Intellectual Blindness in Six Works by Antonio Buero Vallejo

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8701291
G ille s p ie , Edward V a n c e
INTELLECTUAL ELINDNESS IN S IX WORKS BY ANTO NIO BUERO VALLEJO
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•INTELLECTUAL BLINDNESS IN SIX WORKS BY ANTONIO BUERO VALLEJO
by
EDWARD V. GILLESPIE
Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of
The University of Texas at Arlington in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements
for the Degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON

August 1986
INTELLECTUAL BLINDNESS IN SIX
WORKS BY ANTONIO BUERO VALLEJO
APPROVED:
.W & cUiclau
^Supervising Professor)
(I
- -'PLsTgul..
(Dean of the Graduate S c h o o l )
Copyright by Edward Vance Gillespie 1986
All Rights Reserved
Acknowledgments
This study came about as a result of an interest in
Antonio Buero Vallejo and the concept of intellectual
blindness which began in a course taught by Dr. Jos£ G.
Sanchez during the summer of 1982.
I would like to thank Dr. Sanchez, as well as all the
members of the dissertation committee: Dr. Lenard H.
Studerus, Dr. Bertie N. Acker, Dr. Virgil L. Poulter and Dr.
Emory D. Estes, for their help in reading and criticizing
this work.
Two letters received from Antonio Buero Vallejo in
which he clarified several points concerning his sources
were greatly a p p r e ciated.
I would also like to thank the Interlibrary Loan
Department of the University of Texas at Arlington for their
help in locating and obtaining m a n y works which were
essential for this study.
Finally, I acknowledge a tremendous debt to my wife,
Elizabeth Olivares Gillespie.
April 10, 1986
ABSTRACT
INTELLECTUAL BLINDNESS IN SIX WORKS BY ANTONIO BUERO VALLEJO
Publication N o . _________
Edward V. Gillespie, Ph.D.

The University of Texas at Arlington, 1986
Supervising Professor: Jose G. Sanchez
Six of Antonio Buero Vallejo's works deal with a
concept which is not new in literature and certainly not in
the field of drama. The idea of intellectual blindness is
present in Sophocles' Oedipus the King and Shakespeare's
King L e a r , and it is also found in several other works.
However, no other writer besides Buero has written so
intensely about the idea of intellectual or spiritual
blindness and how it affects the social and political
structures of societies and individuals.
These six tragedies by Buero En la ardiente
o s c u r i d a d , El concierto de San O v i d i o , Llegada de los
d i o s e s , Un sonador para un p u e b l o , Las Meninas and La
tejedora de suenos all deal very specifically with the
idea of intellectual blindness. Also, all depict a
character or characters who are physically blind.
This study answers the question: Since the
characters in these plays are intellectually blind, what
does Buero attempt to have the reader or spectator discover
concerning politics and society? More specifically, and
with reference to what Buero has written of his use of
blindness as a symbol: What are the problems of Spain (and
the world), and why can many Spaniards not identify them?
If they are able to identify them, why are they not able to
rectify them?
Linked to Buero's ideas concerning intellectual
blindness are his beliefs about the genre of tragedy. A few
critics have criticized B u e r o 1s works as pessimistic, a
criticism which he denies emphatically, claiming that a play
is not a tragedy if it is completely pessimistic and
presents no hope.
Thus, B u e r o 1s works present many seamy aspects of
life, most of which are a reflection of what Buero has
experienced, directly or indirectly, in Spain; nevertheless,
there is always an element of hope in his works. "Durch
Leiden Freude," he has quoted from Beethoven. Through pain
or sorrow toward happiness. This, Buero believes, is what
constitutes the main idea of a tragedy.
vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .......................................... iv
ABSTRACT ................................................ V
Chapter
I. INTRODUCTION ................................... 1
II. LITERARY BACKGROUND ......................... 10
III. INTELLECTUAL BLINDNESS IN A TOTALITARIAN

STATE: EN LA ARDIENTE OSCURIDAD ............ 21
IV. FEAR, GREED AND ILLITERACY: INTELLECTUAL

BLINDNESS AND CAPITALISM IN EL
CONCIERTO DE SAN O V I D I O ........................48
V. TWO GENERATIONS AT WAR: LLEGADA DE

LOS D I O S E S ........................................ 75
VI. A DREAMER FOR A BLIND PEOPLE: FIVE

CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF INTELLECTUAL
S I G H T ........................................... 103
VII. INTELLECTUAL BLINDNESS IN LAS MENINAS

AND LA TEJEDORA DE S U E N O S .................... 127
APPENDIX: TWO LETTERS FROM ANTONIO BUERO VALLEJO . . 157
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................... 162
vii
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Antonio Buero Vallejo was born in Guadalajara,
Spain, September 29, 1916. He has written twenty-six
plays, all of w h i c h achieved varying degrees of success,
with the exception of El terror i n m o v i l , a fragment
w hich he refers to as "una tragedia i r r e p r e s e n t a b l e ."
He has also writ t e n a book of critical essays entitled
Tres maestros ante el p u b l i c o . The last part, "Garcia
Lorca ante el e s p e r p e n t o , " was his acceptance speech
when he became a member of the Royal Spanish Academy in
1972. He has also written man y articles about the
theater.
After studying painting at the Escuela de Bellas
Artes in Madrid, Buero joined the Loyalist side of the
Spanish Civil War (1936-39) as a member of the medical
corps.'*' After the defeat of the Republic, the Franco
government imprisoned Buero for political reasons from
1939 to early in 1946. He will not discuss this part of
his life nor how he feels about the Franco regime. Some
of his works, however, reflect the experience. La
fundaci<$n (1974) describes the psychological fears that
prisoners suffered. La doble historia del doctor Valmy
(1967) and Jueces en la noche (1979) both give the
audience a clear reflection of how the Spanish police
treated political prisoners.
The Spanish Civil War and its results changed
Buero's life considerably and, after his long imprison
ment, he gradually turned from painting to the thea
ter for his livelihood. In 1949, Buero received the
Premio Lope de Vega for his play Historia de una
e s c a l e r a , and he achieved almost instant recognition as
a dramatist. With reference to what his theater might
achieve and the public might "see" Buero has written:
El teatro es como unas gafas para cegatos

que quisieran ver. Pero no todos los cegatos
quieren ver, no todos sufren el mismo grado de
insuficiencia optica y tambiin hay, entre ellos,
algunas personas con mayor agudeza visual que el
autor de la o b r a . 2
However, the recurrent theme of blindness in
Buero's works is not an unconscious creative effort.
Many critics believe that blindness is one of Buero's
most effective symbols which he has used to criticize

3
many undetected negative aspects in society. Because
of the strong censorship in Spain, Buero needed a
dramatic device to disguise this criticism. Physical
blindness, which accentuates intellectual or spiritual
b i i n a n e s s , provided this device. This study is an
analysis of Buero's device used in six of his works: El
concierto de San Ovidio, En la ardiente oscuridad,
Llegada de los d i o s e s , Las M e n i n a s , Un sonador para un
pueblo and La tejedora de s u e n o s .
Both Sophocles and William Shakespeare used
blindness to symbolize what has developed into the
literary concept of intellectual or spiritual blindness.
In Oedipus the K i n g , Sophocles used this symbol to
project a hesitancy on the part of Oedipus to recognize
(acknowledge) that he would murder this father and later
share a marriage bed with his mother. Shakespeare, in
King L e a r , utilizes Gloucester's intellectual blindness
to reinforce King Lear's intellectual blindness
concerning his three daughters.
Two Spanish writers of more recent times, Ramon
del Valle Inclan and Miguel de Unamuno, have used the
symbol of blindness to explain somewhat different types
of spiritual blindness. V a l l e Inclan's Los cuernos de
don Friolera and Luces de Bohemia depict the ills of a
decadent Spanish society, and Unamuno's La venda
symbolizes the loss of an orthodox religious faith.
Intellectual blindness, as defined for this
study, consists of answering the questions: What is
Buero attempting to have the reader and spectator
discover concerning Spanish politics and society? More
specifically, and with reference to what Buero has
written concerning his use of blindness as a symbol:
What are the problems of Spain (and the w o r l d ) , and why
can many Spaniards not identify them? If they are able
to identify them, why are they not able to rectify them?
A few, mostly minor critics, have criticized Buero's
works as pessimistic, a criticism which he denies
emphatically, claiming that all of his tragedies
contain, in essence, a good deal of optimism and that
a play is not a tragedy if it is completely pessimistic
and contains no hope.^ For this reason, an examination
of some of B u e r o 1s ideas concerning dramatic tragedy
will be necessary.
Two of Buero's tragedies, En la ardiente
oscuridad and El concierto de San O v i d i o , focus on the
psychological limitations of man in general, and there
is also a strong element of society's attitude toward
these limitations. Llegada de los dioses concentrates
on one man's inability to see what he does not wish
to see, that is, a lack of volition resulting in psy
chosomatic blindness. Still, symbolism is present in
Llegada de los d i o s e s , especially with regard to the
idea of sin, nemesis and redemption. Las Meninas and Un
sonador para un pueblo describe an inability of the
Spanish people to recognize their societal problems
historically. Buero places these works b a c k in history
but directs his main criticism of intellectual blindness
toward mid twentieth century Spain. Las Meninas and La
te~jedora de suenos are similar in structure and offer an
interesting contrast with regard to the d evelopment of
characters. La tejedora de suerios, taken from Greek
mythology, depicts U l i s e s 1 return to a disdainful wife,
Penelope, w ho has become embittered b y w a r and her
husband's pursuit of another woman.
B u e r o 's utilization of physical blindness,
whether it be one character or a group of invidentes as
in El concierto de San Ovidio and En la ardiente
o s c u r i d a d , is the basis for selecting these six works.
Intellectual blindness points specifically to a basic
human limitation, that of not being able to see or
perceive what is important and needed to produce
improvement, in an individual or in society. Physical
blindness reinforces this theme. In short, what man is
able to see, he may be able to change. Pointing out
m a n ’s intellectual blindness should, according to Buero,
result in improvements.
Puede apuntar a la esperanza en la resolucion de

