Out of the Wings

La malquerida (1913), Jacinto Benavente y Martínez

The Misbeloved : ACT ONE Scene Two , ACT TWO Scene Five , ACT TWO Scene Six

The Misbeloved, translated by Gwynneth Dowling

ACT ONE Scene Two

Context:

Acacia shows her friend Milagros some of the gifts Esteban has bought for her over the years. Despite his kindness, Acacia resents her stepfather’s presence in her life.

Sample text

ACACIA:: Look at these earrings. They were a present from him. From Esteban. I can call him that now Mother’s gone. She always wants me to call him Father.
MILAGROS:: And he really loves you.
ACACIA:: Yes, he does. But you only have one father and mother … He also brought me these handkerchiefs back from Toledo. The nuns embroidered them. These are postcards. Look how pretty they are.
MILAGROS:: What beautiful women!
ACACIA:: They’re actresses from Madrid, Paris, France … Look at these children, they’re so cute! He bought me this box as well, filled with sweets.
MILAGROS:: And then you’ll say …
ACACIA:: I don’t say anything. I can see that he loves me, but I’d have preferred it to have just been me and Mother.
MILAGROS:: Your mother doesn’t love you any less now.
ACACIA:: How do I know that? She only has eyes for him. And if she had to choose between him and me …

Copyright

The above sample taken from the translation The Misbeloved by Gwynneth Dowling is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

ACT TWO Scene Five

Context:

Norberto is visiting his aunt Raimunda after having been released from prison. He admits he knows who killed Faustino. Raimunda still does not know that Esteban loves her daughter, although the song that they sing around the village about ‘the misbeloved’ hints at this.

Sample text

NORBERTO:

Don’t make me talk. I didn’t even tell them down at the courthouse … And if I say anything they’ll kill me. They’ll kill me for sure.

RAIMUNDA:

Who on earth would kill you?

NORBERTO:

The same people who killed Faustino.

RAIMUNDA:

Who killed Faustino? Someone was hired to do it, weren’t they? Rubio was talking in the inn this morning …

NORBERTO:

You heard about that?

RAIMUNDA:

And Esteban dragged him out to stop him talking …

NORBERTO:

So he wouldn’t incriminate himself.

RAIMUNDA:

What? So he wouldn’t incriminate himself? Because Rubio was saying that he …

NORBERTO:

That he was Master of this house.

RAIMUNDA:

Master of the house! Because it was Rubio who …

NORBERTO:

Yes.

RAIMUNDA:

… who killed Faustino.

NORBERTO:

The very same.

RAIMUNDA:

Rubio! I knew it! And does everyone in the village know?

NORBERTO:

He’s in the process of giving himself away. Wherever he goes he immediately shows his money, notes even. And this morning, when they sang that little song in his face, he turned against them all. That’s when they called for Uncle Esteban, who dragged him out of the inn.

RAIMUNDA:

A song? A little song that they’ve made up … A song that says … What does the song say?

NORBERTO:

“Whoever loves the Soto girl

Will have his happiness robbed.

Because of the man who loves her,

They call her ‘the misbeloved’.”

RAIMUNDA:

We’re the people from Soto. That’s what they call us, it’s the name of this house … And the Soto girl can only be Acacia. My daughter! And this song, everyone’s singing it. They call her ‘the misbeloved’! Is that what it says? But who mis-loves her? Who could mis-love my daughter? You loved her and Faustino loved her … But who else loves her? Why would that make them call her ‘the misbeloved’?

Copyright

The above sample taken from the translation The Misbeloved by Gwynneth Dowling is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

ACT TWO Scene Six

Context:

Raimunda confronts Acacia about Esteban’s behaviour. Finally, Acacia tells her about Esteban’s advances, which she has always resisted.

Sample text

RAIMUNDA:: Don’t hold anything back. Tell me everything. Why have you never called him ‘father’? Why?
ACACIA:: Because I’ve only got one father, as you well know. And that man could never be my father. I’ve always hated him. Ever since he came into this house, bringing the devil with him.
RAIMUNDA:: You’re going to call for him right now. And you’re going to call him what I tell you to call him: ‘father’. Your father. Understand? Do you understand me? I told you to call for your father.
ACACIA:: Do you want me to go up to the fields in heaven and call him there? Because if that’s not the father you mean, I don’t have another one. That man. That’s your husband, the man you love. But he’s nothing more than ‘that man’ to me. I don’t know what else to call him. And if you already know everything, don’t put me through anymore. Let the law deal with him and let him pay for everything he’s done!
RAIMUNDA:: Faustino’s death, you mean? Or more. Tell me …
ACACIA:: No, Mother. If I’d given in to him, he wouldn’t have killed Faustino. Do you think I don’t know how to protect myself?
RAIMUNDA:: Why didn’t you say anything? Why didn’t you tell me everything?
ACACIA:: And would you have believed me over that man? You’ve only got eyes for him! You must’ve been blind not to see what was going on. You saw nothing when his eyes bored into me, when he followed me like a lovesick fool all hours of the day and night. Do you want me to say any more? I’ve hated him so much, I’ve despised him so much … I wanted him to look even more lovesick, just to see whether you would finally notice. So that you could see what kind of man he is. A man who’s taken you away from me, a man you’re so in love with, even more than you were with my father.

Copyright