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• Unhappily Married in Valencia : ACT ONE Scene Two

Unhappily Married in Valencia, translated by Kathleen Jeffs (née Mountjoy)

ACT ONE Scene Two

Context:

There are two married couples: Valerián and Eugenia, and Álvaro and Hipólita. Just before the following extract, Valerián has declared to Hipólita that he is in love with her. He tries to escape before her husband Álvaro comes home; but he doesn’t make it out in time and greets Álvaro briefly before leaving the house in a hurry. Meanwhile, Álvaro has been away in Saragossa (Zaragoza), and has picked up a girlfriend, Elvira, whom he has seduced and convinced to dress as a boy (calling herself ‘Antonio’) for their travels home. He has not told Elvira that he is married; she finds out at the start of this scene.

Sample text

[Valerián and Hipólita are already onstage.] Enter Don ÁLVARO and ELVIRA, who is dressed as a page (‘Antonio’).

ELVIRA:

You’re married?!

ÁLVARO:

And repentant.

Here she comes—

pretend for a moment.

ELVIRA:

Wouldn’t it be better

to kill myself?

ÁLVARO:

My liberties have been

born of love for you;

forgive me.

HIPÓLITA:

My lord!

ÁLVARO:

My lady!

HIPÓLITA:

Thank heavens you’ve returned to me safely.

ELVIRA: (Aside.)

And now I’m dying of jealousy.

VALERIÁN: (Aside.)

Envy consumes me.

ÁLVARO:

Forgive me, if my arms

have not embraced you first.

VALERIÁN:

It is good to have you back;

now I await your embrace.

ÁLVARO:

Take my arms, they’re nothing to me,

and you should be grateful,

for it pains me to tear them from the lovely

neck of my wife to give them to you.

VALERIÁN: (Aside.)

He’s a lucky man who gets to enjoy her.

(Aloud.)Well, Don Álvaro?

HIPÓLITA:

Oh, Traitor!

VALERIÁN:

How was your journey?

ÁLVARO:

Better than I could have imagined.

VALERIÁN:

Saragossa’s heaven.

ELVIRA: (Aside.)

I’m homesick already!

ÁLVARO:

It’s a beautiful place.

VALERIÁN:

And famous!

ÁLVARO:

I cried when I had to

leave that Coso Street.

VALERIÁN:

And what mad deeds

will you have gotten up to while you were there?

ÁLVARO:

Strange ones, I confess;

later I’ll tell all,

when we have more...time.

VALERIÁN:

Goodbye.

ÁLVARO:

You’re going?

VALERIÁN:

I’ll come back later

with my wife.

ÁLVARO:

I look forward to it.

VALERIÁN:

And Eugenia will share

in your happiness.

HIPÓLITA:

I am very happy; but to see

both of you will please me even more.

VALERIÁN: (Aside.)

I go; dying.

ELVIRA: (Aside.)

I’m burning with rage!

HIPÓLITA: (Aside.)

Thank God he’s leaving.

ÁLVARO:

All right, what’s troubling you?

HIPÓLITA:

You’ve given me cause for concern;

for you’ve cried in leaving Coso Street,

perhaps for something you’ve left behind in Coso Street?

There are many ladies …

ELVIRA: (Aside.)

Oh, God!

HIPÓLITA:

…in Saragossa…

ELVIRA: (Aside.)

Oh, Good!

HIPÓLITA:

... and I fear that more than one

has taken your fancy.

You’ve always had a way with them!

ÁLVARO:

Not one could equal you, my dear.

ELVIRA: (Aside.)

You’re the master of tricks;

why have I come here?

HIPÓLITA:

And what! Haven’t I been betrayed by you?

ELVIRA: (Aside.)

What terrible fury!

HIPÓLITA:

You must swear it to me.

ÁLVARO:

I swear on your eyes.

HIPÓLITA:

Swear it again; more.

ÁLVARO:

I swear on your life.

HIPÓLITA:

Swear it on your own life too.

ÁLVARO:

Isn’t your life my own?

HIPÓLITA:

Yes, my love.

ÁLVARO:

Well, my joy, have a little faith.

HIPÓLITA:

Listen to me:

despite that, I don’t believe it,

you can act young and free in Saragossa,

and there could be opportunities there

that give rise to sinful desires.

What have you done?

ÁLVARO:

I was on business.

HIPÓLITA:

And it was all business?

ÁLVARO:

I also went for a stroll or two.

HIPÓLITA:

And you visited women?

ÁLVARO:

No.

HIPÓLITA:

And you didn’t speak to them?

ÁLVARO:

I didn’t speak to them.

HIPÓLITA:

Well, you would have at least seen

a couple of them.

ÁLVARO:

No, I swear.

HIPÓLITA:

I’m not so sure.

ÁLVARO:

And I know it.

HIPÓLITA:

Really, you didn’t?

ÁLVARO:

No, by God;

and leave me alone, for heaven’s sake,

for so many questions one after the other

is exhausting—

enough of this constant jealousy!

I’m home now.

HIPÓLITA:

And you’re upset?

ÁLVARO:

Leave it ...

HIPÓLITA:

You are a beast.

ÁLVARO:

... I haven’t even taken off

my spurs and boots.

Antonio, take off my spurs.

HIPÓLITA:

Remove them, and I’ll put them

on my heart to spur me to leave.

ELVIRA:

I’ll take them off.

HIPÓLITA: (Aside.)

So that I don’t tire you further, I’ll go.

My heart faints from pain.

She goes.

ÁLVARO:

Go, and take my suffering with you.

She’s crying. Oh, marriage!

A heavy and violent yoke,

if you weren’t a holy sacrament,

I’d say you were the work of the devil.

Copyright

The above sample taken from the translation Unhappily Married in Valencia by Kathleen Jeffs (née Mountjoy) is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Entry written by Kathleen Jeffs. Last updated on 4 October 2010.

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