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Anales galdosianos [Publicaciones periódicas]. Año XII, 1977
been unknown to Galdós (nor could don Benito have failed to take into account the Saint of Avila,
not of noble blood but a figure of the highest possible spirituality). However, in a novel so heavily
influenced by Don Quijote and La Mancha, it might be more fruitful to look for a prototype of Teresa
Guillén in Teresa Panza, who keeps a jar of wine by her spinning-wheel. In fact, Encarnación may
be seen as a commonsense Sancho who uses popular speech (the nineteenth century equivalent of
proverbs) and tries to show «reality» to a (degenerately) Quixotic Isidora. 50
A parallel process takes place with the name of Encarnación's neighbor. She is first called « tía
Gordita » (ms. p. 85), an appropriate name for the neighbor of a demented Teresa. She is rechristened
« señá Agustina » in the final version and printed text (ms. p. 85; OC p. 1000 b ), and in Chapter
VI is finally fixed as « Angustias » for the rest of the novel. « Angustias » is a much more
appropriate and dignified companion than is « la tía Gordita » for the Encarnación of the end of
Chapter III, the common-sense Word made flesh that Galdós felt Spain to be so in need of.
We have seen, then, two major developments in the Sanguijuelera's character that are really
intertwined. First: she was originally conceived as an extremely «Naturalistic» denizen of Madrid's
lower class. But this conception rapidly became too narrow; she could not serve Galdós' purpose if
she were portrayed as nothing more than a drunken degenerate (and his purpose, as we understand it,
is to juxtapose a rational figure to one whose rationality has been eclipsed by too much imagination; a
figure of naked truth contrasted with one of wilful blindness). She therefore had to be a hardworking,
honest «woman of the people», one of the «decent poor», as Betty Higden says (she is another possible
prototype for Encarnación; and the scene in which she appears with Sloppy, who is working the
clothespress, may have been the seed from which both Encarnación and Mariano's work in the rope
factory grew) 51 . The development away from degeneracy can be seen in the manuscript deletion of
la del Villar ». Another example is the protagonist of Castillo Solórzano's picaresque novel, Teresa
de Manzanares.
50 At this stage of Galdós' career he still felt that the spirit of Don Quijote (as he then understood it)
was detrimental to Spain' progress in the modern world. Later he would change his mind.
51 Charles Dickens, Our Mutual Friend (London: Everyman, 1970), pp. 186-188. See Stephen
Gilman's forthcoming article in Anales galdosianos wherein he discusses the importance of this same
scene in relation to Jacinta's visit to the cuarto estado . He was the first to point out the possibility of
Betty Higden's being a partial prototype for Encarnación: «She was one of those old women, was Mrs.
Betty Higden, who by dint of an indomitable purpose and a strong constitution fight down many years,
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