Lazarillo de Tormes: Masters, Themes, and Picaresque Style

The Chaplain

The Chaplain was the seventh master of Lazarus. He is an opportunist who uses others for profit. He provided Lazarus with his first paying job. Lazarus spent four years with this master to receive the money he needed to buy clothes and a sword. When Lazarus obtained what he needed, he left his master and his craft.

The Sheriff

The Sheriff was the eighth master of Lazarus. The sheriff represents the law of that time. Lazarus found the trade of his master very dangerous, so he left him.

The Archpriest of San Salvador

The Archpriest of San Salvador was the ninth and last master of Lazarus. This is the love that introduces the wife of Lazarus. This also represents the corruption of the clergy, as there were stories in that area regarding relations between the wife of Lazarus and the Archpriest.

The Maid of the Archpriest

The Maid of the Archpriest of San Salvador is the woman Lazarus marries, and she is the part of his life that brings happiness to him. Once they married, their hunger was satisfied, and they reached stability in their lives.

The Meaning of the Novel

The meaning of the novel The Autobiography of Lazarus is the testing of an uneducated process. The constituent features of the picaresque novel are:

• An autobiographical narrative in which the rogue recounts his life, going back to its origin and continuing the story in a linear chronological sequence until the final state of dishonor.
• A joint narrative of the story within a system of serving several masters.
• A vision of reality from the unique perspective of the narrator-protagonist.

Key Themes and Topics

The Picaresque Tradition

We notice this in the characters of the blind man and Lazarus.

Greed and Stinginess

This is seen in the acts of the clergy.

The Role of Appearances

We clearly see the Squire achieves completely false appearances. He represents the people who prove to be a totally different person from who they truly are.

False Religiosity and Clerical Corruption

This is like a subdivision of the appearances achieved by the clerical class; it highlights the point of false religiosity and corruption. This can be seen clearly in the characters of the Sheriff and the Pardoner that accompanied him.

The Theme of the Tramp

Absolutely, this issue lies with the blind man and Lazarus. The blind man teaches Lazarus that being a beggar and a vagrant is a great way to earn a living.

The Theme of Orphanhood

Another issue is the orphanhood of Lazarus; the child lives his childhood without his father, and then his mother delivers him to a master to look after him. It means that from a very young age, he was an orphan.

The Central Theme of Hunger

This is the most important theme of the novel. Everything revolves around famine; the whole problem of the novel occurs because of Lazarus's hunger. Because of this, one can say that it is the most important issue. This theme breaks with the literary schemes of the time.