II. Dos hombres con antifaz
. , , .
« , », .
« , ».
« ».
« , ».
. , . , .
« », , .
« , », , .
A B1 retelling of Zorrilla’s drama
Don Juan Tenorio Don Juan Tenorio
José Zorrilla
This is a retelling of José Zorrilla’s verse drama in Spanish prose, not the original text: a MovaReader adaptation for readers who know the past tenses and are now learning the subjunctive and the conditional. In the catalog it is B1: about 12,600 words, 11 words per sentence on average. 14 chapters cover both parts of the play of 1844: from the wager at the Hostería del Laurel and doña Inés in her convent to the pantheon, the marble statues and the supper with the stone guest. A few of Zorrilla’s most famous lines are quoted word for word.
- B1
- 12 646 words
- 2-4 hours
Will this text hold?
A2
Earlier
At A2 you will follow the plot, but the grammar will stop you: the pluperfect, the subjunctive after antes de que and como si, the conditional (no lo habría creído), long stretches of reported speech and the old courtly vos with vosotros verb forms, at 11 words per sentence on average.
A2B1
This text
Right for B1: all the tenses you are learning in sentences of 11 words, the vocabulary of masks, duels and convents explained by the story itself, and 14 chapters of about 900 words that read one at a time.
Check this passageB2
With room to spare
At B2 the retelling reads quickly, almost without translation: in 2-4 hours you get through both parts of the drama before turning to the complete Spanish texts on the B2 shelf, such as Unamuno’s Mist, with 13 words per sentence and one long word in fourteen.
Start readingThe average sentence has 11 words, and a word of 9 letters or more comes up about once in 22 words (4.5%). That places the retelling between the catalog’s Spanish A2 adaptations, such as Don Quixote (10 words per sentence, 2.8% long words) or Alice in Wonderland (9 words, 3.1%), and the complete texts on the B2 shelf, where Unamuno’s Mist has 13 words per sentence and one long word in fourteen (6.9%). The sentences are only a little longer than at A2; what lifts the book to B1 is grammar. This is the first step of the catalog where a MovaReader retelling uses all the tenses at almost the pace of a complete text: the pluperfect (había salido de la cárcel), the subjunctive (antes de que llegara don Juan, como si fuera el mismo diablo), the conditional with the past subjunctive (si no lo hubiera visto con sus ojos, no lo habría creído) and a great deal of reported speech. The nobles address each other with the old courtly vos and the verb forms of vosotros (vos seréis, sois), as in Zorrilla’s play: this is 16th-century Spanish, not Latin American voseo. Many long words are names and titles: comendador alone comes up 23 times. The difficulty is even: each of the 14 chapters has 10-13 words per sentence. Hence B1. This is the catalog’s assessment, not a certificate.
- 12 646
- words
- 11
- words in an average sentence
- 2-4
- hours of reading
MovaReader. Wikisource
What it is about, without the ending
Carnival night in Seville, around 1545. At the Hostería del Laurel two masked young noblemen, don Juan Tenorio and don Luis Mejía, meet to settle a wager made a year before: which of them could do more harm in a year. They compare their lists of men killed in duels and women deceived, and don Juan wins. Then he makes a new bet: within six days he will win a novice about to take her vows and don Luis’s own bride, doña Ana de Pantoja. The novice is doña Inés, daughter of the comendador don Gonzalo de Ulloa, who hears everything from behind a mask, and so does don Juan’s own father. With the help of the old dueña Brígida and a letter hidden in a prayer book, don Juan carries Inés off from her convent to his house on the Guadalquivir, and there, for the first time, he truly falls in love. But the night is not over: don Gonzalo and don Luis are already on their way. Five years later don Juan comes back to Seville, finds his father’s palace turned into a pantheon with marble statues of his victims, and invites one of them to supper. How the night of the stone guest ends is not revealed here.
Compare two places
Don Juan Tenorio
IX. En la orilla del río
«, . . ¿ , , ?».
, , . , . , . . : .
Choose an underlined word.
