Sa Tabi ng Bangin / Kasaysayan Tagalog

A three-character drama focuses on Ernesto, a celebrated young poet, Don Armando, a wealthy and avaricious merchant, and Magdalena, Armando’s tender-hearted wife who becomes infatuated with Ernesto. Magdalena confesses her passion; Ernesto at first accepts but is checked by conscience and turns the episode into a staged drama that mirrors their lives. At the premiere Magdalena is overwhelmed by guilt and collapses; ensuing explanations produce her remorse, Armando’s forgiveness, and Ernesto’s moral resolution. The surrounding short stories and poems further examine desire, honor, social ambition, and the revealing or redemptive effects of art.