[32.3] la toman. The feminine of a pronoun is often used to indicate something indefinite. Some feminine noun may be understood to explain the gender; cosa is frequently suggested. Often we cannot know what noun (if any) is to be supplied. See vocabulary under tomar.
[33.1] donde... tenga. Equivalent to a relative clause (donde = en + relative pronoun) requiring the subjunctive because tener (tenga) expresses not reality but an ideal yet to be fulfilled.
[33.2] aguantaba. See note [9.1]. The sentence is ironical; cualquiera, therefore, has the implication of nobody.
[34.1] Y aun piden las mujeres que os concedan. An abrupt change, natural in conversation, from the third person to the second.
LOS INTERESES CREADOS
Hardly any of Benavente's plays has made a more favorable impression than Los intereses creados. Not only were the first performances enthusiastically received by the audiences, but they called forth highly flattering criticisms. Praise was showered upon the author for his simplicity and idealism, for the effective symbolism conveyed in the characters, and for purity, clearness, and poetry of style. (See the first note, on el tinglado de la antigua farsa, [39.2].) So great was the admiration that a banquet was given in honor of Benavente. The first performance of the play was in the Teatro Lara, situated on the Corredera Baja de San Pablo, considerably to the north of the Puerta del Sol; the Teatro Lara is devoted to comedy and especially to short productions.
Literally translated, the title is 'Created Interests'; in the course of the play Crispín explains the application of the term.
Los intereses creados is a product of enthusiasm. The author is glad for once to turn away from modern themes and to indulge in the freedom and gayety of the old Italian Comedy of Masks. The masterly prologue explains to perfection the frame of mind in which Benavente approaches the old farces, and it also shows wherein he differs from his models.
Attempts to classify this play with other works of Benavente are almost useless. It can be connected with its fellow productions only by virtue of fundamental qualities, such as clarity of style, irony, character study, etc. It would be stretching a point if we called attention to the nobility of Leandro's character and to the happy ending in order to insert the play among those that show a serious moral purpose. A more logical course would be to attribute Los intereses creados to Benavente's love of romance.
No explanatory or critical statements can rival the prologue. Whatever critics may decide to call it, the characters live and move, and offer amusement and food for thought to all classes of persons.