Visor de obras.

Those who are familiar only with the film version of Tristana, one of Pérez Galdós's lesser-known and little-analyzed novels,¹⁵⁹ may not be aware of the degree of variance between the original work and its screen adaptation (despite the indication that the latter is only «inspired by» the novel), a distance which is roughly equivalent to the difference in temperament between Galdós and Buñuel. There is, to be sure, considerable affinity between the aims and interests of these two realists, confirmed by the fact that the film director has on still another occasion chosen a Galdós novel (Nazarín) as material for his art. But if Buñuel's blend of the real and the surreal, the grotesque and the erotic, the scabrous and the sublime is not necessarily incompatible with Galdós's total realism,¹⁶⁰ the divergence between the two artists is nonetheless fundamental, as the treatment of Tristana demonstrates, for it is one of basic attitudes and outlooks. The black, abrasive humor of Buñuel, for whom human nature seems to be of interest primarily as a demonstration of the abnormality of life which, moreover, he is resigned to accepting as inevitable, is deeply at variance with the indulgent irony of the novelist, whose criticism, even in its most severe form, is unfailingly marked by a deep compassion for human weakness and always has a reformatory purpose. Tristana serves once again to illustrate Galdós's adherence to the principle of the «law of Nature» and his use of literature as a corrective to digressions from this standard. Thus, where in Buñuel the theme of a young girl seduced by an old Don Juan becomes the expression of the alienations to which human relationships fatally lead, in Galdós it serves as a vehicle to reconcile conflicting attitudes by ridiculing and chastising, albeit with understanding and compassion, human conduct which errs from the natural norm.

Galdós's optimistic view of the correctibility of human foibles stems from the steadfast conviction that the normal relationship between man and Nature and between man and man is one of harmony and that is it is only human abnormality, expressed in a variety of fanaticisms, which destroys this natural compatibility.¹⁶¹ The denaturalization process consists of the imposing of artificial constraints or unattainable goals on the individual by himself or by others. To prevent the right of the individual to be what he is or to attempt to force him to be what he is not, should not, or cannot be is a violation of his freedom. Both of these positions, the basis of Galdós's liberalism, are exemplified in Tristana. Together they constitute a defense of the law of Nature, which ultimately must always triumph. This basic principle is insisted on throughout the novels of Galdós; perhaps its most cogent expression is that of the tormented Maxi of Fortunata y Jacinta as he recognizes his own errors:

The respect for the integrity of Nature cannot be reduced to a simple differentiation between virtue and vice, for even virtues become defects when they are unnaturally exaggerated, that is to say, when they become obsessive manias. Such is, for instance, the compulsion for cleanliness of Tristana's mother, who exaggerates beyond normal limits an essentially positive quality. The example establishes the author's basic position and sets the burlesque tone of the novel:

Whether it is a question of defect or virtue, the carrying of an attitude to unreasonable extremes inevitably produces an imbalance that destroys what otherwise would be a natural harmony. Such is the case of Don Lope Garrido, one of the two protagonists of the novel, who, the author takes pains to let us know, outside of his one obsession is an essentially decent and even exemplary character: «habrá que repetirlo, fuera de su absoluta ceguera moral en cosas de amor, el libertino inservible era hombre de buenos sentimientos» (ch. 20). With this insistence on the redeeming qualities of the person in question, reinforced by the indication that there are some self-imposed limits even to his one mania,¹⁶³ Galdós carefully helps the character retain an essential humanity which avoids his debasement into a virtual monstrosity, as is the case with the unrelieved monomaniacs of Balzac. In testimony to his preoccupation with sexual conquests and also to a nobility of character marred only by one overpowering obsession, Galdós makes of Don Lope a comic mixture of Don Quijote¹⁶⁴ and Don Juan.¹⁶⁵ The author does not let us lose sight of the fact that he considers the negative element of Don Lope's character a moral abnormality, a veritable mutilation of nature: «Era que al sentido moral del buen caballero le faltaba una pieza importante; cual órgano que ha sufrido una mutilación sólo funcionaba con limitaciones o paradas deplorables» (ch. 4). The logical conclusion of this moral irresponsibility is an adamant hostility to marriage: «aborrecía el matrimonio, teníalo por la más espantosa fórmula de esclavitud que idearon los poderes de la tierra para meter en un puño a la pobrecita Humanidad» (ibid.).