los males terrenos por vfas terrenas; puede
apuntar a muchas cosas de orden aparentemente
dispar. Ahora bien, en mi criterio, todas ellas
estan unificadas por esa constante--la constante
de la esperanza que en fin de cuentas es la con-
stante humana de la futurizacidn, de ir hacia una
5
me]ora.J
Buero, however, is not a moralist who points out
specific ways or "formulas" in his works for the better
ment of mankind. He writes of concrete situations and
describes good or evil in individuals and society, but
the reader or spectator finds no instructions as to how
to solve the problems. In this respect, Buero's works
are similar to those of the dramatists of the Classical
period of Greek antiquity.
Buero has himself compared his works to the
Greek classics.® The characters are no longer of noble
lineage, and the elevated language has been discarded.
However, the techniques of chorus, masks and music are
still utilized today and, as an example, he points out
Federico Garcfa Lorca's play Yerma which has a chorus.
Buero himself uses these three elements in his plays.
In La tejedora de suenos there is a chorus of slaves
which not only serves to apprise the spectator of the
action and the background but also acts as the official
"propagandizing element" of the state. In plays with a
more modern setting, for example, En la ardiente oscu
ridad , the group of blind students in the learning
center act as a type of chorus. There is a similar
choral situation in El concierto de San Ovidio with the
blind beggars in the hospice.
Classical masks and music (the latter connected
in classical tragedy with the chorus) are also present
in B u e r o 1s works. Most of Buero's works contain music
in some form. Masks are utilized in classic fashion in
Llegada de los dioses and are interchanged according to
mood and background.
There are two elements, classical in essence,
which Buero utilizes well: catharsis (which accompanies
anagnorisis) and, as he has expressed many times, hope.
Catharsis, as employed by Buero and the classical
dramatists, is an experience which should produce a
purging or cleansing of the psyche which in turn can
produce some positive reaction of the spectator or
reader to better himself or society. This hope must be
present after catharsis, and in Buero's writings, hope
is a constant. Of course, hope does not arise from a
setting of naive rosiness, and Buero's plays point to
many abject social conditions.
The settings for m a n y of Buero's plays depict
bad social conditions, the aftermath of the Spanish
Civil War, the political influences of World War II and
the inflationary poverty which turned many Spaniards
bitter. There are other plays which do not present such
8
bad social conditions; however, they condemn one
specific element in society. Daniel Barnes, in La doble
historia del doctor V a l m y , does not live in poverty, but
his profession as a police interrogator who inflicts
torture on prisoners is so horrible that he becomes
psychosomatically impotent after castrating a prisoner.
Nor is the situation in Las cartas boca abajo one of
poverty, but the consequences of living among lies and
mediocrity, disguised by hypocrisy, causes the
protagonist's family to suffer. La fundacion, a play
about political prisoners, describes the cruelty which
the inmates experience when they believe there is no
hope of survival.
Buero's works present many seamy aspects of
life, most of which are a reflection of what Buero has
experienced, directly or indirectly, in Spain;
nevertheless, there is always an element of hope.
"Durch Leiden Freude," he has quoted from Beethoven.
Through pain or sorrow towards happiness. This, Buero
believes, is what constitutes the main idea of tragedy.
However, as he has demonstrated in these six plays, the
reader, the spectator, the audience and the public must
see through intellectual blindness the pain or sorrow
which is present, not only on the stage, but in life.
9
Notes
^Joelyn Ruple, Antonio Buero Vallejo; The First
Fifteen Years (New York: Eliseo Torres & Sons, 1971),
pp. 11-18.
2
Antonio Buero Vallejo, Hoy es f i e s t a , Las
M e n i n a s , El tragaluz (Madrid: Taurus Ediciones, 1968),
pp. 62, 63.

3
Emilio Bejel, Buero Vallejo: lo moral, lo
social y lo m e t a f i s i c o (Montevideo: Jul i o Ricci, 1972),
pp. 73, 74.

4 * * *
Jose Ramon Cortina, El arte d r a matico de
A nt o n i o Buero V a l l e j o (Madrid: Editorial Gredos, 1969),
p. 22.
5
Bernard Dulsey, "Entrevista con Bu e r o Vallejo,"
Modern Language J o u r n a l , March 1966, p. 154.
^Cortina, pp. 19-25.
CHAPTER II
LITERARY BACKGROUND: INTELLECTUAL BLINDNESS
There are many literary antecedents for the idea
of intellectual or spiritual blindness. Some of these,
with regard to Buero, are general; others, as he has
acknowledged, have influenced him directly. It is
important to note that the works discussed in this
background are selective with regard to B u e r o 1s works
concerning blindness and not meant to be a comprehensive
list of works on physical/intellectual blindness. In a
letter received from Buero by this writer dated
September 4, 1983, he states that "las influencias o
antecedentes que hayan podido darse en las obras mfas
donde aparece la ceguera deberan buscarse, creo, en
obras que yo pudiese conocer antes de escribir En la
ardiente o s c u r i d a d H e lists a number of works which
he had read before writing A r d i e n t e : King L e a r , Los
cuernos de don F r i o l e r a , and Luces de Bohemia by Ramon
del Valle Inclan, Marianela by Benito PSrez Galdos,
Oedipus the King and Oedipus at Colonnus by Sophocles
and "The Country of the Blind," a short story by H. G.
Wells. All these works have characters that are both
10
11
physically and intellectually blind. Buero does not
believe that there was any type of direct influence on
his works from Unamuno's La venda nor from Maeterlinck's
Los ciegos since he recalls that he read them after
writing En la ardiente o s c uridad. However, Buero admits
that these works may have influenced him indirectly.
Buero writes that the use of physical blindness per se
may not have influenced him as much as the works which
do not contain physical blindness:
En esta cuestion de las fuentes, siempre

compleja, yo me inclino a rsnsar que las mas
hondas son siempre otras, que la critica no
suele rastrear y de las que el propio escritor
no tiene a menudo conciencia. P r o bablemente, en
el tema de mis "cegueras" habran influido, m£s
que obras donde aparezcan ciegos, otras donde,
sin haberlos, las limitaciones, subjetivismos y
tragedias humanas tengan especial fuerza; por
ejemplo, La vida es sueno de C a l d e r o n . 2
Buero's statement opens up an overwhelming
number of possibilities which are not within the scope
of this study; however, since one of his general themes
is the limitations of man, all of his works project the
general concept of intellectual blindness.
El sueno de la r a z o n , Cc.si un cuento de h a d a s ,
M a d r u g a d a , Historia de una escalera, Irene, o el
t e s o r o , Las cartas boca arriba and La doble historia del
doctor Valmy are examples of B u e r o 1s works with an
element related to the concept of intellectual
12
blindness, although physical blindness is not present.
Perhaps the work closest to physical/intellectual
blindness is Buero's play that deals with Francisco Goya
during the last period of his life. Goya was totally
deaf, and Buero's technique of mimesis for the actors
who are on stage with Goya is similar to the technique
in Llegada de los dioses with which Julio can not see.
And the audience, at times, shares this limitation.
Buero's reading is voluminous and, by his own
admission, it is not methodical but eclectic. With
reference to one of the works analyzed in this study, En
la ardiente o s c u r i d a d , the proverb, "in the land of the
blind, the one-eyed man is king," is appropriate indeed
because of the c h a r a c t e r Dona Pepita who is not
physically blind and who acts as the "eyes" of Don
Pablo. It is this proverb that Nunez in "The Country of
the Blind" says continuously after he realizes that the
people in the remote valley where he has wandered are
blind. "The Country of the Blind" is an excellent
example of intellectual blindness. NiSnez is never able
to convey to the inhabitants of the valley the m eaning
of the word "blind." Like the " invidentes" in A r d i e n t e ,
they have been blind for so long that they can "see"
nothing and wish to remain in that state. Both groups
demonstrate why physical blindness complements
13
intellectual blindness so well in literature; their
physical groping symbolizes an intellectual lack and,
thus, they tend to adhere to the status quo.
There are man y similarities between Oedipus the
King and B u e r o 1s works. Oedipus' downfall is due to his
relentless pursuit of knowledge or truth. However, the
obvious similarity between Oedipus the King and the six
works by Buero in this study is blindness, both
intellectual and physical. Oedipus, who has searched
for knowledge (perhaps too much knowledge), blinds
himself. This is the price which one pays for g a i n
ing a great deal of knowledge.^ This idea continues
throughout the history of tragedy. Goethe's Faust,
close to the end of his life and having acquired much
knowledge, is blinded by the personification of worry.
No other wor k is more important in studying
B u e r o 1s literary background for intellectual blindness
than Shakespeare's King L e a r . King Lear has two
characters who are intellectually blind and who, through
suffering, gain insight. Gloucester, who is physically
blinded, serves as a foil so that the audience can
compare Gloucester's intellectual blindness with that
of Lear. Robert B. Heilman suggests that King Lear is
but one of m any examples that show the problem of
intellectual blindness:
14
What must man see? How shall he see?

