A Sunny Morning : Serafin Alvarez Quintero and Joaquin Alvarez Quintero
About the authors
Serafin Alvarez Quintero and Joaquin Alvarez Quintero were Spanish dramatists.
They began writing for the theatre at a young age. They were popularly known as
the Golden Boys of the Madrid theatre. They collaborated in almost 200 dramas
depicting the life, manners, and speech of Andalusia.
A Sunny Morning is a light romantic comedy
that narrates the reunion of two lovers now in their 70s meeting at a park who
in their youth were passionate lovers but torn apart by the cruelty of fate.
The setting of the play is a sunny morning in Madrid, Spain on a bench in the
park.
Summary
A
Sunny Morning is a comic play by the Quinter brothers. The play
consists of two stories. It begins in the park where the hero and heroine, Gonzalo
and Laura meet and are old already. They had met long back in their youth and
that is revealed by flashbacks during the conversation between them.
They both have the habit of visiting the park
and one day they meet accidentally in the park. Laura feeds pigeons regularly
with bread crumbs and watches them. On the other hand, Gonzalo sits on a park
bench reading the poetry of his favorite poets. Both of them have servants to
look after them as they are old. One day, while Laura was feeding the pigeons and
watching them feed, Gonzalo finding his favorite park bench being occupied by
three priests unwillingly comes and sits by the side of Laura.
Deliberately he comments on her feeding and
starts reading his fond poems. After a while, he tells Laura that he belonged
to Valencia, a city in Spain. Laura is surprised and tells that she too had
spent her youth there in a villa called Maricela. Gonzalo asks Laura whether
she remembered a beautiful young lady there by the name of Laura. She lies to him that
she was a close friend of Laura. They share the story of Laura’s friend and
Gonzalo’s cousin which was really their own love story.
Laura tells that, her friend waited for her
lover for many years, and later was married forcibly to a merchant. Gonzalo
replies that his cousin left Madrid and joined the army and met with a glorious
death on the battlefield: So, both did not reveal their true identities and
left the park with the hope of meeting there regularly.
Understanding
the text
Answer the
following questions.
a. What makes
Dona Laura think that Don Gonzalo is an ill-natured man? Why do neither Dona
Laura nor Don Gonzalo reveal their true identities?
Gonzalo walked into the midst of pigeons while Laura
was feeding them. When she questions his rude manners he replies that he did
not care for the birds and asks her how she dares to talk to him. These rude
actions of Gonzalo made Laura conclude that he was an ill-natured man.
Dona Laura and Don Gonzalo spin fictitious stories
because they think that it was not a good idea to reveal their identities at
old-age.
b. At what point
of time, do you think, Laura and Gonzalo, begin to recognize each other?
When Laura and Gonzalo reveal their places and secrets
they begin to recognize each other. When Gonzalo tells her he is from Valencia
and when Laura tells him that she had memories of villa Maricela they recognize
each other.
c. When does
Dona Laura realize that Don Gonzalo was her former lover?
After
taking a pinch of snuff both Don Gonzalo and Dona Laura sneeze alternately.
Dona mutters to herself that the snuff has made peace between them. Gonzalo
begins reading then. Dona sympathizes with him reading with all those glasses.
Gonzalo tells her that he has been a great lover of poets and poetry. He
further tells her that he is a native of Valencia. This provokes both of them
to talk about their earlier identities. When Dona tells him about the villa in Maricela,
Gonzalo discloses about the silver maiden and like a poet he describes her
beauty. At this moment, Dona realizes that Gonzalo was her former lover.
d. Why do Dona
Laura and Don Gonzalo spin fictitious stories about themselves?
Dona Laura and Don Gonzalo spin fictitious stories
because they think that it was not a good idea to reveal their identities in
old-age. Moreover, Dona Laura married subsequently and Gonzalo was suffering
from gout. Thinking all these, they decided to hide their feelings for each
other and wanted to spend their remaining life with the sweet memories of the
past.
e. How do Dona
Laura and Don Gonzalo feel about each other?
Laura and Gonzalo both are witty and intelligent.
During their conversation, they identify each other but hide their true
identities by telling fictitious stories. Their love story is excellent as
Laura feels that she may die before Gonzalo and he should decorate her funeral
and Gonzalo certainly knows she was Laura. They prefer to live in the past
sweet memories rather than the present reality. In the beginning, they were
resenting each other, but by the time the play ends, they know their true
identities, and love again blossoms.
Reference to the
context
a. Look at the
extract below and answer the questions that follow:
“Yes, you are only twenty. (She sits down on
the bench.) Oh, I feel more tired today than usual. (Noticing Petra, who seems
impatient.) Go, if you wish to chat with your guard.”
i. Who is the
speaker?
ii. Who does
‘you’ refer to?
iii. Who is the
‘guard’ the speaker is talking to?