Don Lope's violent opposition to marriage is an attitude which eventually comes to be shared by Tristana as, «atrasadilla en su desarrollo moral», she awakens out of her unguided innocence. Having become Don Lope's ward at the dying request of her mother, in recognition of his generous help of both parents on former occasions, she had soon become his mistress. It is worth noting that Tristana is originally so lacking in worldliness that her downfall is accomplished almost mechanically, with virtually no protest on her part. Not until several months of reflection on her status -when she turns twenty-two (and Don Lope is fifty-six)- have brought her to the full   —95→   realization of her dishonor does the awakening of the «muñeca»¹⁶⁶ take place, all the more vigorous because of its delayed action:

These powerful stirrings of consciousness in Tristana are a realization of her own true nature, which is stimulated to sudden growth in a reaction against the unnatural constraint in which it is held. The virtual master-slave relationship, as Don Lope forbids her any independence, forces her to reflect on the lowly social status of woman. Conversations with the more worldly Saturna, Don Lope's maid, confirm this growing conviction of the injustice committed by men against their female counterparts in a society in which freedom for women is synonymous with ill fame. «¿Sabe la señorita», asks Saturna, «cómo llaman a las que sacan los pies del plato? Pues las llaman, por buen nombre, libres» (ch. 5). Tristana, with her newfound intelligence, is quick to realize that these restrictions on the freedom of women are the direct outcome of their lack of economic independence: «Ya sé, ya sé que es difícil eso de ser libre... y honrada. ¿Y de qué vive una mujer no poseyendo rentas? Si nos hicieran médicas, abogadas, siquiera boticarias o escribanas, que no ministras o senadoras, vamos, podríamos... Pero cosiendo, cosiendo... Calcula las puntadas que hay que dar para mantener una casa».¹⁶⁷ To be exact, Saturna points out, there are only three professions open to women: marriage, the theater, and the oldest of all professions;¹⁶⁸ to which Tristana replies that none of these suits her, the first and third because they are unattractive, and the second because it is probably beyond her capacities.

Tristana's growing dissatisfaction with her narrowly-confined existence develops to the degree that Don Lope, whose worldly ways had not failed to hold some initial charm, becomes an unbearable imposition for her. It could not have been otherwise, Galdós pointedly explains, for the liaison of an old, and somewhat tired, Don Juan with a young girl in her physical prime whose age he almost triples -in itself a forcible union of unequals that could only produce «la contrahecha ilusión de amor» (ch. 4) -is one that could not long resist the demands of nature, which clamor for recognition. As Don Lope is finally obliged to recognize «la ridícula presunción del anciano que, contraviniendo la ley de Naturaleza, hace papeles de galán» (ibid.), Tristana finally manages to elude his jealous vigilance and falls prey to the first attractive young man whom she meets. But as nature thus reasserts its rights, weak humans fall again into the error of violating its law. The emotional demands of youth find their outlet at the very time that an unnatural and arbitrary ideology imposes its rule: Horacio Díaz makes his appearance just as Tristana's rebellion against the abuse of her person explodes into a full-fledged campaign on   —96→   behalf of autonomy and independence for her sex, especially for the right to practice a profession and to enjoy freedom from the enslavery of marriage.

