It may not be amiss to call attention to Benavente's reason for choosing the aristocracy as a butt of ridicule. That he is not a mere vulgar reviler of rich and prominent people is shown by the following remarks, made in the course of a panegyric of the interest of the nobility in agriculture. "If at times I have lashed our aristocracy, it was not on account of prejudice against it, but because, called upon to satirize, and considering the natural and roguish desire of the public to laugh at somebody's cost, it seemed to me more charitable to excite laughter at the expense of those who enjoy many advantages in life, rather than at the expense of the humble who toil and who suffer privations of all kinds. It has never seemed to me that hunger is a fit subject for laughter, and we know that in half of our comic plays hunger is the principal cause of merriment."[i.7] =Transition.=--Many discussions and criticisms of Benavente indicate that he is known principally as a composer of plays that deal with society, written objectively to depict life as it is, without any betrayal of the author's opinions. As we pass beyond the year 1901, we realize that a change is taking place. This does not mean that pictures of life in the upper classes are to constitute an unimportant part of Benavente's _teatro_. As has been noted, they are especially congenial to his artistic sense. However, the later periods of his career give evidence of ever-expanding powers and of increasing versatility. The early type of play does not disappear, but it becomes only one of a number of different _genres_, all of which are connected by their author's keenness of observation, fidelity to life, genius for irony and universal human interest. =1901-1904.=--No convincing bond of union is found in the eighteen plays written in the first three years of the present century. Four translations and adaptations are encountered. The society play is continued in _El automóvil_ and _El hombrecito_, although the latter shows elements of the problem drama. With scarcely any change of method the scene of action is shifted from Spanish to royal and international society in _La noche del sábado_ and _La princesa Bebé_. _El primo Román_, _Al natural_, and _La casa de la dicha_, although differing widely in details, evidence a broader view of human nature. Free rein is given to the spirit of fun in _El tren de los maridos_ and _No fumadores_. Serious steps toward a thesis drama are evident in _Alma triunfante_ and _Por qué se ama_. But the two most striking plays of the period are _La gobernadora_ and _El dragón de fuego_.