Realism and humanism in the work of Benito Pérez Galdós
Doña Perfecta is a novel by Benito Pérez Galdós that reflects the influence of realism. In the development of the novel, Pepe Rey arrives at the town of Orbajosa with a proposal of new ideas, young engineer, educated and nephew of Perfect Mrs. who arrives from the city to marry Rosarito daughter of his perfect aunt doña to the people of Orbajosa. Orbajosa is described as a forgotten people in time, away from modernity, and with resistance from their characters to progress, and to the mental openness of new ideas. Doña perfect on her part is described as a strong woman, of a religious fanaticism that prevents her from seeing the reality of a changing world. Doña Perfecta refuses the illustration for her inflexibly absolutist ideas of her, but especially for her religious fanaticism. Doña Perfecta causes the unhappiness of her daughter Rosarito, who was the reason to live on her, and her most precious treasure.
Orbajosa as a conservative people represent the daily life of an old Spain that refuses to a change, the dusty landscapes where time stopped and the lack of a modern economy in which history develops raises and clings to I am what I am what I am versus being what I want to be. Doña Perfecta, with a symbolic name like that of all the characters, is obviously the imperfection itself. On the part of her Rosarito, it represents the dream dreams of a woman who only wants to be happy next to Pepe Rey, also her name has religious connotations like that of a religious rosary to pray. Pepe and Rosarito fall in love, but Doña Perfecto does not agree that her daughter is with a man like Pepe who goes against the conservative ideology of Doña Perfecta. Then Doña Perfecta orders Cabaluco who is an inflexible conservative, who kills Pepe Rey the night he decides to escape with Rosarito. Pepe dies and Rosarito drives pain in a manicomy. Doña Perfecta clings to her religion to find comfort in the pain of losing her daughter, which was what she loved most, but to which she ends up destroying for her ideas. History has characters that end up and cause a terrible outcome. Jacinto was the character who wanted to marry Rosario, hinders Rosarito and Pepe’s relationship. When Rosario goes crazy he decides to marry Doña Perfecta, but dies tragically before achieving it. Don Innocent who was the cleric and spiritual advisor of Perfecta Mrs. represents the malicious religious influence to handle the characters for selfish and malevolent purposes. Don Innoensio is the double standards of the members of a religion. Contrary to what his name means was astutely malicious. Doña Remedios who is the niece of the cleric and Jacinto’s mother, she only wanted power and money for her son, for that reason she influenced the story to marry Rosario. Contrary to what her name means, she does not give positive remedies to anything. He is a character who represents the bad side of history. Pepe Rey, is a victim of the villains of history, represents innovation, progress, education, change and liberal ideas. He also represents the fight against the oppressors of change. Doña Perfecta is a villain character, who represents imperfection, foolishness, prejudices, hypocrisy and religious fanaticism. Rosario represents innocence, dreams, purity, good feelings, and is one more victim of the retrograde ideas of the characters of the bad team. Knight Another villain character represents the hardest conservative side, the intolerance to change, fight against modernity for his ignorance through his armed uprising. The symbolism is when it kills Pepe Rey because it represents the illustration, innovation and modernity to which he refuses to accept. The power of poorly used religion plays an important role justifying the bad decisions made by radical and conservative characters justify the means of achieving their end.
La Celestina is a novel written in the fifteenth century, by Fernando Rojas, during XXXXXXXXX
In this novel the characters are, Calisto a young man with a good noble family and falls in love with Melibea. Callisto asks for advice to his sempronio’s servant of how to conquer Melibea. Sempronio recommends that you get the help from Celestina, a woman who is seen as a picant. Celestina with her lip and her tricks that Melibea falls in love with Calisto, and start a hidden romance. Melibea gives himself to Calisto, so she has conflicts of guilt and happiness at the same time. The servants of Callisto, Sempronio and Pármeno, seeing that Celestina obtains economic benefits for helping Calisto, full of greed go to Celestina’s house to divide with them what Calisto has given him to help him fall in love with Melibea. Celestina refuses and is killed by Pármeno. Both flee and are hung for killing Celestina. ELICIA AMAIZA AREÚSA Cestina’s companion, they decide to avenge Celestina’s death, because Elicia considers that Melibea and Callist. ELICIA obtains through artifice to centurio (Callisto servant) information from the next appointment between Melibea and Callisto. She asks Sosia for another character to kill Calisto when he goes to her appointment. But Calisto falls from a ladder when he was with Melibea when he heard a fuss caused by Sosia. Melibea is depressed before the death of his beloved. For Melibea without Calisto, life no longer made sense. Melibea feels like a blame to have given Callisto, because she dishonors her parents. Melibea makes the decision to commit suicide, venting from the tower of her house, where her death ends up beating love.
In this novel we find greedy characters such as Sempronio, Pármeno, and La Celestina.
We also find characters that prove the right to do justice by their own hand, as is the case of Elicia and Areúsa, using their tricks to achieve its end manipulating Centurio and Sosia in their malevolent plans. The victims of evil are Melibea, for suffering the death of Calisto. Callisto because death surprised him without the culmination of his love. And Melibea’s parents for the death of his daughter.
In the two couples there are young people who suffer for love unfairly for times and beliefs.
In both novels there are antagonistic characters such as Doña Perfecta who opposes the love of her daughter Rosario and her nephew Pepe, contrast with the Celestina who is the alcahueta of Calisto and Melibea.
In plot development three important points are raised
Education: Rosario and Melibea belong to a strict very conservative religious and social education. But contrasts with the sweet and unconditional love that Melibea’s parents profess towards her daughter, and the possessive love that Mrs. perfect for Rosario demonstrates. Melibea’s parents despite being in an old.
Oppositions: Pepe is rejected by the characters that create conflicts in his relationship with Rosario, such as Doña Perfecta, Don Innocent, Doña Remedios and Jacintito. On the side of Melibea and Callisto, the greed of the Celestina and her accomplices sepronium and parme. Celestina, Sempronio and Pármeno.
The tragedy: both cases are tragic, the outcome of Pepe Rey fulminates with his murder in the hands of Caballuco by orders of Perfect and Rosario disharnated forever. In the case of Calisto and Melibea, he ends with the death of both, the murdered and she ends up committing suicide.
• Pepe is murdered by religious violence and the archaic ideals of Mrs. Perfect, full of monomanias and absurd behaviors protected by religion.
• Melibea commit suicide because by losing Calisto, he loses his religious faith, he lost his virginity by his own decision, which was part of his moral values as fundamental basis of the society in which he lived.
In conclusion, both writings represent the thought between two different times and their contrasts. On his part Benito Pérez Galdós, in 1876 he demonstrates his concern to religious extremism based on the theory of realism, which is based on the technique of observation, and veractedly portrays the behavior of the characters in his work , the opposite of idealism. Realism breaks with romanticism when he tries to describe the harsh reality of society’s defects as such religious work, which contrasts with the work of Fernando de Rojas. For his part, Fernando de Rojas, Italian writer, author of La Celestina who was written at the beginning of Renaissance humanism, with a heretical vision towards medieval religious ideology; During the reign of the Catholic Monarchs, and during the transition of the Middle-Renacimiento Ages. This work is characterized by ante individual interests, such as freedom of hierarchical thinking, the values and dignity of the characters. Celestina is a work that is accompanied by an elegant and sublimely elitist writing as part of the aestheticism characteristic of the Renaissance.
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