"El lindo don Diego : Comedia" by Agustín Moreto is a stage comedy written in the mid-17th century. It satirizes vanity and social pretension through the figure of a preening fop, Don Diego, entangled in arranged-marriage plans with his cousins Inés and Leonor, while the honorable Don Juan secretly loves Inés. Expect witty intrigue, sharp character sketches, and a gracioso servant stirring mischief. The tone blends courtship games, familial duty, and comic
deception. The opening of this play sets the conflict: Don Tello plans to marry his daughters, Leonor and Inés, to his nephews, Don Mendo and the self-adoring Don Diego, devastating Don Juan, who loves Inés. Inés didn’t know of the arrangement and, with Leonor, weighs how to resist; Mosquito, the clever servant, skewers Don Diego’s ridiculous vanity. The cousins arrive: Mendo proves modest and wins Leonor’s favor, while Inés frankly tells Don Diego she cannot love him and begs him to withdraw, which he obtusely misreads as jealousy. To save Inés, Mosquito plants a false trail by disguising Beatriz as a rich countess who flatters Don Diego in ornate, “culto” speech; the fop immediately pivots to pursue her, leaving the arranged match wobbling as Don Juan steps in to confront him, and the intrigues begin to tighten. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