Shakespeare constantly labored at the question,
and in a sense he came early to a specific
problem of modern civilization, which from his
time to ours has been casting old insights
overboard and looking for replacements.
Lear's hamartia creates tragedy, but Lear's
hamartia is false pride, a hubris which leads him to
punish the one daughter, Cordelia, who respects him
more. Lear is quite intellectually blind. Both Lear
and Gloucester suffer from intellectual blindness. Lear
cannot "see" behind the flattery that Goneril and Regan
offer him any better than Gloucester can understand the
connivances of Edmund. It is Lear (although Gloucester
suffers the physical affliction) who has the most
problems with intellectual blindness.
The pattern of physical blindness accentuating
the greater problem of intellectual blindness in Lear is
basically the same that Buero uses in the six plays
analyzed in this study. However, there is one
difference. Although any number of morals and
conclusions may be drawn from Gloucester's and Lear's
intellectual blindness, their blindness is largely
contained within the p l a y . Buero's works are written so
that the audience is able to participate. Buero has
written concerning his "efectos de inmersion," and
Ricardo Domenech devotes several pages to an analysis of
15
these dramatic techniques. King Lear is certainly
universal, but Buero's symbology of intellectual
blindness is both universal and specific, i.e., the
audience is able to view the specific problems of the
protagonist, also a specific problem in Spain, as well
as identify with the universality of intellectual
blindness.
Another writer who has used a secondary element
to emphasize intellectual blindness in his works is
Ramon del Valle Inclan. Los cuernos de don Friolera and
Luces de Bohemia are both examples of physical and
intellectual blindness.
Although Valle Inclan cultivated an exotic
strain of modernism, he also criticized Spain through
his esperpentos. An esperpento, according to Valle
Inclan, was his critical idea or vision of Spain,
deformed as though seen in a concave mirror. Buero uses
the absence of sight to draw attention to many negative
qualities in Spanish society, and Valle Inclan used the
idea of a concave mirror that reflected the absurdities
of Spain. The results are the same, social and polit
ical criticism of Spain. Like Buero's Ciego de los
Romances in Un sonador para un pueblo, Valle Inclan
utilized a character with nearly the same name in Los
cuernos de don Friolera.
16
Valle Inclan was decidedly against mili t a r i s m
and the violent customs that were handed down from
generation to generation. This is clear in the last
lines of Cuernos between Estrafalario and Manolito. As
the symbol of the blind balladeer projects, one
generation blindly accepts these customs from the
previous generation.
Another play, also an example of an esperpento,
is Luces de B o h e m i a . Los cuernos de don Friolera
illustrates one of the societal ills of Spain, and Luces
de Bohemia shows the end result of the m a n y problems
that plague Spain. The blind protagonist, Max Estrella,
and Don Latino de Hispalis, descend to the depths of a
Madrid society from which Max Estrella does not return,
dying on the street next to a dog that is urinating on a
lamp post. The journey is Dantesque and constantly
depressing.
The theme of intellectual blindness is in both
of these works by Valle Inclan. Max Estrella is blind;
he is a blind writer who possesses an extremely sharp
insight into what is happening in Spain. Like Pedro
Briones in Buero's Las Meninas who can see the misery of
Spain that Valazquez has painted in Las M e n i n a s , Max has
witnessed the militarism and graft of an avaricious and
unscrupulous bureaucracy. In Buero's La tejedora de
17
s u e n o s , Ulises has the slave chorus sing an "official
lie" so that future g enerations will respect his name;
this, in effect, is c ontrol of the media (press). In
Luces de B o h e m i a , after the jailer has summoned the
falsely accused anarchist, the condemned anarchist asks:

» j
"dQue dira manana esa Prensa canalla?" Max answers, "Lo
que le manden."®
A short play by Miguel de Unamuno, La v e n d a ,
also contains intellectual blindness of a different
nature.^ Maria, the central character in the play,
wants to continue her state of blindness so she will be
spared seeing her father's death. This play was
probably a consequence of Unamuno's spiritual crisis in
1897. According to A n d r e s Franco, the blindfold
signifies Miguel de Unamuno's religious faith which he
had lost in 1897.® W i t h o u t the covering of "blind"
religious faith, Unamuno was not able to face what he
considered reality, that is, the loss of his physical
and psychological e ssenc e after death; he wanted to
return to the period of an innocently accepted reli
gious faith which had protected him during his youth.
Although Buero does not believe that there was direct
influence of La venda on his works that concern b l i n d
ness, there is nevertheless a similarity in Maria's
attempt to avoid reality and many of Buero's characters.
Except for Ignacio (and Carlos at the end of the play),
the entire learning center in En la ardiente oscuridad
tries to avoid the reality of the outside world. The
blind musicians in Concierto do not want to think about
the possibility of an orchestra of blind musicians
because they had never heard of the idea. Perhaps the
most poignant example is Ulises in Tejedora who has his
chorus compose a fictional account of his wife's
infidelity so that posterity will never know her true
feelings.
Literature is not the only interpreter of
intellectual blindness. Psychological terms such as
suppression, repression, the subconscious mind and
psychosomatic blindness also explain what happens to the
characters in the works discussed in this study. It is
in the field of literature, however, where poetic
license permits the writer to use symbol, simile,
metaphor and allegory to elaborate and embellish the
concept of intellectual blindness. This provides the
reader (or spectator) more opportunity to identify with
the character's gain or loss of intellectual insight.
In a second letter received by this writer from
Buero dated April 19, 1985, he writes: "Supongo que la
ceguera, total o pareial , no volvera a aparecer en mi
teatro: ya lo ha hecho muchas veces." There is a
19
strong hint that he realizes intellectual/physical
blindness, for one reason or another, has been utilized
to its limit. What is interesting and leaves the door
open to any future themes of blindness is his immediate
afterthought: "Pero i’quien puede decir lo que hare
manana?" He also comments on his last work which is, at
this time, "en el cartel de Madrid:"
No tengo en el resto de mi teatro ninguna

otra obra donde aparezca una ciega. Sin
embargo, creo que debo informarle de que en
Dialogo secreto, mi ultima obra estrenada en
Agosto de 1984 y hoy todavfa en el cartel de
Madrid, el personaje principal es un critico de
arte dalt<5nico, defecto que ha logrado ocultar
durante toda la vida pero que es la razdn de su
angustia y su sufrimiento. Con este motivo,
hago uso tambien en esta obra de uno de mis
"efectos de inmersion": en los momentos
adecuados de la accion, una gran copia de "Las
Hilanderas" de Velazquez que el tiene en su
salon muda los bellos colores en tonos blancos,
negros y pardos, tal y como el los ve.
El asunto de esta obra se halla, pues,

cercano al tema que Vd. trata. DiSlogo secreto
estci ahora en la imprenta y espero que saldrA
pronto.
It will be interesting to ascertain if there is
symbology present in this most recent work about a
color-blind critic, and even more interesting to
anticipate yet another work in which physical and
intellectual blindness are present.
20
Notes
^"Letter received from Antonio Buero Vallejo, 4
September 1983.
2 Ibid.
3
Robert B. Heilman, The Iceman, the Arsonist,
and the Troubled Agent (Seattle: University of
Washington Press, 1973), p. 161.

4
Charles Segal, Tragedy and Civilization: An
Interpretation of Sophocles (Cambridge: Harvard
University Press, 1981), p. 241.

5
Robert B. Heilman, This Great Stage: Image and
Structure in King Lear (Seattle: University of
Washington Press, 1967), pp. 57, 58.
^Ramon de V a l l e - I n c l a n , Luces de Bohemia
(Madrid:E s p a s a - C a l p e , 1968), p. 58.

7 .
Miguel de Unamuno, Teatro completo (Madrid:
Aguilon, 1959), pp. 299-324.