The old courtly vos
Entonces sois don Luis Mejía and Y vos seréis don Juan Tenorio: this is the old Spanish vos of the 16th-century nobility, used with the verb forms of vosotros (vos sois, vos seréis), as in Zorrilla’s play. It is not the Latin American voseo, where one says vos sos. Here it is polite and a little cold; in anger or in love the characters switch to tú. Si no me equivoco: “if I am not mistaken”. Ninguno de los dos se fiaba del otro: fiarse de, “to trust”.
Zorrilla’s verse, then reported speech
The question in «» is quoted word for word from the 1844 play, so it keeps the order of verse: más pura la luna brilla is la luna brilla más pura, “the moon shines purer”. ¿No es cierto...? expects the answer yes: “isn’t it true...?”. Then the narrator retells the rest of the speech: le preguntaba si no era verdad que todo aquello respiraba amor. A direct question becomes si with the imperfect. Mientras la luna se reflejaba: mientras with the imperfect sets the background.
Chapters
- ICarnaval en Sevilla
- IIDos hombres con antifaz
- IIILas dos listas
- IVUn padre y otro padre
- VLa reja de doña Ana
- VIUna garza en una jaula
- VIIUna carta en un libro de oraciones
- VIIIEl comendador en el convento
- IXEn la orilla del río
- XDos muertes y un salto
- XIEl panteón de los Tenorio
- XIIUna invitación a cenar
- XIIIEl invitado de piedra
- XIVAl pie de la sepultura
Translation while you read
The book stays free on every plan. Reader, €1 a month, removes the daily limit on words and sentences.
Reader
€1 a month
Reader translates whole sentences, and here that helps most where the story quotes Zorrilla’s verse word for word, as by the river: ¿No es cierto, ángel de amor, que en esta apartada orilla más pura la luna brilla y se respira mejor?
ReaderIf this book is not the one
All books at this levelBefore you read
Is this the original or a learner adaptation?
A learner adaptation, not the original: MovaReader retold in Spanish prose José Zorrilla’s Don Juan Tenorio, a “drama religioso-fantástico” in verse in two parts, first published in Madrid in 1844. It is neither a translation nor the full play: the verse has become modern narrative prose, 14 chapters and about 12,600 words at 11 words per sentence, while a few famous lines are quoted verbatim in «», such as ¿No es cierto, ángel de amor...? Both parts remain: the wager and the lists at the Hostería del Laurel, the convent and Brígida, the abduction, the scene by the river, the night at the house on the Guadalquivir and, five years later, the pantheon, the statues and the supper with the stone guest. Minor scenes are condensed, and the bet over doña Ana is told discreetly. The complete play is not in the catalog.
Is there an audiobook?
There is no audio version of this adaptation: MovaReader gives you the text, not a recording. Tap an unfamiliar word and its translation appears next to it; here that will often be the words of masks, duels and convents, such as antifaz, apuesta or tapia.
Can I translate a whole sentence?
The Reader plan translates whole sentences. Most of them are short here, 11 words on average, but it helps with the subjunctive in Zorrilla’s own lines, like the sign don Juan hangs in Rome, Aquí está don Juan Tenorio para quien quiera algo de él, and in long reported speech, like Don Luis le preguntó cuántos días necesitaba para algo así, y le ofreció veinte. The free plan also translates single words, up to a daily limit.
How many hours does it take?
The whole adaptation takes 2-4 hours at the pace of someone who still translates new words. A chapter averages about 900 words, or 9-15 minutes of reading, so one evening covers three or four chapters.
Where does the text get easier?
The difficulty is even: the 14 chapters have 10-13 words per sentence, so there is no easier stretch to wait for. The first three chapters, in the tavern, are slightly denser (13), and chapter VI, with Brígida’s talk, is the lightest (10). Long words vary more: in chapter V, at doña Ana’s window, one word in 33 has 9 letters or more, and in chapter XII, which opens in the pantheon, one in 18.
Will my place in the book be saved?
Yes, once you sign in: the reader keeps your last place and the words you opened, so next time you carry on from there. The contents on this page also take you straight to any chapter, say XI, “El panteón de los Tenorio”, where the second part begins five years later.