Tristana's monotheme, the insistence on what she calls «libertad honrada», becomes a passion equal to her love for Horacio and indeed she sees the two as indissolubly linked. «Le querré cuanto más libre sea», she tells herself, and in similar vein she writes to him:

Tristana's emancipation through love begins to display its effects on her personality as she develops a taste for, and genuine skills in, the arts, first in literature, then in the theater. The latent intelligence which had been neglected and untrained quickly awakens and stimulates her to flights of eloquence that at times attribute to her protests the dignity of a virtual manifesto:

As with her contemporary counterparts in the «Women's Liberation» movement, marriage is for her merely a perpetuation of the subordination of woman in a man's world which converts her into a household drudge. The career-woman type, which Tristana now aspires to become, has a dislike for domestic chores equalled only by her incapacity for them:

And in all of this, the constant refrain is one of resentment against the dominant male society which has incapacitated women for life by denying them the training and education which are essential to independence: «no ceso de echar pestes contra los que no supieron enseñarme un arte, siquiera un oficio» (ch. 13). It is this lack of a solid background that makes Tristana's devotion to the arts short-lived enthusiasms, as in turn she abandons literature for an interest in acting, acting for painting, in which she again reveals a considerable native talent, and then painting for music, especially of the spiritual type. This evolution parallels the development of her love   —97→   for Horacio which progresses from a frenzied passion to a «cariño que bien podría llamarse místico, por lo incorpóreo y puramente soñado del ser que tales afectos movía» (ch. 21). This transition takes place during a period of separation, when Horacio has gone to stay with a sick aunt, and in which Tristana suffers an infection that ultimately requires the amputation of a leg. The etherealization of Tristana's passion parallels an obvious cooling of Horacio's affections and then his less than rapturous attentions after her operation. And so' when Don Lope suddenly announces to Tristana the news of Horacio's marriage, she receives it with considerable equanimity. The dénouement of this romantic passion comes as no great surprise to the reader, for it had been apparent from the start that the relationship had been forced by circumstances and artificially nurtured by clandestinity. Despite the genuineness of his affection and the obvious seriousness of his intentions, it is also clearly implied that for the young artist, the product of an unhappy childhood, Tristana represents a possible means of moral rehabilitation at least as much as an object of genuine devotion. Especially significant is the fact that Horacio, with what in current parlance would be called «typical male chauvinism», is originally attracted to Tristana because he sees in her «la mujer subordinada al hombre en inteligencia y en voluntad» (ch. 13).

The irony of the situation is that despite this characteristic male approach, Horacio, who soon recognizes Tristana's exceptional qualities and supports her ambitions for independence, admitting to her that «tú resolverás quizás el problema endiablado de la mujer libre» (ibid.), is obviously originally not averse to marriage; but he quickly protects himself behind Tristana's professed hostility to matrimony. When Don Lope, so contrite in the presence of Tristana's misfortune that he is willing to make the greatest of all sacrifices and surrender her to his rival, asks Horacio point-blank whether he plans to marry Tristana, the young man, caught off-guard, avails himself of the pretext of Tristana's opposition with somewhat cynical rhetoric:

The message is loud and clear. In her aspiration to a freedom beyond marriage, Galdós seeks to show us, the emancipated woman is merely playing into the hands of the other sex, exposing herself precisely to the abuses which she seeks to avoid and thus eventually diminishing, instead of enhancing, her individuality. Horacio, for his part, reverts to type. His behavior falls within the category of the predatory male in every man -best exemplified in Galdós's novels by the less morally responsible Juanito Santa Cruz in Fortunata y Jacinta- who makes a convenient separation in his life between the wife who is respected and the lover who is a thing of convenience. And even more aggravatedly is this the case when women commit the greatest offense against nature by refusing to be women. Tristana condemns herself in this respect when she reveals the substantial confusion of her sex in her statements about her being «her own head of the family» and being more like a   —98→   man than a woman («Me parezco a los hombres...»). That is fundamentally why Horacio, despite the original genuineness of his passion for Tristana, returns meekly to the fold and becomes married to another.