0
Andris Franco, El teatro de Unamuno (Madrid:
Insula, 1971), p. 95.
'CHAPTER III
INTELLECTUAL BLINDNESS IN A TOTALITARIAN STATE:
EN LA A RDIE N T E OSCURIDAD
A critical analysis of En la ardiente oscuridad
reveals what B u e r o 1s symbols represent with regard to
blindness and will answer the question: If B u e r o 1s
characters are symbolically or intellectually blind,
what are the things they cannot see?
The reader should k e e p the following structural
note in mind concerning En la ardiente o s c u r i d a d . There
are three structural levels to A r d i e n t e . The first
level is the story of a learning center for blind
students. The second and third levels are symbolic and
represent respectively the political organization of
society in a totalitarian country and a metaphysical
search for truth. Thus Carlos, at the first level, is
the defender of the Center's organization and morale.
At the secondary level Carlos represents the political
force in a totalitarian country and defends its p r o p a
ganda. On the third level Carlos is any repressive
force which hinders m a n ' s universal search for
illumination.
21
22
The opening scene takes place in a smoking area
in an educational facility for the blind. The students
are awaiting the opening of a new school session. Of
special importance is Carlos, a robust individual who is
the student leader. Their conversation is interrupted
by Ignacio's entrance, made more conspicuous by the
tapping of his cane, a device which none of the other
students would dare use because of their efforts to
appear normal.
Don Pablo, the director, Carlos and the other
students try to convince Ignacio that their situation is
normal. To accomplish this, they have changed the
terminology of blindness. A person who has normal
vision is a v i d e n t e ; a blind person is an i n v i d e n t e .
Juana tries to convince Ignacio that he should
stay at the school. He tells her that the situation in
the school will not be peaceful if he stays. At this
point Ignacio reveals his innermost desire: " iVer!
Aunque s4 que es imposible, iver!"^
Ignacio's attitude changes the atmosphere of the
Center. Carlos detects despondency in Don Pablo, and
Carlos himself experiences antipathy toward Ignacio.
The mordant point Ignacio makes is that the Center is
based on a lie, that is, that the sightless can be as
normal as the videntes.
23
Ignacio states that they are blind not only to
things but also to the truth (light). Ignacio expresses
a desire to exceed his limitations. Carlos accuses
Ignacio of having a Messianic complex and a death wish,
but it is evident that Ignacio's words have impressed
Carlos. Carlos will repeat almost the same words during
the last scene after he murders Ignacio.
The name Ignacio suggests sparks, fire or light,
hence, truth. Thus, in his search for truth Ignacio
finds fault with nearly everything in the Center.
"Este Centro esta fundado sobre una mentira," he tells
Carlos and the rest of the students. Ignacio's
criticism of the Center and his extreme desire to be
able to see make him uneasy and agitated as a student
boarder; everything annoys, irritates, and displeases
him. In this way he is similar to Oedipus in Oedipus
the King who pushes, questions and intimidates in his
search for the truth about his background and his
p rophecy.
The question arises as to what Ignacio had been
like before entering the Center. In a conversation
between Ignacio and some of the students, he relates a
story that has to do with his tripping on some stairs
when he was fifteen. His reaction to the laughter of
the other students who were present reveals the anguish
24
and embarrassment of his blindness and his subsequent
reflections:
Apenas podia tenerme en pie; las piernas se

habian convertido en algodon, y las muchachas se
estaban riendo a carcajadas. Era una risa
limpia y sin malicia; pero a mi me traspaso. Y
senti que ardfa el rostro. Las muchachas
trataban de cortar sus risas; no podfan, y
volvian a empezar. dHabîs notado que muchas
veces las mujeres no pueden dejar de reir? Se
ponen tan nerviosas, que les es imposible . . .
Yo estaba a punto de llorar. Solo tenfa quince
anos I Entonces me sente en un escaldn y me puse
a pensar. Intente comprender por primera vez
por qu£ estaba ciego y por que tenfa que haber
ciegos. Es abominable que la mayorfa de las
personas, sin valer mas que n o s o t r o s , gocen, sin
merito alguno, de algun poder misterioso que
emana de sus ojos y con el que pueden abrazarnos
y clavarnos el cuerpo sin que podamos evitarlo!2
These pains and crushed feelings which wound
Ignacio at an early age also contribute to his becoming
an introverted thinker which results in desires that he
can never fulfill. The scene in total darkness in the
third act emphasizes not only the essence of Ignacio's
desires and frustrations but also serves to compare and
contrast Carlos' personality with that of Ignacio's.
One part of the mind desperately wants to retain an idea
or belief although another part of the consciousness
declares a complete negation . The result is a psycho
logical agony that leads to what Ricardo Domenech
describes as a contemplative personality.
25
Carlos as Ignacio's Antag o n i s t
Carlos, on the other hand, represents that large
part of society which accepts the strongest, most
prevalent view. Carlos' personality and subsequent
change in attitude represents one of Buero's main points
of social and p o l itical criticism. No b e t t e r symbolic
example of controlled and propagandized "masses" can be
found in Buero's works than Carlos. Don Pablo, with his
"moral de acero" m a n i p u l a t e s Carlos into committing
murder. Carlos represents the Spanish people,
intellectually blind and led by a ruthless dictator
(Franco). However, Carlos' anagnorisis and catharsis,
after having murdered Ignacio, are what infuse Ardiente
with hope. Carlos has begun to doubt; hope will
inevitably follow.
Carlos' repetition of Ignacio's words has a
dramatic and poetic effect; nevertheless, Ignacio has
had an extraordinary influence on Carlos, who has by now
been infected with Ignacio's desire to see. Carlos
experiences an e m o tional dichotomy which at the moment
cannot be resolved. He expresses the passion, contempt
and agony that Ignacio has exhibited and kills the
immediate and apparent source of pain which is Ignacio.
For a few moments Carlos has lived in Ignacio's troubled
world, in the real world as it were, and he is no longer
26
complacent. It is quite ironic but interesting to point
out that one reason Carlos has become anxious and
disturbed to the point of physical violence is that he
has acquired an element from Ignacio that is so
important to Buero's plays; Carlos has acquired hope,
and it is a hope representative of the world outside the
Center, an ambience which Carlos has not experienced."*
In a very interesting article, "Tragic Conflict and
Progressive Synthesis in Buero Vallejo's En la ardiente
os c u r i d a d ," Reed Anderson explains this impact on
Ca r l o s .
It is Carlos, in En la ardiente o s c u r i d a d , who

has suffered the cathartic experience, and not
the society as a whole. [Carlos] is the only
individual in Buero Vallejo's play who is
capable of grasping both extremes of this
dialectical conflict at once— indeed, his
anguish at the end indicates the awesomeness of
these extremes when they both take root in a
single mind, and when seemingly irreconcilable
truths make their claims to authority. Carlos'
sense of the final truth about man's tragic
nature is made more complex and more profound by
the cathartic process of experiencing and
acknowledging the validity of Ignacio's tragic
vision, while recognizing as well the
imperatives of the Center's ethical order for
the survival of its society, and for the
progress of its members.
To a lesser extent, Ignacio exerts an influence
on the other characters. Until the time of his death he
possesses a strange attraction for the other students.
27
As secondary character, Juana is receptive to
Ignacio as a lover and to his suffering, but she
recognizes almost from the beginning a parallel between
her and Carlos regarding Ignacio. Both she and Carlos
recognize something which is alien to their personali
ties and to their social system in the Center. Whereas
Carlos recognizes Ignacio as an intrusion into the
system he so enthusiastically supports, Juana acts as a
dramatic element to create empathy in the spectator for
Ignacio's intense desire to see, empathy which will lead
to Carlos' anagnorisis during the last scene. It is also
possible that Juana foresees Ignacio's death as imminent
punishment for rebelling against the "moral de acero."
For Juana, Carlos does not represent a real threat at
all. In a conversation with Elisa which Ignacio over
hears, Juana urges her friend to treat Ignacio cha r i
tably :
Juana. (Sonriente.) Anda, sientate y no

te alteres. (Se levanta y va hacia ella.)
Acusas a Ignacio de egoista. iY que va a hacer,
si sufre? Tambien convendria menos egolsmo por
nuestra parte. Hay que ser caritativos con las
flaquezas ajenas y aliviarlas con nuestra
dulzura . . .
Juana gives the impression that she is falling
in love with Ignacio. However, this is not a lasting
impression as the end of the play reveals. Juana's
importance in the play is secondary and lies mainly in
28
contrasting the philosophical differences between Carlos
and Ignacio.
With ironic joviality, Miguelin reasons that
those without sight cannot possibly conceive of this
sense; therefore, those w h o think they can see are
suffering from a collective hallucination. Here, Buero
repeats what he has clearly stated at the beginning of
A r d i e n t e , that the group at the educational center is
under an "ilusion de normalidad. " Miguelin has
projected toward the videntes the very illusion which
the members of the Center have used to disguise their
malady. Ignacio quickly discerns and criticizes the
irony in Miguelin's statement.
Symbology of the Center
If Miguel describes the reality of the outside
world as an hallucination, and Carlos, as the model
student of the Center, is ready to defend its ideals
with a stern "moral de acero," what does the Center
represent, and what are its students not able to see?
In short, what is the symbolism of blindness which is
present in En la ardiente o s c uridad? This question can
be analyzed on several levels.
Ricardo Domenech, one of the best critics of
Buero's works, has investigated the political level
thoroughly.^ Domenech first erases any doubt as to
w h e t h e r En la ardiente oscuridad is symbolic or simply a
play which has to do with a group of sightless students
in an educational center. D o m e n e c h ' s argument is
convincing. He points to the fact that the Center is
open to one certain category of student, the sightless
who have never experienced vision. This type of premise
can only m e a n one thing; the play is not only symbolic;
it is an allegory. The Center is a controlled refuge,
an established order with an imposing structure which
subjugates the individual and leaves him with very
little liberty. In short, the C e nter represents a
totalitarian state.
Another critic, Jean-Paul B o r e l , believes
Buero's tragedies to be a criticism in Spain and in the
Western world, of governmental control.^ This
difficulty of pursuing a simple daily life can be a
consequence of social misery, a social lie or any other
number of problems that affect the individual's ego
pitted against society. Thus, Bu e r o ' s works not only
possess great worth in a theatrical sense, they are also
(and above all) "un teatro consciente, reflejo tragico
de nuestra epoca desgarrada, e x p resion de nuestro mundo

