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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
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