13 CHARACTERS OF THE GUIDE OF TORMES AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS - LITERATURE - 2025

The characters in El Lazarillo de Tormes managed to represent 15th century society, at which time this iconic work was written. The life of El Lazarillo de Tormes and his fortunes and adversities is a novel characterized as picaresque, a classic of Spanish literature.

This work narrates in the first person the life of a very humble little boy, from his birth to his adulthood. The protagonist of the story, Lázaro, tells his life from a very young age until he becomes a mature man who gets married. The narration is made in such a way as to imply that it is a letter addressed to someone so that everything that he had to go through is never forgotten.

Cover of the work. Source: Mateo & Francisco del Canto

The four most important versions of the novel belong to the 15th century, exactly to the year 1554, and these are those of Juan de Luna (Burgos), the brothers del Canto (Medina del Campo), Salcedo (Alcalá de Henares) and Martín Nucio (Antwerp).

Despite the fact that from the beginning this work was released without an author, several researchers have dedicated themselves to investigating who the authorship of El Lazarillo de Tormes really belongs to, and among the possible authors Alfonso de Valdés heads the list (1490 -1532), Fray Juan de Ortega (1557) and Diego Hurtado de Mendoza (1503-1575).

Characters from El Lazarillo de Tormes and their characteristics

Lazaro de Tormes

The guide to Tormes, painting by Francisco de Goya (between 1808 and 1812)

Lázaro González Pérez was born in the Tormes river in Salamanca and is a child from a humble family, with a vagabond appearance, skinny and small. He lived with his two parents until his father (Tomé) died in the Gelves war and his mother, Antona, handed him over to a blind man since she could not give him the support he needed.

Lazaro is a very clever and insightful child, and after his mother gave him up to the blind man, he passed from master to master, on whom he depended for a living.

Already in advanced age although being a young man, his last master married him to one of his maids. Said woman brought stability and happiness back to the man's life.

This character matures incredibly throughout the story. His main desire throughout the work was always to satisfy his hunger and achieve stability. He was very determined and intelligent, thanks to all the experiences and lessons he had to learn throughout the story.

He manages to captivate readers and make his stories feel like their own. Thanks to the continuous evolution that he demonstrates during the play, he goes from being an innocent child to a crafty young man and, finally, a stable man.

Tomé González and Antona Pérez

They are Lazaro's parents, both of humble origins. Tomé worked in a miller where he stole sacks to bring more food to the table at home, but when he is discovered he is exiled and shortly after he is sent to a war against the Moors, where he dies when his son was barely eight years old.

When she became a widow, Antona found love again and, in addition, had to resort to working to support her son. This is how she began to work in an inn, which was regularly attended by a blind beggar who later became Lazarus' first master.

Zaide

It is the new love of Antona and stepfather of Lázaro after the latter lost his father. It is presumed that he was or was a slave and some time after starting his romance with Antona, he was caught for stealing and was whipped at least a hundred times. Immediately afterwards, the woman decides to give her child to the blind man.

At first, the relationship between Lázaro and Zaide was a bit cold, since the boy felt scared before this new male figure in his life, but when they spent more time together he noticed his good intentions.

This character has given much to talk about because of how marginalized he is in the work, the author practically does not provide information about his origins or customs. He is also a character little developed by many of the researchers who have analyzed and commented on this work.

The blind

The Lazarillo route.

He met the guide's mother at the inn he frequented and asked the boy to serve as a guide. Antona agreed to this proposal so that her son could have a better future than she promised.

This is one of the characters that had the most influence on the protagonist's childhood, because he was a greedy, hypocritical and selfish man who even mistreated him with blows and barely fed him.

Seeing the attitude of his master, Lazarus was forced to deceive him in order to steal some food or some wine, and when the blind man realizes this he punishes him terribly. It was then that the young man decided to abandon him and find another master who would satisfy his needs.

The cleric of Maqueda

Photogram of the film Lazarillo De Tormes (Public domain)

Upon abandoning his previous master, Lazaro sought another master to work for and met a clergyman with whom he worked as an assistant to give mass.