The speaker referred to above is Dona Laura.
‘You’
refers to Dona Laura’s servant Petra.
The
‘guard’ speaker is referring to is Petra’s boyfriend who works as a guard in
the public park.
b. Read the
extract dialogue from the play and answer the questions that follow:
DONA LAURA:
(Indignantly.) Look out!
DON GONZALO: Are
you speaking to me, senora?
DONA LAURA: Yes,
to you.
DON GONZALO:
What do you wish?
DONA LAURA: You
have scared away the birds who were feeding on my crumbs.
DON GONZALO:
What do I care about the birds?
DONA LAURA: But
I do.
DON GONZALO:
This is a public park.
c. Who is Dona
addressing by saying “Look out”?
Dona
Laura is addressing Don Gonzalo by saying “Look out”
d. What was Dona
doing?
A regular visitor to the park, Dona Laura was feeding bread crumbs to the pigeons.
e. Who scared
the birds? Are they pet birds?
Dona Laura is annoyed with Don Gonzalo because despite
her warning he scares away the birds which were feeding on her bread crumbs in
the park. Don Gonzalo is annoyed too because she is complaining about some
birds which were feeding in a public park.
They were not pet birds.
f. Where are the
speakers at the time of the conversation?
The
speakers are sitting on a bench in a public park in Madrid.
g. What is the
effect of flashback in the play when Dona Laura and Don Gonzalo knew that they
were lovers in the past?
The saying ‘all love is sad’ is applicable with
reference to an imaginative love affair supposed to have taken place between
two lovers who were in their prime of youth and it gets re-enacted dramatically
as a flashback incident in the play during a conversation that takes place in a
retired corner of a park in Madrid on a Sunday morning, between two old people,
an old lady named Dona Laura and an old man named Don Gonzalo – who are now in
their 70s. The dramatic technique used in the play is unique in its approach.
The progression of events moves from the present to the past. The flashback
technique highlights the intensity of love between the former lovers which
exists between them even ‘now’ after a lapse of almost half a century.
h. Discuss how
the play is built around humor and irony.
‘A Sunny Morning’ is a romantic comedy with only two
main characters Don Gonzalo and Dona Laura who are in their seventies now.
Their chance meeting on a sunny morning in a park in Madrid gives the
characters an opportunity to relive the story of their love affair when they
were living in Maricela. The whole story is built up through witty, humorous,
lively, and spontaneous interaction between them. When the play opens, we find
Dona Laura happily speaking to the pigeons which were feeding on the bread
crumbs. When Don Gonzalo comes there looking for a bench, Dona Laura accuses
him of scaring away her birds. In reply, Don Gonzalo tells her that it is a
public park and he doesn’t care about the birds. Dona Laura asks him why then
did he complain that the priests had taken his seat. Later, when Don Gonzalo
comes back to the same place to sit, she asks him why he was seen there again.
But, when he tries to put her off saying that they had not met, she tells him
that she was only responding to his gesture. When he tells her that she ought
to have only returned his greeting, she remarks that he should have taken her
permission to sit on that bench. Finally, with her witty remarks, she makes him
tongue-tied and helpless. When he mutters to himself, saying that she was a
senile old lady and she ought to be at home knitting and counting her beads,
she asks him not to grumble anymore. When she finds him cleaning his shoes
with his handkerchief, she taunts him asking whether one uses a handkerchief as
a shoe brush. In reply, when Gonzalo asks her what right she has to criticize
his actions, she answers playfully that it was her right as a neighbor. When
Gonzalo tries to put her off rudely saying that he does not care to listen to
nonsense, she once again teases him remarking that he was very polite. When
Gonzalo asks her apologetically not to interfere with what does not concern
her, she again tells him stubbornly that she generally says what she thinks.
From then on their spontaneous exchange takes a positive direction and soon
they become friends.
In the same spirit, the irony is cleverly built into the
play. After settling on her bench, Dona Laura sends her maidservant to chat
with the guard. She glances towards the trees and expects the arrival of
pigeons. Although she is waiting for the birds, we see soon Don Gonzalo enter
with the help of his servant. This is an instance of irony. When he reads from Campoamor’s
work he says ‘all love is sad’ which also hints at his sad affair with Dona in the
past. He also reveals the description of the silver maiden and admits that he
has been conversing with Dona Laura as if they were old friends. They were
lovers in fact.
‘A Sunny Morning’ is a beautiful one-act romantic
comedy. Serafin and Alvarez have spun the characters and situations so
remarkably that they remain etched in our memories. This play which shuttles
between past and present comes with the youthful romance of the lead characters’
past and romantic aspects of love in the guise of a new friendship for the
veteran souls.
