Bohemian Lights: Characters and Social Critique

Characters

The town is represented by two characters, generally characterized by archetypes:

• Max Estrella: The protagonist of this work. A blind, hyperbolic Andalusian poet of odes and madrigals, a humorist, and a lunatic, Maximum Star, known as Mala Estrella in the literary world, embodies the figure of the last bohemian. It is thought that Max is based on the personality of the Andalusian writer and journalist Alejandro Sawa, a friend of Valle-Inclán who inspired the Spanish bohemian movement. Sawa lived in Paris, met Victor Hugo, and died in Madrid, blind and insane, in the worst of miseries. Valle presents him as a classical hero, but despite his intelligence, all doors were closed to him. Max awakens to a strong sense of ironic failure. His sarcasm and his views on the ills of Spain respond to a special sensitivity to injustice and oppression. Max is also a character full of contradictions, which characterizes him as an antihero. It is strange that a man of his sensitivity would forget his family and spend money on a dinner he gave to the minister.
• Don Latino de Hispalis: A character who, as he himself states, does not know what he is, but accepts the role of a guide dog for Máximo. However, Latino's loyalty is called into question from the very beginning. In the library of Zarathustra, there is a deal between the librarian and Latino to swindle Max out of a few coins. And after Max's death, he keeps the money without giving it to Madame Collet and Claudinita, who kill themselves mired in poverty. He is a cynical master of irony and possesses a language full of Madrid slang.

Political and Social Reality

The play is close to the date of its publication (1920). There is constant criticism of politicians:

• Cries from Maura, Chairman of the Council of Ministers and President of the RAE.
• Dorio de Gadex: Parody of the empty rhetoric of politicians.
• Alfonso XIII: Dorio says he is the comedian of Spain for appointing Prieto president, ignoring the outcome of the elections.
• Insults are directed at Castelar, and there are ironic references to Romanones, Don Jaime (Carlist pretender), and Infanta Isabel.

Political corruption, or "Picaresque," refers to the chieftaincy. Lagartos says his father was a barber and took out Camo-Gadex. Deputy Prieto says he is one more son, referring to the existing nepotism in politics. The alleged sharing of wealth is present in the appointment of Romanones.

The story of the Catalan prisoner appears: arrest, imprisonment, and death by firing squad, applying the law of retaliation, interpreted as strikes by government workers.

Scene XI

Scene XI presents anti-grotesque scenes built around the mother holding her dead child, killed by a stray bullet. Max, listening to the heartbreaking cries of the mother, is opposed to the business owners (bourgeoisie) who manifest themselves through repression. Phrases like "an employer, every day, or maybe two" take on a significant value, revealing an enormous social conflict and the savage violence of the repression. Also featured in the scene is the marginalization of prostitutes, towards whom Max shows compassion, while Don Latino insults them, showing the relationship of the bohemians with the marginal classes.