Act I, Scene 3, Grade 00

"Fernán Gómez, estad cierto,
que en esta parcialidad,
porque veo que es verdad,
con mis deudos me concierto.

Y si importa, como paso
a Ciudad Real mi intento
vereis que, como violento
rayo, sus muros abraso.

No porque es muerto mi tío
piensen de mis pocos años,
los propios y los extraños,
que murió con él mi brío."

So... this was the small dialogue I had to memorize for our work on "Fuenteovejuna" by Lope de Vega. I picked it because I really like this part of the play a lot (and of course I couldn't pick Laurencia's monologues or dialogues because it is a female character), because it is like the jump start for the plot to happen, when the Comendador tells the Maestre (the character's dialogue I memorized) to go conquer Ciudad Real.

The first stanza is about how the Maestre is convinced of what the Comendador has told him, and how he agrees after being enlighted with the truth and has to reconcile his family. The second stanza is the passion and power he exhibits on how he is going to conquer Ciudad Real. And the third stanza is about how he cannot be miscredited for being young, because he is still on the run.

I think in this dialogue he uses so much passion to speak that it really convinced me to play this character... although I failed at it.

First, I didn't learn the lines FAIL! Second, I didn't pronounce it correctly FAIL! Third, I had no actions for it FAIL! Fourth, I wasn't very good with the verse enunciation FAIL! Fifth, I didn't do the correct ways to stress the important words and I stressed some that weren't that important MAJOR FAIL!

Well... this experience has taught me that Spanish Golden Age Theatre is very intricate and well elaborated, so I really shouldn't take it so lightly, I have to put even more than a 100% effort on it. My only question is: If Lope de Vega had seen me act out his character, what would have he said?