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Anales galdosianos [Publicaciones periódicas]. Año XII, 1977 The Evolution of Encarnación Guillén in La desheredada 34 Martha G. Krow-Lucal Encarnación Guillén, by her own admission « más charlatana que todos los cómicos de Madrid » 35 , rises up before us (talking at breakneck speed, of course) out of the sea of garbage that is the barrio de las Peñuelas like a caricature of Venus rising out of the sea at Cyprus, and becomes an important counterweight to Isidora in her mad flights of fancy. In a novel where language and ideas are so closely intertwined and used to indicate a character's moral and social worth, Encarnación's language separates her from -and in certain ways places her above- her fellow characters (Mariano grunts; Joaquín and Isidora use the highflown, empty language of the novela por entregas and bad Romantic theater; Relimpio declaims in imitation chivalresque style about his goddaughter's problematical honor; Bou thunders simplistic anarchism; Sánchez Botín is the embodiment of windy, meaningless parliamentary oratory; and Gaitica is unable to speak at all without the copious use of obscenity). While they are perverted by bad literature (except for Gaitica , who doubtless cannot read), Encarnación is a fount of fresh and pungent « pueblo » speech; the only visible «literate» influences are the Bible and (in passing) Celestina 36 . What the narrator calls her « verbosidad infinita » is not a series of meaningless commonplaces, but rather the most original language in the novel (aside from that of Miquis, another common-sense figure who presents a different problem). 34 For Ramón Aroca Hernández-Ros. 35 While I was working at the Biblioteca Nacional (Madrid) I compared the final version of the manuscript with the Guirnalda edition of La desheredada . This edition has no date, but is autographed by Galdós. However, for the sake of clarity, the page numbers heinsafter cited will be those of the Aguilar edition of F. C. Sainz de Robles, Benito Pérez Galdós: Obras completas , Novelas I (Madrid: 1973). Words crossed out in the manuscript are represented here by brackets [ ]; words added interlinearly are in italics, and words underlined in the manuscript are in boldface type. 36 We are reminded of Celestina's detailed praise of Areúsa's body by Encarnación's observances about Isidora: the girl has rounded out while living with her uncle in La Mancha; « en la cara tienes ángel »; « qué bonitos dientes », etc. (see OC p. 1000 b ). There is another echo, more faint, of Celestina's « Dile que cierre la boca y comience abrir la bolsa » referring to Calisto (Auto primero) in Encarnación's demand for money if Isidora wishes to send Mariano, her brother, to school (see OC p. 1003 a ). 28
Anales galdosianos [Publicaciones periódicas]. Año XII, 1977 It is also a reflection of her praiseworthy character. Her language is clear, humorous and succinct in a novel where a lack of ability to express oneself clearly and simply all too often indicates a lack of ability to think clearly. Not only is Encarnación's own language important; the words that Galdós uses to describe her have also been very carefully chosen. The purpose of this article is to examine the primitive and final manuscripts (especially the crossed-out portions of both) of Chapters II and III of La desheredada in order to show how Galdós' characterization of the Sanguijuelera changed as he was writing, and why those changes were necessary to her function in the novel. After allowing Encarnación to paint her own verbal portrait in conversations with Isidora and Mariano, Galdós sums up the old woman's character: « Honradez y crueldad, un gran sentido para apreciar la realidad de las cosas, y un rigor extremado y brutal para castigar las faltas de los pequeños, sin dejar por eso de quererles, componían, con la verbosidad infinita, el carácter de Encarnación la Sanguijuelera » (pp. 1004 b -1005 a ). The reader is reminded by the description that the author dedicated this novel to the schoolteachers of Spain as the only possible purveyors of the « benéficos reconstituyentes llamados Aritmética, Lógica, Moral y Sentido Común » (p. 985) which would help put Spain on the road to spiritual and social regeneration. Thus we realize that Encarnación's nickname, like her given name, was not chosen at random; it reflects her curative function (or her attempts at one). On one level the trade of leech-selling is a picturesque one which reminds us that for centuries leeches were a medical instrument; the leeches that Encarnación sells are used to bleed patients. But she herself, on another level, bears a strong relation to her worms; she is certainly not Juan Bou's hated « sanguijuela del pueblo », but rather someone who draws blood (her tongue is sharp enough) and cures sickness at the same time. Her harsh words to Isidora are ultimately intended to bring the young woman back to reality and cure her of her madness. Encarnación is one of the two main characters in the novel (again, the other is Miquis) who is equipped with enough logic and common sense to be able to attempt Isidora's cure. In her first dialogue with Isidora, the Sanguijuelera is immediately established as a woman with a very special language; in the first three paragraphs there are eight religious or Biblical references. She says of her great-nephew Mariano: « Es más malo que Anás y Caifás juntos... Yo le llamo Pecado, porque parece que vino al mundo por obra y gracia del Demonio » (p. 999 a ). Isidora is upset because Mariano must work, she would much prefer that he go to school. But her great-aunt explains that school has already been tried to no avail: « Ahí le puse en esa de los Herejes, donde dicen la misa por la tarde y el rosario por la mañana... Pero aguárdate, un día sí y otro no, me hacía novillos el 29
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