of the Green Breeches, trans. Laurence Boswell with Jonathan Thacker (Damned for Despair) and with Deirdre McKenna (Don Gil of the Green Breeches). Bath, Absolute Press
pp. 124-6 - Context:
- Don Pedro has decided to marry his daughter to a wealthy man who claims his name is ‘Don Gil’ (he is actually Don Martin in disguise). Here Ines reacts to her father’s decision and makes fun of the prospective suitor’s name. Following their conversation Juana, dressed in man’s clothing as another false ‘Don Gil’, pretends to have come to the garden in pursuit of Ines, as ‘he’ claims ‘he’ is in love with her. Caramanchel, the servant, has his suspicions about the masculinity of Juana’s Don Gil, mentioning ‘his’ lack of beard. This translation is broken up into stanzas.
- Sample text
-
-
Don Pedro and Dona Ines.
[…]
- DONA INES:
There are lots of eligible
men about who come from Madrid.
Why shackle me to a yokel?
Madrid is an ocean, is it not?
And Valladolid is a stream.
Why ignore the treasures of the sea
for the bounty of a brook?
And do you think it is just to
marry me to some unknown man
when I’m perfectly in love?
If it’s simply your love
of money which drives you
to this, then see it for
what it is: a sin which
disfigures many fathers.
What’s his name?
- DON PEDRO:
Don Gil.
- DONA INES:
Don Gil!
A spouse from a puppet show!
Gil! What a horrid name!
Does he have a shepherd’s crook
and wear a sheepskin coat?
- DON PEDRO:
Why should you worry about
the name if the owner
is noble and wealthy?
Just take a look at him
this afternoon and I’m
sure you will fall in love.
- DONA INES:
I’m sure! Clara is still
waiting in the coach outside.
(Aside.) I’m not looking forward
to this trip at all now.
Give me my cloak.
- DON PEDRO:
He’ll be there.
I’ve sent him to meet you.
- DONA INES: (Aside.)
Me married to a Gil!
Do I look like a bumpkin?
-
In the garden of the Duke.
-
Dona Juana.
- DONA JUANA:
I have managed to acquire
some vital information:
Don Pedro is due to
arrive at this garden
party with his daughter,
Dona Ines, whom he
intends to introduce
to my faithless Don Martin.
Fortune, you have helped
me find out where she lives
and whom she loves and all
her father’s marriage schemes;
these I will frustrate if
you remember my sorrow;
please don’t let me down.
I have gained the trust of
a servant in my rival’s
house who is privy to
her every conversation.
Miracles can be worked with
a small remuneration.
- Dona Juana and Caramanchel.
- CARAMANCHEL: (Unaware of Dona Juana.)
My mysterious new
master, the hermaphrodite
Don Gil, swore he’d meet me here.
I’m beginning to think
he’s a ghost in disguise
who has come to Madrid to
rid me of my sanity.
If I find proof of my
suspicion, I’ll report
him to an officer of
the Holy Inquisition.
- DONA JUANA:
Caramanchel.
- CARAMANCHEL:
Master!
What wind blows you to this park?
- DONA JUANA:
A lady who reminds
me of a summer breeze.
I’m thirsty for her beauty.
- CARAMANCHEL:
Her beauty makes you thirsty?
That’s an awful addiction;
it’s cheaper than whisky
but it won’t make you drunk.
Is it love?
- DONA JUANA:
I adore her.
- CARAMANCHEL:
You shouldn’t pose any
problem whatsoever
in the game of love: if
your beard is anything
to go by, you won’t get
anyone into trouble.
- (Music offstage.)
What’s that music?
- DONA JUANA:
It heralds
the entrance of my lady
who has flown down from heaven
to adorn this garden.
Stay in hiding and watch my
performance.
- CARAMANCHEL:
Well what’s he like
my master, a capon
who wants to play the cock?
-
- Copyright
-
The above sample taken from the translation Don Gil of the Green Breeches (1992) by Laurence Boswell, Deirdre McKenna is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
ACT THREE, Scene Eighteen, Boswell and McKenna’s 'Don Gil of the Green Breeches'
- Edition
-
Tirso de Molina. 1992. Damned for Despair and Don Gil of the Green Breeches, trans. Laurence Boswell with Jonathan Thacker (Damned for Despair) and with Deirdre McKenna (Don Gil of the Green Breeches). Bath, Absolute Press
pp. 217-18 - Context:
- This is near the end of the play, when the proliferation of people dressed falsely as ‘Don Gil’ has reached the point of absurdity, and Don Martin laments that he seems to see a ‘Don Gil’ thwarting his plans around every corner. This translation is broken up into stanzas.
- Sample text
-
-
San Jeronimo Street.
-
Don Martin (dressed in green).
- DON MARTIN:
Oh streets of this great city,
mimics of Babel’s madness,
worn away with endless lies,
cosseting the rich whilst
castrating the poor; oh you
brothels, constantly filled
with pain and corruption,
tell me who in heaven could
want to cause me so much harm?
Will a Don Gil always haunt me?
You Trees who clothe these streets
with fallen leaves and whose
branches sway with lovers’
trophies, if I was to hang
a token upon you t’would
be an emblem of grief.
You Joyous Fountains whose
gentle droplets bless the earth
beneath you, whose waters
whisper secrets, will I al-
ways be pursued by a Gil?
Tell me the crimes I have
committed which cause even
my shadow to hate me?
Does my adoration
of Ines deserve the
invisible torments which
continuously taunt me?
Who is this Don Gil who
frustrates all my desires?
Why is he named after me?
Why does he constantly
follow me? Does he mean
to tell me there’ll always
be a Gil behind me?
If I court Dona Ines,
Gil courts Dona Ines,
and so he wins her love;
if my father sends me
letters, Gil apprehends
the letters and uses them
for his wicked schemes;
if I receive money,
Gil steals all the money.
I don’t know where to go
because there’ll always be
a Gil there before me.
-
- Copyright
-
The above sample taken from the translation Don Gil of the Green Breeches (1992) by Laurence Boswell, Deirdre McKenna is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Entry written by Kathleen Jeffs. Last updated on 16 May 2012.