Here in this play, comedy takes precedence over
romance which can be witnessed in the opening scene of the play. The comic
sense of Laura is admirable when she quips at Gonzalo’s walking. “A carriage
would not raise more dust than his feet.” Her words create such ringing
laughter that they are delectable. When she asks him, “Do you use your
handkerchief as a shoe brush?” adds to the perfect timing of comedy. The snuff
bridges their rift; reading brings them yet closer; the poem takes them to
their past love story. By now, they have a strong desire to get along well.
They admire each other’s interests. The title is befitting considering a sunny
morning contrasting their late evening years. They just want to relive the past
romantic moments when Gonzalo stoops with great difficulty to pick up the
violets Laura dropped while leaving the park.
Reference beyond
the text
a. What do you
predict will happen in the next meeting between Dona Laura and Don Gonzalo?
Discuss.
The
former lovers part that morning with a promise to see each other the next day
in the morning. As they have realized they were fast lovers in their youth, I
think they will get closer to each other with every passing day. However, they
will certainly try to keep their true identities secret to create and sustain
charm and fascination. The silver maiden has lost her youthful glow and is a
crippled woman. So is Don Gonzalo who looks grotesque and old.
b. Was it wise
for Dona Laura and Don Gonzalo to keep their identities secret? How might their
secrets affect future meetings?
Dona Laura and Don Gonzalo, the protagonists in the
play, accidentally meet at a park as two strangers throwing banters at each
other and eventually making amends. It is universal to a larger extent than if
secrets are kept, they sustain the interest, spirit, and excitement. Here again,
on the same principle, the playwrights have anchored the protagonists from drifting
towards each other with their true identities. The only deterrent perhaps is
their age and looks. Both the characters fear revealing their true identities
since they have lost their charming youth that had been their constant source
of love.
If they would have revealed the identities, they would
have missed the surprise, curiosity, and interest in each other. Both of them
were not happy with the way they were looking at their old ages and felt that
the other person may be put off seeing them like that. So they prefer to keep
their sweet memories alive and conceal the bitter truth of old age. Of course,
they knew the other’s identity.
c. Write the
summary of the play.
Introduction
A Sunny Morning is a one-act play by Serafin
and Joaquin Alvarez Quintero, brothers and celebrated Spanish playwrights of
the early twentieth century. The story is centered on two old lovers now
in their 70s meeting at a park and trying to recall their romantic past. The
man is Don Gonzalo and the lady is Dona Laura.
Meeting
of Don Gonzalo and Dona Laura / Background / Setting
The autumn season in the background presents the
baldness of life coinciding with the entry of two key characters in the play
Don Gonzalo and Dona Laura have also lost their prime youth and attraction.
They meet at the park but they are not able to identify each other at the
beginning. Don Gonzalo angers Dona Laura as he scares away the birds she was
feeding. Laura picks up verbal combat attacking him with a barrage of words.
He retorts though, gives up soon, and offers her a pinch of snuff and reconciles
with her.
Flashback
/ The past
When Don Gonzalo reads from Campoamor’s, both
feel that they were lovers in the past. But they choose to pretend to hide
their identities. Don Gonzalo tells Laura that he was Gonzalo’s cousin and she
says that she heard about Dona Laura’s story through her friend.
Their
Love story - Dona Laura’s version
Dona Laura lived at Maricela in Valencia. She was
known as ‘The Silver Maiden’ in her locality. Gonzalo would pass by on
horseback every morning down the rose path under her window and would toss up
to her balcony a bouquet of flowers. Later in the afternoon he would return by
the same path and catch the bouquet of flowers she would toss him. Laura’s
parents wanted to get her married to a merchant. A duel followed and the
merchant was badly wounded by Gonzalo. He fled away fearing the consequences.
Laura waited for days and months and not hearing from him for long she left her
home one afternoon and went to the beach. While she was engrossed in his
thoughts she was washed away by the waves.
Don
Gonzalo’s version
Gonzalo loved her intensely too. After injuring
the merchant seriously, fearing the consequences, he took refuge in Seville and
Madrid. He wrote many letters to her but they were intercepted by her parents.
As there was no reply, in despair, he joined the army and met his death in
Africa.
Conclusion
/ Reality
Two years later Laura married someone and
settled down in her life. Similarly, Gonzalo disappointed over his lost love,
three months later married a ballet dancer and settled down in Paris. Though
they were separated, in their hearts their yearning for romantic love
continued. When they meet in the park after nearly 50 years, both of them were
able to recall their intense romantic affair. Although they came to know about
each other in reality, they did not want to reveal, for they had lost their
charming youth.
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