specimens of the literature of Spain - Don Alvaro

DON ÁLVARO. Es indispensable, vamos. (Golpea fuertemente la puerta)
DOÑA LEONOR.(Dentro, tocando la campanilla). ¡Socorro! ¡Socorro!

ESCENA X

Los MISMOS y DOÑA LEONOR, vestida con un saco, y esparcidos
los cabellos, pálida y desfigurada, aparece a la puerta de la gruta, y
se oye repicar a lo lejos las campanas del convento

DOÑA LEONOR.Huid, temerario; temed la ira del cielo.
DON ÁLVARO. (Retrocediendo horrorizado por la montaña abajo.)
¡Una mujer!... ¡Cielos!... ¡Qué acento!... ¡Es un
espectro!... Imagen adorada... ¡Leonor! ¡Leonor!
DON ALFONSO. (Como queriéndose incorporar.) ¡Leonor!... ¿Qué
escucho? ¡Mi hermana!
DOÑA LEONOR.(Corriendo detrás de don Álvaro.) ¡Dios mío! ¿Es don
Álvaro?... Conozco su voz... Él es... ¡Don Álvaro!
DON ALFONSO. ¡O furia! Ella es... ¡Estaba aquí con su seductor!...
¡Hipócritas!... ¡Leonor!!!
DOÑA LEONOR.¡Cielos!... ¡Otra voz conocida!... ¿Mas qué veo?...

This is the climactic triple recognition scene, a couple of pages from the end of Don Alvaro o la fuerza del sino, by Ángel de Saavedra, Duque de Rivas (1791-1865). The author, as a liberal politician, had a notable political career e.g. during the Trienio Liberal; he's mentioned in Galdós' Siete de julio. 

I once had a poetry book rejected because it had too many exclamation marks. No such reserve in this epic Romantic tragedy of 1835.

It was later the basis for Verdi's opera La Forza del Destino (1862).


Here's a loose translation by Google and me. Explaining what's going on would involve summarizing nearly the whole story, but it may help to know that Leonor is pretending to be a (male) hermit. The bell is Leonor's alarm call to the nearby monastery.

DON ALVARO. It's a matter of life and death, come on. (Pounds the door)
LEONOR. (Inside, ringing the bell). Help! Help!

SCENE X

The SAME, plus LEONOR, who, dressed in sackcloth, with disordered hair, her face pale and distorted, appears at the door of the grotto; in the distance the bells of the monastery are heard ringing.

DONA LEONOR. Fly, unholy one, fear the wrath of heaven.
DON ALVARO. (Recoiling in horror towards the mountains below.)
A woman! ...Heaven! ...those tones! ... It's a ghost! ... Adored image ...Leonor! Leonor!
DON ALFONSO. (Attempting to rise.) Leonor! ... What am
I hearing? My sister!
LEONOR. (Running behind Don Alvaro.) God! Is it Don Alvaro? ... I know his voice ... It is ...Don Alvaro!
DON ALFONSO. O fury! It is she! ... She was here with her ​​seducer! ...
Hypocrites! ...Leonor!!!
LEONOR. Heaven! ...Another familiar voice! ... Do I see more? ...