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Anales galdosianos [Publicaciones periódicas]. Año XII, 1977
with what appears at times to be diabolical cleverness, Don Lope plays with Tristana's emotions,
alternately giving her more freedom and pulling her back toward him; at times being understanding,
affectionate, and paternal; at other times, becoming insanely jealous and tyrannical. Tristana is left
emotionally unsure of herself, and her feelings toward Don Lope become increasingly ambivalent.
Yet, in the course of the novel, Don Lope becomes less monstrous, more human, and indeed shows
some genuine affection for Tristana. The fact is that he does nothing actively to prevent Tristana
from becoming free, from realizing her self. Indeed, he encourages all her efforts at self-expression.
He becomes increasingly tolerant of Tristana's relationship with Horacio, offers to write the letters
to Horacio which Tristana dictates to him, and in the end even allows Tristana to see his rival. Don
Lope, sure of his ultimate victory, is content to play a waiting game. The worldly-wise old rake
understands very well Tristana's idealistic temperament, Horacio's mediocrity, and the real nature of
the relationship between them, which he knows is bound to end unsatisfactorily.
At the same time, the reader cannot help but feel that Tristana's illness, the cancer which results
in the amputation of her right leg, is equally responsible for her failure. If Don Lope's seduction of
Tristana first placed limits on her freedom, it is the incapacitating illness which seals her fate, leaving
her a complete invalid, totally dependent on others. Her illness further limits her possibilities to act,
and the operation which follows leaves her a «mutilated woman», even less desirable to men.
Yet, although these two factors set up the external limits of Tristana's freedom, they do not
completely explain the internal dynamics of her psychological development. As we have already seen,
Don Lope's seduction of Tristana may have reduced her freedom in society, but it was at the same time
the occasion of her awakening to consciousness and the impetus toward self-realization. Tristana's
illness is, in fact, only the ultimate manifestation of her innate incapacity to act in the real world.
Tristana herself intuitively associates her illness with Don Lope. As she writes to Horacio for the
first time of the pain in her leg, she explains: « Es que don Lope me ha pegado su reuma. Hombre, no
te asustes; don Lope no puede pegarme nada, porque... ya sabes... No hay caso. Pero se dan contagios
intencionales. Quiero decir que mi tirano se ha vengado de mis desdenes comunicándome por arte
gitanesco o de mal de ojos la endiablada enfermedad que padece. » (p. 1585) We may ask, what
justification is there for this intuitive understanding that Don Lope is somehow « responsable »
for her illness?
The fact is that Tristana's illness, and the subsequent amputation of her diseased limb which leaves
her an invalid, incapable of acting on her own, accomplish precisely what Don Lope has always
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