The King, Leonor and Gutierre are all very honest characters, guided by moral principles, which follow the code of honour. The integrity of them would be total, if they were not so passionate and therefore liable to take rash actions, which is evident when their honour is involved. At the end of the play each has been put in a difficult situation and failed to do the right thing but they did try.
The curse of Act 1; ‘¡El mismo dolor / sientas que siento, y a ver / llegues, bañado en tu sangre, / deshonras tuyas...’ (1013-6) is fulfilled at the end of the play. Gutierre has seen the destruction of his dishonour with the death of Mencía. He sees his hand stained with blood, which he then offers in marriage to Leonor. Therefore, by the end of the play Leonor’s honour has been restored and Gutierre’s honour is intact too.
Coquín does not seem compatible with this world of strict honour. He proposes to Gutierre that they should flee rather than go back to prison. Gutierre is shocked at this dishonourable suggestion but Coquín replies with common sense;
“Y ¿heme de dejar morir
por sólo bien parecer?” (1280-1)
In Gutierre’s soliloquy, he also questions the honour code, calling it ‘injusta’ (1657). However, unlike Coquín he does not question his belief that he should obey the code.
There is another aspect of honour looked at in El Médico de su Honra. The first is ‘del rey abajo ninguno’, meaning nobody can take vengeance on him or others in his presence. This is why Enrique and Gutierre are put in prison. They draw swords before the King, which is usually a capital offence. The other aspect is ‘soy quien soy’, which is a phrase used by people of noble birth in Calderón’s plays. Mencía is the first to use this expression as she finds herself in a testing situation. It can mean that the person knows their position in society and intend to live up to it. Gutierre later uses the same phrase; ‘Mencía es quien es, / y soy quien soy’.
Although one might immediately think that El Médico de su Honra is just a play about honour, there are other aspects of the play to be discussed; love, jealousy and fate.
The theme of love, vital to the play, is at the centre of many relationships between the characters. Honour may lead to the final disaster, but love, or at least the possibility of love between Mencía and Enrique, has had to be in place for Gutierre’s honour to come into question. Love seems to be much more based on physical attraction that on personality;
“pues es fuerza que sea gloria
donde vive ángel tan bello” (189-90)
There is an opposition between love and honour throughout the play. Gutierre, having read her letter to Enrique, writes ‘El amor te adora, el honor te aborrece’ while earlier on, Mencía said of her herself ‘Tuve amor, y tengo honor’ (573). This suggests that love is just as important as honour in the play.
Jealousy is yet another theme that appears in the play. It is very noticeable in Enrique’s character. At the beginning of the play, when he discovers that Mencía has married since they last saw each other, his mannerisms change dramatically, from complimenting Mencía to saying;
“Don Arias, dame un caballo;
dame un caballo, don Diego.
Salgamos presto de aquí.” (235-7)
Gutierre also suffers from jealous outbursts. Jealousy is a dangerous emotion for Gutierre, who needs to keep his head clear to deal with his honour. However, during his soliloquy, he admits that he wants to keep hidden, among other things, his jealousy. But then proceeds with;
“...¿Celos dije?
¡Qué mal hice! Vuelva, vuelva
al pecho la voz;”
Although jealousy is a theme on its own, it is very closely linked to honour. It spurs Gutierre to defend his honour but causes Enrique to forget his.
A final theme that should be discussed is that of fate. Many incidents occur that all aid in pushing the play towards its conclusion. The first example is before the start of the play when Gutierre sees Arias leaving the house of his betrothed, Leonor. He breaks off their engagement and marries Mencía. At the beginning of Act 1, Enrique enters the scene as he falls off his horse. This physically fall is a hint at what is to come; the fall from honour of Enrique, by pursuing a married woman. Another clue as to the future of characters is when Pedro hands Enrique his dagger and it cuts the King’s hand. The audience, knowing the history of the two half brothers, know that Enrique kills Pedro, but this occurrence also serves to indicate the death of Mencía.
In my mind, El Médico de su Honra is principally about honour. Although I have mentioned other themes in this essay, they are all linked in some way to honour. Therefore, honour is present in every situation. Each character thinks of honour at some point because it is extremely easy to lose it, as we have seen from Gutierre, who is dishonoured just by the thought that his wife is being dishonest.
