Vested interests

The Vested Interests is one of Jacinto Benavente’s best-known plays. It has the subtitle of “comedy of polichinelas in two acts, three pictures and a prologue”. It premiered on December 9, 1907 at Madrid’s Teatro Lara. According to the writer Dámaso Alonso, the source of inspiration for this work was El Caballero de Illescas by Lope de Vega.
The vested interests has the tone of a picaresque work with classical breath. Jacinto Benavente builds a fun and fast plot. It tells the story of two characters (Leandro and Crispín) who arrive in a city and, scam after scam, manage to become local heroes.
Vested interests parodies the myth of how power and notoriety are achieved. Here false alliances are forged that serve to make others appreciate the talent, nobility or good work of two scammers. The work takes care to make it evident that they lack such attributes.
It kind of dissects the way vain notoriety allows us to be overrated. To the point where, once the game is made apparent, no one dares to admit his own frivolity, pettiness and vainglory.
Works by various authors have been mentioned as possible antecedents of this comedy: Moliere, Regnard, Beaumarchais, Ben Jonson, Goldoni, and, of course, the comedy dell’arte. Benavente himself wrote:

“There has been no lack of plagiarism accusing Vested Interests of Vested Interests . And so plagiarism. Vested Interests is the work that most resembles many others of all times and from all countries. To the Latin comedies, to the comedies of Italian art, to many works by Moliere, Regnard, Beaumarchais. The one he least resembles is, precisely, the one he was most said to resemble, Ben Jonson’s original Volpone .”