This man turned out to be just as greedy as the last. Despite having an ark with food to spare, he only fed the child at funerals and when he felt like it with those dishes that were not to his liking or were out of date.

Lazarus once again deceived his employer and managed to steal the key to the ark, so that he could sneak in at night and eat a little. As the days passed, the cleric noticed that food was lacking and discovered what the hungry boy had been doing. In a fury, he kicked him out of his house.

The squire

After having spent 15 days living on alms in Toledo, Lázaro came across a very pleasant-looking squire who appeared to be a man in a comfortable situation, who was in no need. However, the guide was able to realize the opposite just by looking at the state of the house in which he later lived.

The squire was overly concerned about not demonstrating the serious economic situation he was in, so he never begged or asked for work. Since he had no food, he depended on Lazaro for support.

Finally, the squire abandons the young man when he is thrown out of his house for not being able to pay the rent.

The friar of Mercy

He was the fourth master of Lazarus and was a religious man, lover of nature, hiking, expedition and women.

He was very kind to the young man and was the one who gave him his first gift, a pair of shoes. Eventually, Lazarus got tired of the long walks the friar liked to do and abandoned him.

The buldero

He was the fifth owner of the guide and represents the false religiosity existing at the time. He was a liar and a swindler, he sold false bulls for the sole purpose of profit and was extremely corrupt, he did not mind breaking with the principles of his religion in order to obtain financial benefits.

He never worried about creating ties with Lazaro and they did not understand each other very well. For this reason, and because of the dislike and disapproval that the young man felt towards the lifestyle full of fraud and deception, he leaves him to be able to find another place where he could feel more comfortable.

The painter

The master tambourine painter was the sixth master of Lázaro and represents the Renaissance class of the time. He was a very cultured and artistic man.

He was able to share very little time with the guide because the latter ended up leaving him, since he felt that he was being very exploited.

The chaplain

This character is described as an opportunist. He offered Lazaro a job as a paid water carrier and became his seventh master.

With the chaplain, the protagonist felt he had found some stability again. She spent 4 years with him until she was able to get the money to buy a sword and some clothes.

For the first time, Lazarus did not abruptly abandon his master because of some kind of conflict or discontent. This time, the young man took his time and left with everything he wanted, without haste.

Sheriff

He was the eighth master of Lazarus. Since this character's office represented the law, the young man worked as a swineherd (bailiff's assistant).

Lázaro felt that it was dangerous to spend a lot of time with him, so he left him shortly after.

The Archpriest of San Salvador

He was the ninth and last owner of the guide, with whom he worked as a town crier for his wines.

It represents the corruption existing in the clergy, because despite his religion and the demands of these, he had sexual relations with his maid, who later became the wife of Lázaro.

He worked on his friendship with the young man and he always showed himself as a kind and sensitive man.

The maid of the archpriest of San Salvador

It was the wife of Lazarus. This marriage was arranged by the archpriest with the intention of keeping her close forever, since previously both characters had relationships.

This woman was the one who brought back happiness and tranquility to Lazarus, but it was the reason why he loses his honor due to the fact of accepting his wife's infidelity. With her, hunger and instability were a thing of the past for Lazarus.

References

1. Del Rey, J. (2001). First treatise of Lazarillo de Tormes. Retrieved on February 15, 2019 from Complutense University: web.ucm.es
2. Trujillo, M. (2010). Reading guide The guide to Tormes. Retrieved on February 15, 2019 from Oxford University Press: oupe.es
3. Giblin, J. (2011). The seven deadly sins in The life of Lazarillo de Tormes and his fortunes and adversities. Retrieved on February 15, 2019 from the University of Central Florida: stars.library.ucf.edu
4. Ricapito, J. (2013). The figure of the Squire of Lazarillo de Tormes, his gestures and clothing. Retrieved on February 15, 2019 from the University of Valencia: uv.es
5. Carrera, M. (sf). The black Zaide: the criticism of racism in Lazarillo de Tormes. Retrieved on February 15, 2019 from the National Autonomous University of Mexico: revistadelauniversidad.unam.mx