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Anales galdosianos [Publicaciones periódicas]. Año XII, 1977
in distinguishing physical reality from illusion. This fluctuation is exemplified by their inability to
distinguish dreams from life, hallucinations from reality. From the outset this alternation occurs, e.
g., in the final scene of the first act, Augusta imagines that she sees the Sombra of Orozco, and that
she confesses to him; later, she doubts: « En verdad que no puedo asegurar que estoy despierta ni
que estoy dormida... puedo jurar que le he visto ahí..., una persona, un sacerdote, un ser extraño, con
la cara y los ojos de... Difícil es que pueda precisar si he dormido o no... » (p. 809). These characters
are, as Ricardo Gullón has so accurately described them, « alucinados » 76 . However, these physical
illusions are only symptomatic of deeper internal disorders, the moral illusions of these characters,
which are the origin of these aberrations in the physical realm. While the illusions of the characters
of, say, La desheredada are principally of a social nature (see Durand), those of Orozco, Viera and
Augusta are primarily of the moral order. They constitute the main thread of the novel and are the
key to understanding the reorientation which Galdós effects in this series in this single novel. In order
to portray the mistaken ideas which his characters assert as reality, Galdós must penetrate, to borrow
Augusta's phrase, « las cuevas más escondidas del alma » (p. 808).
The purpose of this essay is twofold: first, to define the illusions of Orozco, Viera and Augusta; and
secondly, to explain their significance from the perspective of the « proceso de espiritualización »
which unfolds in subsequent novels. I shall argue that Galdós presents the moral ideas of Orozco and
Viera in a negative light to point to the Christian values to which he subscribed and which he would
continue to represent in later novels. Moreover, of the three principal characters of Realidad , ft is
Augusta to whom Galdós is most sympathetic.
76 Galdós, novelista moderno , 3rd ed. (Madrid: Gredos, 1973), p. 229.
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