The Walls Have Ears

Las paredes oyen (The Walls Have Ears) is an expression from the France of the second half of the 16th century. According to the story, Catalina de Médicis had acoustic ducts built on the walls of her palaces, to hear what was said in the other rooms and thus know if she conspired against him. This homonymous piece by Juan Ruiz de Alarcón questions the pathological lie and the compulsive cursing of the character of Don Mendo, who in order to conquer Ana intends to insult her. Meanwhile, the virtuous Don Juan in whom some have seen the author himself, observes the events in spite. The walls hear has an astrological background. The planets and signs evoked in the text mark a mythological and celestial environment ruled by Fortune.
The discreet and devoted Don Juan de Mendoza, an alter ego of the author, pretends to Dona Ana de Contreras Don Juan is a tenacious and counterfeit man and feels for Dona Ana a pure love, with deep roots, faced with rhetoric and the arts seducers of Don Mendo, moved by desire At the end of the piece Don Juan triumphs over his rival. And Ruiz de Alarcón builds a comedy of tangles, with irony.