And so, too, finally, does Tristana... to Don Lope. If their union was initially a violation of nature because of the disparity between them in age and experience, the maturing of Tristana and her physical suffering -which have aged her to the point that although only twenty-five she now looks forty¹⁶⁹- conveniently annul this imbalance. In short, it is now no longer a question of a relationship between an innocent ingénue and a worldly-wise old roué but of two people who, are psychologically and even physically suited to each other. And so, when some maiden cousins of Don Lope, now in somewhat straightened circumstances, offer to bequeath him their property if he regularizes his situation, he accepts their suggestion and, much to his surprise, so does Tristana, whose religious commitment -she has in the meantime become a practising Catholic, and Don Lope has followed her example- makes her virtually indifferent to earthly considerations:

As if this were not sufficient retribution for their antisocial bohemianism, Galdós has Don Lope finally acquire «manías y querencias de pacífico burgués», as he devotes himself -in a caricaturesque sublimation of his former obsession- to caring for his six hens and one rooster; while as for Tristana, her mystic spiritualism degenerates into a simple beatería, as she spends the day praying in church, when she is not busy with her final artistic pastime: «una nueva afición: el arte culinario» (ch. 29). And as the scene fades out to the picture of Tristana busy making pastries, the author slyly asks in the closing line of the novel: «¿Eran felices uno y otro?... Tal vez».¹⁷⁰

With the final union of Tristana and Don Lope Galdós completes his exemplification of the working of the «law of Nature», showing us that what he is advocating is not a unilateral satisfying of individual urges. Very specifically he classifies as «perversas doctrinas» Don Lope's proclamation of individual anarchy as a norm of conduct.¹⁷¹ Liberty uncontrolled is libertinism. The primacy of the natural does not imply a romantic return to the «natural man», for the basic Galdosian principle that the actions of the individual must be in consonance with the right of the individual to be himself, without constraints, carries with it the corollary that this right must be extended to others. Existence is coexistence. The natural norm demands the maintenance of a mutually-enriching balance between Nature and society, between the irresistible needs of the isolated individual and the equally immovable demands of conformism on the part of society.

The interplay between individual freedom and social restraint is not so much a matter of concessions by cither element as of an adjustment of both to the natural norm to release what Galdós elsewhere refers to as «la armonía de lo viviente».¹⁷² There is undoubtedly an underlying idealism in Galdós's mystique of cosmic unity   —99→   -perhaps it could be most appropriately considered a form of personal religion- but the eventual criterion for measuring the naturalness of individual actions or social institutions is not metaphysical but quite pragmatic: the degree of union which they provide. All that is natural is unifying; all that is unnatural is divisive. The dual principles of nature and union are clearly proclaimed in an earlier novel, as the ultimate guide to religion. Says Daniel Morton in Gloria: «Antes que hubiera religiones, hubo Naturaleza», and then adds the formula: «La religión es hermosa cuando une; horrible y cruel cuando separa». And so with all human actions and social institutions: when they are natural, they contribute to unity among men; but when they are unnatural obsessions, mania, fanaticisms, they pit man against man. This law extends to the complete range of human activity, even to the excessive cleanliness of Tristana's mother, who «no daba la mano a nadie». And especially to feminine emancipation. Women's liberation is admirable when it seeks lo restore women to a position of dignity comparable to that of men, for in thus enhancing their individuality they are equilibrating the relationship between the sexes, and that makes for a more natural union, one of social cohesion, of basic harmony. Galdos's support of this aspect of the question is fully evident in Tristana in his advocacy of a broader education for women that will equip them for a more adequate role in life and for an improved economic status that will free them from a virtual social slavery, progressive tenets that for a nineteenth century Spaniard are quite visionary and prophetic. But once again Galdós applies his rule of the law of Nature to show that even a virtue, carried beyond reasonable limits, becomes a vice. Feminine liberty does not extend to an inversion of the relations between the sexes with the creation of male women, nor does it condone the flouting of social conventions which serve to unite. Extra-marital relations, as exemplified in Tristana, tend ultimately to separate; marriage, when it is not a forced union but the wedding of comparable and compatible (but different) equals, serves to bind and thus constitutes a positive force in the onward movement of society.

State University of New York at Buffalo