As the play is Older Than Steam and twists may now be widely known, all spoilers on this page are unmarked.
The Dog in the Manger (Spanish: El Perro del Hortelano) is a 1618 play by Lope de Vega.
Diana, a beautiful widowed countess, has a Green-Eyed Epiphany towards her lowborn secretary Teodoro when she discovers he has been courting her maid Marcela.
However, she feels the class difference between them too acutely and, though she doesn't want him to marry Marcela, she's reluctant to pursue a relationship with him herself.
Tropes featured in the play:
- Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder: When he is sure his relationship with Diana has no future, Teodoro attempts to invoke the trope, deciding to leave for Spain so that their feelings would cool down.
- Fire and Ice Love Triangle: Warm and more openly passionate Marcela and Master of the Mixed Message Ice Queen Diana for Teodoro.
- Graceful Loser: In the end, Ricardo and Federico accept that they have lost, and generously bestow dowries on Dorotea and Marcela.
- He Knows Too Much: At the close of the play, after Teodoro confesses to Diana about Tristan's scheme and that his noble ancestry is fake, Diana proposes to murder Tristan because he knows the truth. After an outraged Tristan steps out from a hiding place and calls her and Teodoro out, she decides to pay him off instead.
- Honor Before Reason: Even after Ludovico acknowledges Teodoro as his son, the latter doesn't want to lie and makes one last attempt to sail to Spain, even though it would mean losing the chance to marry Diana and to become rich and powerful. Diana, although she is impressed by his noble decision, talks him out of it.
- I Have This Friend: Diana claims she has a friend who has had a Green-Eyed Epiphany. Teodoro figures out the truth pretty quickly.
- Karma Houdini:
- Diana never answers for her jealous anger towards Marcela and the active sabotage of Marcela's relationship with Teodoro.
- Tristan is never brought to justice for swindling Federico and Ricardo out of more than a thousand gold pieces.
- Tristan, Teodoro and Diana successfully trick Count Ludovico into thinking Teodoro is his son.
- Kissing Cousins: One of Diana's suitors, Count Federico, is also her cousin.
- Last-Minute Hookup: In the end, Teodoro randomly announces his wish to pair up Tristan and Dorotea.
- Love Dodecahedron: Diana loves Teodoro. Teodoro is torn between Marcela and Diana. Marcela loves Teodoro but is willing to settle for Fabio as a second choice. Fabio loves Marcela. Anarda loves Fabio. Federico and Ricardo love Diana. Tristan and Dorotea are the only ones among the major characters who aren't involved in the mess.
- Master of the Mixed Message:
- Diana practically embodies the trope, since she is in love with Teodoro but knows she can't marry him without besmirching her honor and family name. She can be affectionate with him in one moment and claim she was just being a Benevolent Boss in the next.
- In a lesser way, done by Diana to Ricardo. In one of her attempts to put an end to her love for Teodoro, she sends Ricardo her acceptance of his proposal. By the time Ricardo arrives, though, Diana has changed her mind – again – and claims she simply meant that she preferred him to Federico, not that she was already thinking of marrying him.
- Moses in the Bullrushes: Invoked and parodied with Tristan conning Count Ludovico into believing that Teodoro is his long-lost son and heir who was raised in humble circumstances. Both the way in which Count Ludovico lost his son (to marauders) and the adventurous backstory Tristan constructs for Teodoro mirror many straight examples of this trope, including the element where the hidden noble ancestry makes the character eligible to marry someone highborn (see Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale and Pericles for well-known English-language examples). However, here it's just a scam, although Tristan briefly muses at the possibility that Teodoro could actually be Ludovico's Teodoro.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Count Federico and Marquis Ricardo attempt to get Teodoro assassinated.
- On the Rebound: Marcela begins flirting with Fabio immediately after getting cruelly dumped by Teodoro. Later, she muses that she would let Fabio's love cure her soul.
- Relationship Revolving Door: Teodoro switches between Marcela and Diana several times, and Diana changes her mind several times on whether or not to pursue a relationship with Teodoro.
- Rich Suitor, Poor Suitor: Teodoro is pursued by maidservant Marcela and Countess Diana.
- Rivals Team Up: Ricardo and Federico are each other's rivals for Diana's affection, but when a more dangerous rival presents himself in Teodoro, the two of them start working together to get rid of him.
- Secret Test of Character: Teodoro tells Marcela that his cruel rejection of her was just a test of her feelings. Marcela doesn't buy it for one moment, so he soon admits it was genuine.
- Shipper on Deck:
- Tristan ships Teodoro with whichever woman Teodoro prefers at the moment.
- In the final scene, Teodoro suddenly decides to ship Tristan and Dorotea.
- Slap-Slap-Kiss: At one point, an outraged Diana slaps Teodoro hard enough to draw blood and then shortly afterward insists on keeping his bloodied handkerchief as a keepsake and gives him a generous gift framed as being for the purpose of buying replacement handkerchiefs. Tristan then discusses how the situation reminds him of a professor who had two staff who constantly argued and was totally unsurprised when he found them in bed together.
- Suddenly Suitable Suitor: Thanks to Tristan's scheming, Teodoro is accepted as the son of Count Ludovico and is now able to marry Diana.
- Uptown Girl: Teodoro is as lowborn as one can ever be, since he is a foundling. Diana is a wealthy countess.
