El médico de su honra () is a Spanish language play by Pedro Calderón de la Barca. First published in 1637, it is a tragedy about a misunderstanding which leads to the honor killing of the protagonist's wife.
Plot summary
Act 1
The play opens as the Infante Enrique falls from his horse and loses consciousness. The King, Pedro, does not wish to be detained on his journey to court at Seville, and suggests that the infante's companions, Don Arias and Don Diego, take him to a nearby country house while he continues on to Seville. Arias criticizes the king for being cruel, but Diego cautions him to watch what he says. The two noblemen carry him to the country house, which is inhabited by Don Gutierre and his wife, Doña Mencía.
Mencía and her slave, Jacinta, receive them. Mencía is recognized as the infante's former lover by Arias, but she cautions him to keep quiet, telling him that her honor depends on it. She sends Jacinta to fetch perfumes and is left alone with Enrique and soliloquizes about her former love for him and the need for her to suppress her emotions to protect her honor. Enrique awakens and expresses his love for her. Mencía explains that she is now married and that they are in the house of her husband. Enrique, overcome by his emotions, demands that he and his companions leave at once, convinced that his fall was an omen of his impending death due to grief at his lover's marriage to another. Mencía explains that she never could have married Enrique, as her status was not high enough to marry an infante.
Don Gutierre, Mencía's husband, enters with his lackey Coquín and asks that Enrique honor his humble dwelling (compared to the palace) by staying there while he recovers. Enrique politely declines, saying he has a pressing need to leave quickly. Gutierre inquires as to the nature of this need, so Enrique reads a story about a friend who betrayed him in a matter of the heart, intended to be a message to Mencía explaining his pain at the news of her marriage. Mencía uses his metaphor in the made-up story to convey that she wishes to explain herself to him.
Diego returns and announces that a horse has been prepared for the infante. Gutierre offers him an exceptional mare from his own stables instead. Enrique accepts the gift and lets Mencía know that he will return to visit her. He leaves, along with his two attendants and Coquín. Mencía mentions her jealousy of Gutierre's former lover Leonor, and Gutierre reassures her that he no longer loves her. Mencía doesn't believe him and he leaves. Jacinta enters and convinces Mencía to tell her about her problems.
The next scene takes place at the king's court in Seville, where he is receiving petitions from his subjects. Doña Leonor and her maid, Inés, enter wearing cloaks to conceal their identities. After the king deals with several petitions, Leonor approaches him and explains that she is seeking justice on a matter of honor. The king sends everyone else away, and Leonor tells the story of how Don Gutierre courted her and proposed marriage, but broke off the engagement. She claims to have filed a lawsuit against him but lost due to favoritism towards Gutierre. She asks the king to order him to support her in a convent, which she sees as her only option as a dishonored woman. The king says that he wishes to hear Gutierre's side of the story, and suggests that she hide herself behind a screen and listen while he speaks with him. She hides and Coquín enters.
The king asks who he is, and Coquín explains that he is someone who makes people laugh. The king makes a wager with him: if Coquín makes him laugh, the king will pay him 100 gold coins, but if he can't, the king will have his teeth pulled. Coquín accepts the wager, mostly out of fear of the king's wrath should he refuse. He leaves and the court, including Don Gutierre, Don Diego, Don Arias, and Infante Enrique, enters. Gutierre approaches the king, who asks about what Leonor told him earlier. Gutierre denies having actually promised marriage and the judge's favoritism during the lawsuit. He hints that there is more to the story, and the king insists that he tell him, so that Leonor will hear what he has to say and can respond to it later.