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Moreto y Cabaña, Agustín
(1618-1669)
Spanish playwright
Son of an Italian merchant and ordained to
the priesthood after his university studies,
Moreto became a protégé of the archbishop
of Toledo. Supported by his patron's grant
of a chaplaincy in T
OLEDO
, Moreto spent
the last decades of his life primarily in liter-
ary activity. His quiet life contrasted with
the eventful and often tumultuous careers
of the major Spanish dramatists. Moreto's
plays fall into many categories, often deriv-
ing from the ideas and models of other
authors, including L
OPE
DE
V
EGA
and C
ALDE
-
RÓN
DE
LA
B
ARCA
. To these works, however,
he brought his own distinctive contribution
of refined and elegant plot and character
treatment. In the polish and suavity of his
dramas there is often a foretaste of the
18th-century stage; indeed, his own work
was freely borrowed and imitated by
French, Italian, and even British writers of
the 1700s. While Moreto's historical plays
tend to be didactic, reflecting both the view-
point of Catholic Spain in general and his
own priestly outlook, several of his works
have an enduring influence. Moreto's most
notable plays are
El desdén con el desdén
(Dis-
dain with disdain, 1652) and
El lindo don
Diego
(The pretty Don Diego, 1662). In the
former, considered his masterpiece, an
overly proud young woman has treated her
suitors with undeserved contempt. One of
them reverses the process, disconcerting
her and opening the way to a happy resolu-
tion for both of them. In the latter play the
protagonist is an absurd and odious fop,
Don Diego, whose self-absorption and end-
less preening are both ludicrous and repul-
sive. In the end he is tricked into paying
court to a woman who is supposedly a rich
Moratín was a strong advocate of French
cultural models and techniques, with a
particular devotion to Molière. The son of
a noted playwright and scholar of Spanish
literature, Nicolás Fernández de Moratín,
Leandro followed in his father's footsteps
as regards both of these activities. By 1792
he had already attracted praise from pro-
gressives and antagonism from conserva-
tives with his
La comedia nueva
(The new
comedy) attacking hack writers who used
safe, conventional themes. He came fully
into his own in 1806 with the play
El sí de
las niñas
(The maidens' consent) in which
he condemned the artificiality and narrow-
ness of Spanish social structure and rules of
conduct regarding marriage. Having by
now been labeled
afrancesado
(supporting
French “values”), he inevitably found him-
self drawn into collaboration with the
regime of J
OSEPH
I (Joseph Bonaparte) that
ruled Spain from 1808 to 1814. Moratín
somewhat reluctantly accepted an official
appointment under the Bonaparte govern-
ment, thus opening himself to persecution
after its fall. After a series of harrowing
experiences he fled to France, where he
lived for the remainder of his life. While in
exile he wrote a significant treatise on the
origins of Spanish drama but long remained
unhonored in his own country.
A shy and retiring man, despite his bold
attacks on the cultural and moral defects
of Spain, Moratín was one of a progressive
group that strove to lead their country
into the era of Enlightenment. Like other
intellectuals of his day, he was forced to
choose between patriotism and progress,
although the latter was rendered an
increasingly questionable process under
the military dictatorship that grew out of
the French Revolution.
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