El viejo y la niña (The Old Man and the Young Girl), 1790

El viejo y la niña was one of Fernández de Moratín's earliest works and would set the signature voice for his later plays. As the title suggests, the narrative of the comedy is about the relationship between an older gentleman and a much younger girl, which was considered normal in Spain during the 1700s. The dark comedy was a searing satire on the Spanish tradition of arranged marriages. Although technically a comedy, the play's narrative arc and tone were intense. Through the play, Fernández de Moratín articulates what happens when an older man is arranged to be married to a young girl, possibly a minor in contemporary legal standards.

La comedia nueva (The New Comedy), 1792

Like his previous play, La comedia nueva is also an attack, but this time against the literary and drama establishment in Europe. He does not specify a certain contemporary, but rather attacks the trend of the day that was being followed by some peers. He believed the plays of his contemporaries were too grandiose and maximalist. In essence, Fernández de Moratín was stating that these types of plays were simply exercises in ego and overindulgence, that his peers were simply creating these extravagant plays for themselves and not necessarily for the audience.

El sí de las niñas (The Maidens's Consent), 1806

El sí de las niñas is the comedy that forced Fernández de Moratín into retirement and initiated his exile from Spain to France. This is due to the fact that the play was a sharp and witty satire of the Spanish social and cultural norms of the time. The king at the time, Ferdinand VII, had just regained his throne from the Bonaparte regime and was in the midst of the Inquisition. This made Fernández de Moratín's latest work seemingly anti-Spanish, and it was considered by the establishment as an act of rebellion. Even this controversial work was later hailed as a masterpiece of Spanish drama and literature, and Fernández de Moratín's remains were transferred back to Spain and buried in the Pantheon of Illustrious Men in Madrid.

In order to analyze Leandro Fernández de Moratín's writing style, one must first examine the philosophical school of thought that had shaped his artistry and political views. Fernández de Moratín learned mostly from his father's massive library of literary works, as he believed that Spanish universities were teaching students subjects that were biased and censored. Due to the fact that Fernández de Moratín distrusted the institutional flaws of the Spain's university system, he delved into the works of Enlightenment-era dramatists, poets, essayists, and novelists.

It was the ideals of the Enlightenment that influenced Fernández de Moratín's own writings. He was also a gifted translator and translated William Shakespeare's works, as well as the works of major French writers, into Spanish. This allowed Fernández de Moratín to develop a sensitivity toward language. This background and mode of thought can be seen in his earlier works that are poetic in nature but also in subtle wordplay that frames multiple character personalities through their dialogues. A character's use of a certain word or manner of speech tells the audience or reader that character's personality or background.

One of Fernández de Moratín's earliest works is a comedy called The Old Man and the Young Girl (translated), which highlights Fernández de Moratín's stylistic foundation that he would use for his later works. In that play, he criticizes the custom of arranged marriages and does...