Analysis of Structure and Themes in Lazarillo de Tormes
Structure of Lazarillo de Tormes
The book is structured around two literary models: the autobiography and the Epistle (letter).
Lázaro, as an adult, receives a letter from “Your Honor” (Vuestra Merced), asking him to explain “the case.” To do this, Lázaro recounts his life story. The novel is therefore epistolary.
Composition
- Prologue: Explains what motivates him to tell the story.
- Seven Treatises (Chapters):
Treatise Groupings and Themes
- Treatises 1–3: Learning through adversity.
- Treatises 4–6: Improving living standards. Lázaro has learned enough to survive, which explains his consent to his wife’s affair with the Archpriest, as this arrangement provides him with modest employment and security.
- Treatise 7: Justification of “the case.”
The last treatise reveals that the work is a response letter explaining the central case: the gossip concerning Lázaro’s wife and her relationship with the Archpriest of San Salvador. The case is fundamentally important because it is the pretext for the character to tell his story. Because of this, the novel is structured starting from the end (a retrospective narrative), as the episodes included are selected specifically to explain the case.
Treatise Summaries
Treatise 1: The Blind Man
Lázaro recounts his childhood, which is crucial for understanding the character and his environment. The episode with the blind man provides the starting point for the protagonist’s psychological development. With the blind man, Lázaro learns essential life lessons. He realizes he must fend for himself and distrust the greed and selfishness of others. This is summarized by his realization: “I must assert myself and rely only on my own wits.”
Treatise 2: The Miserly Cleric
This treatise continues the character’s psychological development. It confirms the idea, learned with the blind man, that greed and selfishness are widespread human defects. If Lázaro wants to succeed, he can only trust himself.
Treatise 3: The Squire
Lázaro learns that worldly glory is based solely on appearance. This episode presents a new facet of Lázaro’s character, showing he is capable of compassion and even tenderness toward his master.
Treatises 4 and 6: Minor Masters
These treatises are merely episodic, serving primarily to introduce new masters.
Treatise 5: The Pardoner
Lázaro continues to learn lessons on how to “win” in life. Here, he realizes that a comfortable life can be achieved through lies and cunning.
Treatise 7: The Summit of Good Fortune
Lázaro reaches what he considers “the summit of all good fortune.” This claim is understood ironically, as his success involves becoming a town crier for wine in Toledo and being protected by the Archpriest (who employs him as a chaplain). At the end of the novel, we witness the closing of Lázaro’s psychological development. Starting as an innocent and helpless child, he has learned bitter lessons from reality and becomes a man content with his lot.
The protection offered by the Archpriest, facilitated through Lázaro’s wife, allows him to live the rest of his life without undue hardship, provided he ignores public opinion regarding his honor. The lesson learned with the squire takes on its full significance here: while the squire led a miserable life trying to maintain the appearance of honor, Lázaro disregarded his own honor to lead a quiet life.
Style and Language
The language of Lazarillo de Tormes marks a noticeable difference from other narratives of the time. The plain language is spontaneous and without artifice, which is consistent with the novel’s realism and Lázaro’s vital perspective.
Major Themes
1. The Process from Innocence to Degradation
This theme tracks Lázaro’s journey from a naive child to a cynical adult who compromises his honor for security.
2. Damning Indictment of Spanish Social Reality
The system of serving several masters provides the anonymous author with an appropriate vehicle for criticizing different social strata.
3. Satire of the Sense of Honor (Treatise III)
In the 16th century, honor was often viewed as something possessed or not by birth, maintained primarily through appearance, reputation, or wealth. This is confirmed by the conduct of the gentleman (the Squire), and Lázaro, the rogue, comes to understand this superficiality.
4. Anticlerical Satire
Of Lázaro’s nine masters, it is significant that five are religious figures, all of whom are portrayed negatively:
- The Priest of Maqueda embodies greed.
- The Friar of Mercy is an example of profligacy.
- The Pardoner is a swindler.
- The Chaplain is an opportunist.
- The Archpriest is a hypocrite given to lust.
Time and Context
External Time (Historical Context)
Several historical details help date the action:
- Tome González, Lázaro’s father, died in the Battle of Djerba. There were two expeditions to Djerba: 1510 and 1520.
- The events described in the last treatise occur when the Cortes were held in Toledo, coinciding with Charles V entering the city triumphantly. Cortes were called in Toledo in 1525 and 1538/39.
Therefore, the events described occurred roughly between 1510 and 1539, during the reign of Charles V.
The work reflects key social and historical aspects of the era, including begging and the social situation of the lower classes, the concept of honor, the problem of purity of blood, and Renaissance religious controversy.
Internal Time (Narrative Structure)
The narrative uses intersecting planes of time:
- The time of Lázaro the narrator (the adult town crier and cuckold).
- The time of Lazarillo with his successive masters.
The story is written from the perspective of the adult Lázaro (Prologue and Treatise VII). From the beginning, the narrative enters a flashback of the rogue’s life. This reconstruction of the rogue’s life follows a linear chronological development, though it is fragmentary and selective.
Space and Symbolism
The novel functions as a travel narrative. Lázaro’s geographic journey takes him from his home in Tejares (Salamanca province) to his eventual material well-being in Toledo. Along the way, he suffers hunger and begs in Salamanca, Almorox, Escalona, Maqueda, and Toledo itself. In Toledo, after being deserted by the gentleman, he begins his social ascent, which parallels his moral debasement.
Space is also symbolic. His route from Salamanca to Toledo is a moral journey that configures the process of the rogue’s education.