Lazarillo de Tormes: Origins and Picaresque Elements

Lazarillo de Tormes

This work inaugurates a new subgenre: the picaresque novel. It takes the form of a pseudo-autobiographical story of a character from a miserable home who leaves his family and serves several masters. The protagonist is a roguish character with a desire to thrive. These picaresque tales attempt to explain a final state of disgrace, whether accepted or overcome.

Date and Authorship

The earliest preserved editions are dated 1554. None are the source of the other editions, and all suffer from losses.

Possible authors proposed include Alfonso Valdés, Cervantes de Salazar, and Fray Juan de Ortega.

Sources

Possible sources include The Golden Ass, the Fourth Book of the Valiant Knight Rinaldo of Montalban, Process of Love Letters, and folktales.

Plot Summary

Lazarus is forced to leave his family, serve several masters, and develop different skills.

The life of Lazarus has three stages: childhood, adolescence, and youth:

Childhood

During this time, he is with a blind man who teaches Lazarus to assist at Mass. This leads him to enter the service of the cleric, his next master. He experiences even more hunger with the cleric, and also with his third master. Lazarus thought this was how he would solve his life.

Adolescence

This part of his life involves a monk, a teacher, a pardoner, and painting tambourines. Having been marked by his other experiences, Lazarus now passes through situations without being influenced. He hides his sexual awakening and learns arts of deception, falsehood, and endures continuous suffering.

Youth

Now he is with a chaplain, a bailiff, and an archpriest.

Lazarus settles here and gets a job, first as a water carrier, then as a porquerón, and finally as a town crier, the most stable position, allowing him to acquire a home.

Lazarus is shaped as a character through the trials and tribulations he suffers and lives through.

Speech

Lazarillo is structured as a letter or epistle and is a monologue.

In his letter, Lazarus recounts his adventures as a child to explain his adult personality.

Time of History and Time of Speech

The short period spent with the blind man is given several pages, as are his six-month stay with the priest of Maqueda and two months with the squire.

Types of Speech

The use of evaluative discourse and universal statements is emphasized:

• Evaluative discourse: The narrator of Lazarillo makes assessments of characters and situations.
• Universal discourse: The narrator expresses a generalization from an incident.

Expressive Appeal

The narrator makes humorous use of certain passages of the Gospel. Also note the use of puns.

To achieve an ironic effect, the diminutive is used as an antithesis.