7
'i m p o s i b l e .'" More specifically, Borel chooses to
label the theme of En la ardiente oscuridad an unmasking
of the lie. Analyzing the structure of the closed
society in A r d i e n t e / Borel again draws from politics to
explain. He maintains that there are political powers
in our Western society that want to keep the masses
happy, or to use B o r e l 's term, maintain "la ilusion de
la felicidad." These common people are passive and
accept all types of adversities in order to maintain
this illusion of happiness: a radio, a television set,
some appliance, anything that projects a semblance of
material comfort. They live in crowded quarters so that
once a week they can watch movies that project splen
did castles on a screen. Unfortunately for these
individuals, the images they see on the screen are not
reality but a glorified reflection of reality, and these
masses of viewers are much like the inhabitants of
Plato's caves in his well-known parable. ^ Indeed, there
is probably no work more suited to aid the comprehension
of Buero's ideas concerning sight and symbolism than
Plato's Book VII from The R e p u b l i c . During a dialogue
between Socrates and Glaucon, the idea of truth is
symbolized as light. The light is not seen directly by
the inhabitants of the cave (world). They can see
nothing but the shadows of reality. An extension of
Plato's allegory elucidates one of Buero's points. If
the inhabitants of Plato's cave or den suddenly free
themselves and see the "bare" light of truth, it blinds
them with such brilliance and incomprehensibility that
they understand nothing. They must slowly adjust their
eyesight to the truth, and it is only with this period
of adjustment that they can understand the brilliance of
truth. Ignacio brings the truth to the Center, but no
one recognizes it. Carlos has the potential to rec
ognize the truth since he ultimately does. However,
at the beginning, Carlos, like Plato's dwellers of the
cave, cannot recognize truth.
Contemporary Views of Spain
A contemporary Spanish novelist, Miguel Delibes,
has written much of the same kind of criticism which
Buero has had to disguise and to which Borel has
alluded. In Parabola del n a u f r a g o , one of the
protagonists, Jacinto San Jose, is under observation
by the authorities and in danger of being sent to a
reorientation camp for not being especially interested
in sports, television or company festivities. Much more
dangerous is his unhealthy curiosity about the ultimate
reasons for and worth of his work (He is an adder of

9
zeros). As in En la ardiente oscuridad, the idea of
not recognizing, knowing or seeing is evident. Jacinto
San Jose is repeatedly told, "no pensar la mosca" (not
32
to think about the fly which is s m a s h e d ) . "Lo malo no
es la mosca, Jacinto" (the bad part is not the fly,
Jacinto, but not to think about the f l y ) . Jacinto is
finally changed into an animal and can only make the
sounds of a sheep. In effect, he is silenced as Ignacio
is in the Center.
Joelyn Ruple believes that for Buero "politics
and the theater are two parts of the same thing.
Ruple does no t openly state that politics is an
important part of Buero's works, but in a chapter
entitled "Political Aspect," she describes the p olit
ical atmosphere of the period during which Buero was
imprisoned and later created his early writings, among
them, En la ardiente o s curidad. She describes the
makeshift prisons, the enormous number of political
prisoners and the oppressive censorship that convinced
many free Spanish citizens that there were no political
prisoners at all. This specific point is certainly
indicative of a spiritual or intellectual blindness on
the part of the Spanish people. R u p l e 1s sociopolitical
description is very detailed, and Buero's sociopolitical
plays— Historia de una escalera, Aventura en lo g r i s ,
Hoy es f i e s t a , La doble historia del doctor Valmy and
El tragaluz— all describe this period immediately after
the Civil War. Ruple asserts two points concerning the
33
political symbolism in En la ardiente o s c u r i d a d . She
believes that "Ignacio pleads to society to look about
and see the conditions under which it actually exists,
(and) to stop pret e n d i n g that all is right with the
world. After Ruple describes the horrible cond i t i o n s
during the Second W o r l d War such as the rationing of
food, the lack of w o r k and the enormous (400-700%)
inflation, she remarks that this group of blind students
living in an insulated situation in the learning center,
"enjoying life, thinking they are happy, d e veloping
their egoisms, contains a hidden irony."
The Center as Symbol for the Totalitarian State
There is much in En la ardiente o s c uridad whi c h
is representative and symbolic of the Spanish Civil War.
Buero, as one of the d e f e a t e d Loyalists, had to contend
with the censorship of Franco's government. One way to
achieve publication and presentation of his plays was to
avoid any direct men t i o n of the contemporary situation
in Spain. Therefore he criticized the aftermath of the
war by writing symbolically. He wrote about characters
who had physical handicaps. He also used the techniques
of distanciamiento c r o n o l o g i c o and distanciamiento
geografico to disguise the location and action, but
there is little doubt that Ardiente symbolizes the war
34
1o
and postwar periods. The Center represents Spain, and
the students represent the majority of Spaniards. The
"moral de acero," w i t h which Don Pablo and Carlos try to
resist Ignacio's ideas, strongly suggests censorship.
The Center is a type of refuge safety tucked
away from the real world. "Es mucha calle la calle,
amigos. Aqui se respira," Miguelin tells his classmates
as he gladly surrenders his walking cane. There is no
need for the cane in the Center. Everything is in its
place. All the furniture is arranged so that the
students know directions and location. In short,
everything has been arranged for them as life might be,
personally and politically, in a closed society under a
dictator. There is even an intelligence division,
Dona Pepita, with access to and control of private
conversations as a r e sult of the students' blindness.
Dona Pepita closely observes the students much in the
same way as the Thought Police monitor the citizens in
1984. The reader and spectator has to feel he is
eavesdropping on very private situations. Except for
Dona Pepita, everyone in the Center is blind, and it
would be difficult n ot to stumble onto intimate
conversations.
Buero has created, in effect, a type of
zoological garden in whi c h all of the students are
blind, and the spectator has access to their innermost
desires. This atmosphere is strongly suggested at the
beginning of the play. With the spectators on one side
of the proscenium and the large glass doors located to
the rear of the stage, the characters almost live in a
glass house; symbolically, they do. Buero goes a step
further and creates a goldfish bowl ambience. "Las
ramas de los copudos arboles que en el (campo de
deportes) hay se abren tras la barandilla, cuajadas de
frondoso follaje, que da al ambiente una gozosa claridad
submarina." From the description and comments by the
characters, the Center is a closed, rigidly structured
society, but only to the citizens who live inside.
Blind, they are defenseless to those w ho watch them.
Among themselves is a lack of privacy since they are
never sure when someone may be listening. Eavesdropping
occurs during the play. There are no secrets (in fact,
there can be no s e c r e t s ) ; the members of the group know
nothing of what is happening in the real world and, as
may be judged by Miguel in's speech the day of his
arrival, they are afraid of that world.
Notwithstanding what some of the more innovative
totalitarian leaders in the world would have their
citizens and the rest of the world believe, not even a
very artificial situation such as an educational center
36
for the blind has such an idyllic existence. Neverthe
less, Buero sardonically creates this ambience, c o m
plete with happy dwellers. The first stage directions
depict a comfortable and peaceful existence. They are
all young, happy people, except that they are blind.
Later, Ignacio's repeated references to their "stupid"
happiness will be more accurate than cruel.
With this setting and introduction Buero creates
what he refers to as an "ilusion de normalidad." There
is nothing normal in this situation; it is an illusion
of normality which the characters live:
La ilusion de normalidad es, con frecuencia,

