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Anales galdosianos [Publicaciones periódicas]. Año XII, 1977 tree were condensed within the confines of a single novel). Moreover, if the deterministic implications of the theory fail to excite Galdós' interest, he is by no means averse from exploiting its possibilities for other, essentially moral and symbolic, purposes. A case in point is Riquín, Isidora's son, whose macrocephaly serves as a kind of ironic commentary on the figurative swollen-headedness of his mother. Here, instead of being a blind force of nature, or an impassive scientific law working itself out, heredity operates like an ironically-minded god (or author?), apportioning to Isidora the punishment which her overweening ambition has merited. With its enigmatic suggestion of' certain « misterios » at work in the domain of « la herencia fisiológica » (cf. Miquis' cryptic: comment 61 ) it also constitutes an early, and at this stage basically playful, incursion into the realm of the veta fantástica . 62 However, it is in the context of Durand's overwhelmingly social interpretation of the illusion-reality theme that serious objections begin to arise. Durand sees the Cervantine element providing the «ironic framework for his [Galdós'] commentary on Spain» 63 . Of course there is a great deal of truth in this assertion. As the example discussed above shows, heredity serves as the framework for a subtly ironic extension of Galdós' critique of prevailing social attitudes whereby Madrid comes to be seen as a « manicomio suelto » (p. 190). This irony is in turn dependent on the undoubted similarity between Isidora's attitudes and those of Madrid society as a whole. In strictly social terms, Isidora, represents but one permutation -though by far the most important- on the basic theme of the quiero y no puedo characteristic of Madrid society as Galdós portrays it. Her obsession with nobility, stemming from the reading of too many cheap novelettes and the deleterious influence of her uncle, determines her attitudes and value judgements and leads her ineluctably down the road to ruin. From the outset Galdós is at pains to underline the deficiencies inherent in his heroine's attitudes, both her cheap snobbery (especially evident in her outing with Miquis) and her total impracticality (as evidenced in her first shopping expedition) being pinpointed very early on in the novel. The rest of the novel is very largely concerned with the consequences of these defects. Firstly, Isidora is unfitted to respond to the moral and material needs of Mariano, and part of the 61 Alianza Editorial edition (Madrid, 1967), p. 246. 62 These quirks of heredity continue to interest Galdós long after La desheredada . The second Valentín (the Torquemada novels) and Leré's younger brother ( Ángel Guerra ) are other examples. 63 Ibid. , p. 197. 40
Anales galdosianos [Publicaciones periódicas]. Año XII, 1977 blame for his downfall must therefore be laid at her door 64 . «Secondly, and even more important, her enslavement to false social values corrupts her whole moral being. If, in chapter XIII, she is able to resist the crude advances of Joaquín Pez, because to sell herself in this fashion does not accord with her ideal of aristocratic conduct, later, when her illusions are shattered (albeit temporarily) by her interview with the marquesa, her one and only moral bulwark -pride in her «position»- collapses, albeit temporarily, and her descent into immorality is the inevitable result. In Part II, her illusions partly restored, the realisation of her dream world becomes conditional on the outcome of the seemingly interminable lawsuit, with the result that the gulf between the dream and reality yawns ever wider and her morality also comes to be governed by the same conditional mode of thought. Aristocratic pride, thus weakened, proves an insufficient guardian against moral laxity at a time when her continuing impracticality and inability to trim her financial sails against the wind of hard times forces her into a series of progressively more degrading relationships, culminating, when her illusions are finally dashed by the revelations of Muñoz y Nones, in the destruction of the last vestiges of her moral and spiritual being. The way is therefore prepared for her acceptance of the overtures of the repulsive Gaitica and, finally, her descent into common prostitution. Isidora's decline is thus an object lesson in the perils of imaginación , with Galdós frequently at pains to emphasise the connection between her social illusions, her financial irresponsibility and the moral collapse which results from both. Nor does he scruple to employ the weapons of explicit didacticism against his heroine, to the extent even of preaching a sermon (chapter 12) to her in his own voice (to say nothing of the moraleja at the end). Yet for all his remorseless cataloguing of Isidora's defects, it is clear that Galdós' attitude to her is neither unremittingly didactic nor totally unsympathetic. If there are times when Isidora is snobbish, it is equally true that she possesses a genuine refinement of sensibility which contrasts favourably with the cruder attitudes of those around her. It is hard, for example, not to feel some sympathy for her, her snobbery notwithstanding, when she receives what is surely an excessively cruel beating at the hands of her distinctly unrefined aunt, the redoubtable Sanguijuelera , in chapter III. Her horror at the nature of Mariano's employment, which she regards, rightly, as « trabajo para mulas », also contrasts favourably with the money-grubbing insensitivity of Encarnación -an insensitivity which is part and parcel of the latter's « gran sentido para apreciar la 64 V. «The Medical Background...» 41
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Trafalgar , tr.: R. Pohlebkin, Mosc
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