Critical Assessment of Literary Works: Moratín and Galdós
Critical Assessment of *El sí de las niñas* by Leandro Fernández de Moratín
Written in 1801, *El sí de las niñas* premiered in 1806 at the Teatro de la Cruz in Madrid with great success. Don Diego, a gentleman in his sixties, plans to marry a girl of sixteen, Doña Paquita, whose mother has arranged the union. But the girl is in love with Don Carlos, a young soldier who happens to be the nephew of Don Diego. Finally, he releases his commitment to Paquita and supports the marriage of the two youths.
In *El sí de las niñas*, Moratín censors the education of women at the time and the abuse of parental authority to which they were subjected. The comedy follows the neoclassical rules, besides its clear didactic purpose, respecting the three dramatic units: a single place for the development of a single action, which begins at seven in the evening and ends at five in the morning. The three acts of the play are at dusk, night, and dawn, symbolically framing the action.
This masterpiece excels in the characterization of characters, including the servants. Of particular importance are the selfish, stubborn, and talkative Doña Irene, mother of the girl, and Don Diego, ridiculous in his claim, but also dignified and generous in his comprehension.
The prose used by Moratín is natural and simple, and the dialogues have added agility, all contributed to by the few soliloquies, which are also very short. The serious and sentimental moments do not come to exaggeration, and the play does not fall into vulgarity, which contributes to the sobriety and moderation of the piece.
Critical Appraisal of *Misericordia* by Benito Pérez Galdós
*Misericordia* is one of the great novels of Benito Pérez Galdós, or what is the same, of Spanish realism. This piece was written and published in 1897, during the author's full creative maturity.
In this work, Galdós puts us in Madrid, a city that offers us vivid scenarios and detailed environments. The narrator of the novel, through irony, guides us through the city, and especially through impoverished neighborhoods. Benina is Doña Paca's maid, a widow who lives ruined, a spendthrift bourgeois unwilling to recognize or make it known. The servant begs for money and manages all kinds of tricks to keep her mistress without her knowing. This happens until a fluke resolves the status of Doña Paca and her family, when they abandon Benina. She is finally taken in by Almudena, a blind Moroccan beggar who loves her, nurses her, and does not show one iota of resentment towards his ungrateful masters.
The work has the virtue of every good realist novel, with its own life to show us a fragment of the world. No doubt that Galdós has gone beyond the simple social portrait to suggest, above all, a plausible model of holiness in the humble Benina.