completa, y el espectador acabaria por olvidar
la desgracia fisica que los aqueja, si no fuese
por un detalle i r r e d u c t i b l e , que a veces se la
hace recordar: estas gentes nunca se enfrentan
con la cara de su i n t e r l o c u t o r .^
With the symbology of physical blindness, in En la
ardiente osc u r i d a d , the statement that these people
never face the person to w h o m they are speaking acquires
importance. It is as if Buero is telling the reader
that these characters, in spite of the fact that they
are blind, do not want to face their interlocutor. This
detail acquires even more significance with reference to
the "ilusion de normalidad." In short, they do not want
a confrontation; they only want to retain the illusion.
37
This Center and its atmosphere project an idea
of what Spain was like after the Civil War. For Buero,
who was on the losing side of the war, Spain must have
seemed greatly oppressed. Buero's creation of a
situation in which the characters are not only blind,
but who live in an aquarium-like atmosphere where they
can be observed, represents the ultimate repressive
society. There are definite images of Franco Spain, but
political symbolism must be kept in mind when searching
for these images. What was most important for Buero is
that Ardiente passed the censors. If Buero had written
openly and directly about a people w ho could not
perceive the political repression of Spain, Ardiente
would not have been published. In contrast La doble
historia del Doctor V a l m y , more openly political, had to
wait years for publication.
Ignacio's first encounter w i t h the students is
interesting in that it reveals a g r o u p fearful of
intrusion. Ignacio is the new student, the intruder,
and he is fearful of his surroundings. The other
students, already accustomed to their friends and
surroundings, regard Ignacio with suspicion exactly as a
fearful society might suspect possible d a n g e r from any
new element. At first the students criticize him. Even
Miguelin, usually jovial, criticizes Ignacio and shouts
at him to leave. At this time Carlos believes that
Ignacio is not a danger and offers to be conciliatory.
Ironically, Carlos, w ho later believes Ignacio is in
error concerning blindness, remarks, "Creo que estamos
cometiendo un error m uy grande, amigos. £l [Ignacio]
dice la verdad. Sentaos otra vez." Carlos represents
Spanish society, and he believes that Ignacio is not a
danger to their group m a inly because he is frightened
and, after all, one of them. He is blind and might as
well be accepted. Ignacio does point out what will be
painfully felt later by the students. Ignacio says that
he knew they were blind, but that he could not believe
they were like him.
Don Pablo as Dictator
In analyzing the symbolism of the Center, which
represents a society, it is important to keep in mind
w h i c h elements of the Center would react to an intrusive
danger. The leader of any political organization has
the most vested interest in maintaining control; in the
case of the Center, this would be Don Pablo and to a
lesser extent, Carlos. Dona Pepita has these same
interests, and she is the only one at the Center who is
able to see. Notwithstanding some critics who maintain
that she represents a segment of society that sees and
39
does nothing, it must be remembered that her position in
the Center, if she is to maintain it, precludes any
tampering with the system, to the extent of overlooking
murder. The majority of the students represent the
masses of society. They move and act almost as one and
could be interpreted as sort of classical Greek chorus.
From the first encounter with Ignacio in which they
criticize him to the last scene in the play where they
have all but forgotten him, they represent a great deal
of action which moves as a single body.
Keeping in mind the political implications of
the symbols in Ardie n t e , one of the most important
characters in the play is Don Pablo because of his
administrative position. Don Pablo is also blind, but
by utilizing his wife's sight, he can see (be aware of)
more than the others. This is suggestive of a well
informed police state. Secondly, Don Pablo is the
administrator who has organized the Center and created
the system which keeps everything "in its place." He
had also perfected his "moral de acero" which, until the
time of Ignacio's arrival, had worked so well to keep
everyone contented. Either through organization or
inheritance of the system he was responsible for
accepting only students who had been blind from birth.
His actions throughout the play confirm the extent to
40
which he rules the Center and to what lengths he will go
to control his i n t e r e s t s .
From the beginning of the play Don Pablo
oversees and rules everything in the Center. He
explains to Ignacio's father about the happiness, the
camaraderie and the amusements which the students can
enjoy. He appears to oversell the Center with all of
the marvelous opportunities that are open to the
sightless students. He also mentions the "moral de
acero" and apologizes for what the father might think
is censorship. Correcting the father's statement
concerning the "poor blind students," Don Pablo says
that the students are not accustomed to such conver
sations, implying that he is the censor concerning
what may or may not be said in the Center.
Don Pablo is the Center's propagandist,
emphasizing and expounding the institution's official
sanctions and prevarications. He tells Juana concerning
Ignacio: "pues hay que convencerle de gue es un ser
util y de que tiene abiertos todos los caminos, si se
atreve." For Don Pablo the most important thing is
for the Center to continue as it had before Ignacio's
arrival. This becomes more apparent as Ignacio gains
success as an agitator. Before Ignacio's death, Don
Pablo talks to Carlos of the severity of the Center's
41
situation since Ignacio's arrival and its subsequent
state of agitation He asks Carlos if he thinks it
is possible for one person to demoralize so many
classmates. Later, concerning the same problem, Don
Pablo asks Carlos a question which has to be one of the
most patently symbolic statements in the play. " iQue
saben ellos de la luz?" (What can they know about
light?) This can only mean that the students have never
been exposed to any form of enlightenment; they do not
know what is happening outside the Center, since the
Center is a closed society. Carlos and Don Pablo both
decide that Ignacio must leave the Center. Carlos has
already asked Ignacio to leave, a request which Ignacio
has refused. Don Pablo has decided that an expulsion
would be bad for the Center. The following conversation
reveals to what lengths Don Pablo will go to regain the
status quo:
C arlos. He hablado ya con el.

Don Pablo. <?'sf? <!Y qu£?
C arlos. Nada. Dice que no se ira.
Don Pablo. Le hablarfa c o r d i a l m e n t e , con
todo el tacto necesario . . .
C arlos. Del modo m^s adecuado. No se
preocupe por eso.
Don Pablo. dY por que no quiere irse?
(Pausa. Dona Pepita mira curiosamente a

C a r l o s .)
C arlos. No lo se.
Don Pablo. |Pues de un modo u otro tendra
que irse!
42
Carlos. Si. Tie n e que irse.

Don Pablo. (Con aire pr e o c u p a d o . ) Tiene
que irse. Es el enemigo m^s desconcertante que
ha tenido nuestra obra hasta ahora. No podemos
con e l , no . . . Es refractorio a todo.
(Impulsivo.) Carlos, piense usted en.algijn
remedio. C o n f 1 0 muc h o en su talento.
With an expulsion out of the question, with the
exception of an act of Providence, there is only one
other way Ignacio could possibly leave. Don Pablo has
planted the seed for Ignacio's death.
The symbols which En la ardiente oscuridad
projects are more than enough to suggest a modern
totalitarian state, a repressive state like the one
which Spain experienced during the Franco regime. There
is the Center which is a closed society, a refuge as
Miguelin calls it. There is close supervision of what
happens in the Center and the exclusion of any students
who had experienced what was happening in the outside
world, those who had seldom seen reality.
Some of the symbols are subtle and require a
more elaborate analysis. The use of silence and sound,
for example, is important. There is always the
possibility of being heard by someone. Ignacio
overhears a conversation between Juana and Elisa by
remaining silent and not advising the two girls of his
presence. As Juana will learn later, Ignacio introduces
a new approach to freedom in the Center by remaining
43
silent. In this way, Ignacio gains access to knowledge,
which is the key to freedom. At least superficially
attracted to the idea, Juana later remains silent during
a romantic encounter with Ignacio. Ignacio and Juana
have broken one of the ironclad rules of the Center by
not advising anyone of their presence and using this
violation to gain privacy, something which is
discouraged in the Center. This atmosphere creates a
situation similar to a police state where it is better
to remain silent and anonymous. Whether in a police
state or in this educational school for the blind, the
environment is the same— containment and censorship.
The fact that the political symbolism in
Ardiente is so subtle may lead one to believe that
politics plays a secondary role in the play. So
excellently disguised is Ardiente that the reader or
spectator may become involved with the problems of the
blind. in Barcelona, the Asociacion de Ciegos protested
A r d i e n t e 's presentation.
The problem of moving around for a blind person
is real, and one method of dealing with this problem
would be to keep all the furniture and fixtures immobile
so that everyone becomes accustomed to their position.
This setting and the superficiality of this level are
what lend themselves so well to the second and third
44
levels of A r d i e n t e . Blindness, observed so repeatedly
at the first level, develops into the most important
symbol in the play.
Physical blindness prevails on the superficial
level. Yet, what the characters on this level can and
cannot see, hope or despair over the Center's system or
an impossible dream of someday being able to s e e — is as
important on this level as the symbols on the other two
levels. The political symbolism of the second level and
what the reader or spectator is able to perceive as
symbols, i.e., Don Pablo as dictator, become just as
important as the location of a chair, ashtray or
antagonist on the superficial level.
There are also similarities in Ardiente which
parallel the structure and content of O edipus the King
and King L e a r . Carlos experiences anagnorisis and
catharsis as do Oedipus and Gloucester. Oedipus and
Gloucester are physically blinded and then experience
catharsis. Oedipus' anagnorisis takes place just before
he blinds himself; catharsis will follow. He blinds
himself because of the knowledge he has gained.
Gloucester is blinded because of his d i s solute life. It
is after he is blinded that Gloucester gains knowledge
and learns the truth about his sons. Carlos is already
physically blind, and his physical blindness serves to
45
emphasize the concept of intellectual blindness.
Because of the knowledge Carlos gains from Ignacio,
Carlos experiences anagnorisis and catharsis as his last
speech attests.
As m e m o r y of the Franco regime fades, the third
level, the m e t a physical, will assume more importance
because it contains the philosophic u n i v e r s a l i t y of the
intangible, the abstract. As an example, on the first
or superficial level, the stars are a physical light
projected onto the stage; on the second level the light
refers specifically to wha t the students in the center
are to able to see or comprehend intellectually, and it
symbolizes p r o b l e m s about Spain which can be identified:
dictatorship, censorship, isolationism and e ducational
deficiencies. On the third or metaphysical level, light
is a symbol that cannot be determined with exactitude;
it is anything w h i c h in a relative sense can be
perceived as truth.
46
Notes
Ântonio Buero Vallejo, En la ardiente oscuridad
(Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1978), p. 36.

2
Buero, A r d i e n t e , p. 43.
3
Reed Anderson, "Tragic Conflict and Progressive
Synthesis in B uero Vallejo's En la ardiente o s c u r i d a d ,"
Symposium, XXIX (1975), 10.

