The Dog in The Manger

As far as I know, El perro del hortelano (The gardener's dog) is a truly unique work in Lope de Vega's canon, although there may be some similar comedies among the hundreds of plays this Spanish author wrote. It shows only vestiges of the typical dramas of the Spanish Golden Age, i. e. the plot does not moves around the typical vengeance-for-the-loss-of-the-honour-of-the-virgin-daughter (though the former Spanish caste-system also plays a very important role here) and contrary to what the title might suggest, neither gardeners nor dogs pop up during the story. The title refers to a Spanish saying about the gardener's dog, who does not eat his bone but neither lets any other eat it. This refers to the behaviour of the aristocrat heroine in the story who is in love with a scribbler of a lower rank, but still she does not let him marry to other girls. The freshness of the story comes partly from the psychologically complex characters, especially the already mentioned princess, who knows that is impossible to have her love (don't worry, the story does have a happy ending) but still gives false hopes to the poor hero. The charm of the story also comes from the witty dialogues, the truly original word-plays, especially during the duel of the two lovers, that can remind us of the fighting couples of the Shakespearean comedies, like Taming of the shrew and Much ado about nothing. Recommended to all men trying to all men who hopelessly try to get their seemingly unreachable idol.