4
Buero, p. 58.
^Ricardo Domenech, El teatro de Buero V a l l e j o
(Madrid: Editorial Gredos, 1973), pp. 53-71.

g
Jean-Paul B o r e l , El teatro de lo imposible
(Madrid: Ediciones Guadarrama, 1966), pp. 239-244.
7 I b i d , p. 230.
3
Plato, The Dialogues of Plato (Chicago:
William Benton, 1952), pp. 388-401.
^Miguel Delibes, Parabola de naufrago
(Barcelona: Ediciones Destino, 1970), pp. 74-80.
■^Joelyn Ruple, Antonio Buero Vallejo: The
First Fifteen Years (New York: Eliseo Torres, 1971), p.
29.
1 1 I b i d , p. 33.
12 .
William Giuliano, Buero Vallejo, Sastre y el
teatro de su tiempo (Madrid: Eosgraf, 1971), pp. 118-
122 .
13
Buero, p. 12.
14Ibid, pp. 75, 76.
CHAPTER IV
FEAR, GREED AND ILLITERACY: INTELLECTUAL BLINDNESS
AND CAPITALISM IN EL CONCIERTO DE SAN OVIDIO
In many respects, El concierto de San Ovidio is
similar to En la ardiente o s c u r i d a d . However, the
metaphysical aspect in Concierto is secondary in
importance to B u e r o 1s criticism of capitalism and
education. Concierto has two mem o r a b l e characters:
David, the blind violinist, and the diabolical
entrepreneur Luis Maria Valindin, who represents the
beginning of modern capitalism. Buero uses physical
blindness to emphasize several negative aspects of
capitalism and education. The protagonist, David,
suffers because of the intellectual blindness around him
and finds it impossible to overcome his limitations.
The other characters, except for the Prioress of the
Hospice, represent a fearful struggle in a world which
is changing from a decadent aristocracy to capitalism,
a struggle which intellectually blinds nearly all
involved. The blind beggars who accompany David cannot
envision his dream of an orchestra with blind musicians;
their place in society had always been that of beggars.
Valindin can see nothing but the possibility of making
48
49
money. Adriana, V a l i n d i n ' s mistress, becomes the only
person connected to the musical farce capable of
recognizing David's potential. Although David perceives
or "sees" more than the other characters, he is blinded
by excess pride. V a l e n t f n Hauy, an educator and
translator is the only p e rson outside the group capable
of believing David's d r e a m for the blind.
There are three important elements in the play,
greed, fear and lack of education, all of which
contribute to intellectual blindness. Fear is easily
identified in the beggars' reaction to the p o s s i b i l i t y
of going to jail, and V a l i n d i n ' s employees are afraid of
starving if they leave Paris. Valindin, like the
Prioress, exhibits fear of the Baron de la Tournelle.
Adriana also fears V a l indin. Valindin is fearful of not
having an heir and c o n s t a n t l y drowns his fears in
alcohol. Valindin is the personification of greed which
blinds him to anything but monetary gain. Adr i a n a also
exhibits greed early in the play, but she changes after
meeting David.
The action takes place in Paris in 1771 during
the Fair of San Ovidio and is based on an actual event.^
In the Hospicio de los Quince Veintes, a
religious home for the blind, there is a meeting between
the Prioress and Valindin. Valindin has suggested using
50
a group of blind musicians to play during the fair of
San Ovidio. David, the most talented among them, at
once conceives a plan to form an orchestra. At
V a l i n d i n ’s home where the practice sessions are to be
held, Valindin reveals to Adriana his idea of a
ludicrous spectacle. When he learns that David has
talent, Valindin is infuriated since this might spoil
his plans for a money-making farce.
Because of their ridiculous costumes, something
which repulses David, the musicians rebel. valindin
threatens to put them in jail, and they reluctantly
return to the dress rehearsal. The first performance is
a success and most of the audience laughs heartily.
However, seated in the audience is Valentin Hauy who,
like David, finds the spectacle repulsive.
David tells the other musicians that for the
next season he will be able to teach them different
parts, but the others are skeptical and tell him to stop
dreaming. David does not lose his belief that some day
he will be able to read music and books, but these goals
are becoming more remote. Valindin discovers Adriana
and Donato alone and becomes enraged. During a scene
without lights David kills the drunken Valindin. Aware
of the relationship between Adriana and David, Donato
denounces David to the police; David is consequently
51
hanged. In the last speech of the play, Valentin Hatty,
thirty years after the concert of San Ovidio, reminisces
about the ridiculous concert he had witnessed and of his
vow to make the farce a reality. He has founded an
institution for the blind and has devised a system
(forerunner of the Braille system) with which the blind
are able to read.
D a v i d 1s Vision
David can be easily contrasted with Ignacio.
Both are physically blind, and both have dreams of
overcoming this affliction. David's dream of becoming a
true musician, as opposed to Ignacio's dream of being
able to see, must be viewed as more realistic since
David does possess musical talent, but there is another
significant difference between David^ and Ignacio.
Ignacio possesses more persistence than insight.
David possesses a penetrating and calculating insight
which keeps Buero's idea of intellectual blindness and
vision in the spectator or reader's consciousness.
Donato tells Adriana that David is very adept at finding
his way in new or different surroundings. In one of the
last scenes he is able to subdue and murder Valindin.
One reason David is able to overcome his blindness is
his extraordinary sense of hearing. This has enabled
52
him to play the violin well, and this same ability helps
him to maneuver so well in a sightless world. David
also has a very keen mind and is able to figure, c alcu
late and arrive at conclusions that people who have e y e
sight might not perceive. Before the dress rehearsal,
David has discovered that the peacock which Gilbert will
portray is the emblem of foolishness. David's ability
to calculate situations in a relatively short while
attests to his intelligence and flexibility.
David perceives more than the other characters
in the play with the possible exception of Haiiy. He
certainly understands more than the other blind m u s i
cians. The Prioress and Valindin are too concerned wit h
their own interests to see muc h more than a profit.
Adriana is at first repulsed by the blind musicians, but
her attitude changes after she becomes interested in
David. Joelyn R u p l e 1s summation of David's abilities
and personality is succinct: "David's keen perception,
his ability to learn his way around the rooms quickly,
his complete control of his use of the cane, and finally
his murder of Valindin complete this protrayal of a
blind man who sees."^ David is quite different from
Valindin, who possesses the physical sense of sight, but
who is intellectually blind.
Va l i n d i n and Greed
Valindin is the best developed villain in
Buero's works. Only Paul us in La doble historia del
d o c t o r V a l m y rivals him. V a l indin is a businessman who
has as his primary goal the acquisition of capital and
the power that a ccompanies it. He arranges through the
Church for the blind mus i c i a n s to play during the
festivities of San Ovidio and disguises his moneymaking
scheme as a philanthropical action. Valindin's first
statements to the Prioress concern his desire not to
procrastinate once he has decided to pursue a goal. The
idea that time is m o n e y blinds him to almost anything
but profit. Valindin mus t have an heir; Adriana is
simply the incubator. V a l indin must have the concert
ready for the Fair; David's ideas and desires are
ignored. Other people's needs and goals are quickly
brushed aside, and he has no peripheral vision because
of his attitude toward money. The only time Valindin
slows down is when he uses copious amounts of alcohol
for sedation. "No m e agrada perder el tiempo," he tells
Lefranc. In an effort to dissuade David from his dream
of having a serious orchestra, Valindin says that there
are only eleven days remaining until the concert and
adds; "fsi! Y ahora m i s m o estamos perdiendo un tiempo
precioso." While the mus i c i a n s are preparing for the
dress rehearsal just before the Fair opens, Valindin
impatiently consults his watch. When Adriana and David
arrive late, Valindin foregoes scolding them because
there is not enough time.
Some of Valindin's preoccupation about time has
to do with a fear of losing money. However, Valindin
also uses time as a subterfuge, a smokescreen with which
he blinds others to his true motives. When he announces
to the blind musicians that he wants to take them on
tour, Lucas says that they will have to think about it.
Valindin replies that there is no time. Valindin's ploy
concerning the brevity of time is a deceptive measure to
persuade the musicians to hurriedly agree. After
talking to the Prioress, Valindin reveals to Adriana his
motives with regard to philanthropy, the concert and the
blind musicians. B u e r o 's criticism of this type of
capitalistic enterprise is evident. The blind m u s i
cians are being exploited by a greedy, unprincipled
entrepreneur who, like the "moral de acero" and its
supporters in A r d i e n t e , creates a situation in which
there can be little hope of improving the fortunes of
anyone except Valindin. From this type of capitalistic
ambition no benevolent deeds can result, and Valindin's
allusions to philanthropy are quickly explained:
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited w ithout permission.
55
A driana. Yo no quiero hijos.

, V a l indin. Pues yo si los quiero,
dentiendes? Ya no soy un mozo, pero aun quedan
anos para ensenarte quien es Valindin. Me vas
a ver subir como la espuma. tY sabes por que?
Porque se unir lo util a lo bueno. # Yo tengo
buen corazon y soy filantropico. iPero la
filantropia es tambien la fuente de la riqueza,
g a l g a ! Esos ciegos nos daran dinero.
Adriana's Development as a Character
Adriana is a more complex character than Juana
in Ardie n t e . Adriana undergoes a profound change in
perception from the time she meets David until the scene
in which the police arrest him for the murder of
Valindin. At first, she is portrayed as a vain
possession of Valindin's success; later she becomes
attracted to David because of his talent and his
repeated attempts to rebel against Valindin's
injustices. Adriana is also an economic prisoner of
Valindin's power.
Adriana's development from an intellectually
blind character to a perceptive, sensitive one is
ironically (and perhaps disputably) the giving of her
body to the physically repulsive Donato after David
has told her the circumstances of Donato's sexual
frustrations. The frivolous Adriana who quickly accepts
gifts from Valindin and agrees to cajole Donato and the
group of blind musicians into Valindin's desires is very
56
different from the Adriana of the last scenes who is
devoted to David. Adriana begins to see the needs of
the blind musicians through her contact with David and
Donato, and later becomes the antithesis of Valindin.
The other characters serve to accentuate David's
movement toward tragic catharsis. Donato, first as
David's protege and later as his betrayer, is especially
important in this function. The Prioress, symbol of a
conservative, myopic Church, does not exemplify
admirable traits and, in this respect, she is sharply
contrasted with Adriana. At the Hospice the Prioress'
group of beggars is blind; later this becomes quite
clearly and ironically symbolic. The Church is not the
only official group represented. The police, Latouche
and Dubois, are always ready to help Valindin for money.
For one incident to have compelled Haiiy to
undertake such intense studies of the blind interested
Buero greatly. Buero, who had already written En la
ardiente o s c u r i d a d , was interested in blindness mainly
as a symbol. It is for this reason that Buero took
liberty with the historical authenticity; he changed the
hospice from a civil asylum to an institution directed

5
by the Catholic Church. Blindness represents man's (in
the form of David's) limitations and is the most
important symbol in C o n c i e r t o . Symbolic blindness then
57
raises this question: If so m a n y in society are
intellectually blind, what do they not see, and why do
they not see? In short, what are the objects of Buero's
criticism? The answer to these questions is found in
analyses of the symbols.
The Symboloqy of Capitalism, Church and State
El concierto de San O v idio touches two levels of
symbolic communication, the individual level and the
social level. David, as an individual trying to
overcome his limitations, is repressed by several forces
in society. As a talented musician who happens to be
blind, he is constantly criticized for his ideas by his
companions, the Church and Valindin. In short, the
world, with a few exceptions, is not ready for such
progressive ideas. A nd David's inability to communicate
these ideas is one of Bu e r o ' s main points. David's
ideas about the education of the blind fall short of
convincing his companions, his teacher and Valindin;
similarly, the main ideas of the Second Spanish Republic
fell short. Neither in David's situation nor in the
situation of the Republic were Spanish people educated
or informed enough to understand the far-reaching
capabilities and responsibilities of a representative
democracy. On the social level, Concierto shows the
58
inability of one person to overcome the organized forces
of society although, as in David's case, an individual
can serve as a catalyst to inspire others to act. The
organized forces, the Catholic Church and capitalism,
disguise themselves as philanthropy and have an interest
in keeping the public unaware, i.e., intellectually
blind, as to their m a i n interests and motives.^ The
Church, especially in Spain, is not interested in
educating the masses well. Also, capitalism intrin
sically contains the goal of profit through exploita
tion and excludes societal problems unless there is a
possibility of capitalistic gain. This is harsh c r i t i
cism for the two dominant ruling factors in Spain, and
Buero had to use distanciamiento historico to escape
censorship. In this w a y Buero is able to criticize many
of the evils of twentieth century Spain, and this c r i t i
cism is symbolic in C o n c i e r t o . The hospice, controlled
by the Church, sends the beggars to the streets to beg,
and they are nothing more than tools. The same si t u a
tion is true of postwar Spain. The Church is e x ploi
tative and uses the weak and the ignorant to control

n
many political aspects. Capitalism (represented by
Valindin) connected to the aristocracy offers the
Prioress (the Church) an opportunity to gain a
profit by exploiting some of her charges. The Church
is somewhat reluctant to agree completely with all of
Valindin's arrangements, but this attitude must be
viewed in the light of history. Valindin represents
incipient capitalism or the bourgeoisie which, at this
time (1771) is not yet the ruling class. Both the
Church and capitalism, for the most part are subser
vient to the aristocracy (the Baron de la Tournelle).
The Baron's part in Concierto is interesting in that
he never appears; symbolically the aristocracy is b e
ginning to fade as a force in society, but it will not
fade rapidly until 1789. There are ties betweeen the
Church and capitalism in 1771, but there will be more
after the French Revolution.
One of B u e r o 's main concerns (and the reason he
uses distanciamiento h i s t o r i c o ) is with a period many
years after the French Revolution. As with A r d i e n t e ,
the main interest lies in twentieth century Spain. Most
of the beggars in the Hospice, in addition to being
physically blind, are also intellectually blind. They
are not aware of the forces that mold their lives and
keep them in hunger and poverty. Because of B u e r o 's
creation of David, an individual who reacts in the only
way he possibly could in a dramatic sense (because of
h u b r i s ) , Buero also creates a parallel situation with
regard to Spain. As David realizes more and more what
his situation concerning the comic orchestra, he
reacts more knowledgeably, and B u e r o 1s purpose is
didactic. Spain must be knowledgeable enough to react
against similar elements that suppress them politically
and render them intellectually blind.
Fear
Fear, as an element that constricts insight and
impedes individual freedom, is employed masterfully in
Concierto. Only David's hubris will discount its
influence in his pursuit to overcome personal
limitations. Only through David is Adriana able to
escape Valindin's economic hold on her personal liberty.
The other characters encounter some form of fear that
constrains and subjects them to Valindin's economic hold
and creates apathy in the face of need. The carpenter
Bernier expresses a basic fear, that of starving to
death. Yet all have, within a certain range of
possibility, the freedon of choosing an alternative.
It is in this respect that David is such a strongly
developed character. In addition to Adriana's
attraction to David because of his musical ability,
she admires his courage to rebel against Valindin. She
tells David: " iTu debiste insultarlos a todos (the
musicians), sublevar a tus companeros, volverle a el
(Valindin) loc o de rabia!"
Fear, in El co n c i e r t o de San O v i d i o , is not
directed toward the preservation of personal and public
liberties; it o b s c u r e s and intellectually blinds the
musicians' insight. Concerning this aspect of fear, a
contrast can be made between David and Donato. Donato
is almost too afraid to live. When V a l i n d i n threatens
to send the m u sicians to jail if they do not honor their

• f
contract, D o n a t o screams: " |Lo que el quiera!"
(whatever he wants!). The possib i l i t y of being sent to
jail is too horrible for Donato to contemplate. Later,
in a c o n v e rsation between David and Adriana, Donato's
fear of women is revealed. Because of his repulsive
smallpox scars,he had been subjected to an unfortunate
pseudo-amorous incident w ith a taunting servant girl.
Donato's fear of Valindin and women in general contrasts
with David's recalcitrance and his attraction of
Adriana. Most of the characters, however, have a more
rational basis for the fears they exhibit.
Fear affects all of the characters and blinds
them to logic and constructive purpose. Valindin uses
alcohol c o n s t a n t l y to forget Adriana's superficial
allegiance, the fear of losing money and his doubtful
position as court barber. Groundless fears do not
affect David directly, but he becomes frustrated by the
way fear affects the other musicians. Because of
Donato's fear of jail, David is forced to return to the
dress rehearsal after he has successfully rebelled
against the farcical aspect of the concert. Although
David does not suffer directly from Valindin's use of
fear, he does see the motives behind Valindin's ploy of
fear. David is the only one who sees clearly. David
has a desire to become an accomplished musician, and
everything in his conscious mind is directed toward
fulfilling this desire. What impedes this fulfillment—
it should be an obtainable goal — is the lack of money
and the closed system which Valindin controls, in short,
capital ism.
Censorship and History
Buero's ability to conceal ideas from Spanish
censors is apparent in his description of the Prioress
(Catholic Church) and Valindin (capitalism). In
C o n c i e r t o , the Prioress and Valindin work extremely well
together to exploit the beggars as the Church and most
of the capitalists did during the Civil War against the
Second Republic. In C o n c i e r t o , the Church does not
create fear to control the beggars, but it does condone
its use. It eludes guilt by dissociating itself with
the ruling forces (Franco, Valindin). However, it is
63
ironic that the Church is not intellectually blind. The
Church fails to become involved except in a minor way.
or it does nothing. The Prioress always yields to
Valindin's wishes w h e n there is money involved. The
Prioress is similar to Doha Pepita who has eyes but
willfully refuses to see or act.
By 1771, the year of the blind musicians'
concert during the fair of San Ovidio, capitalism was
in an incipient stage of development, and many of Buero's
critics mention capitalism and allude to the exploi
tation of the poor and the working class. However,
not one critic does more than scratch the surface of
this potentially elucidating area.
Buero has chosen an interesting period in
history for this play. The rise of modern capitalism,
the seeds of the first European democratic revolution,
the culmination of the age of Rousseau and the E n
lightenment; all these events and concepts are on the
mind of the reader. Buero forces the twentieth century
audience to view its own circumstances and try to
determine what possible consequences can occur in its
immediate future. In this way the two historical
periods are linked by similar circumstances.
Buero is meticulous in apprising the audience
of Valindin's relation with the Baron de la Tournelle.
Valindin received his appointment from the Baron as
court barber to an unborn prince. The prince had died
at birth, but since the appointment was for life,
Valindin still retained the position. One of the first
things that Valindin mentions to the Prioress is that
the Baron is his benefactor. The Prioress also defers
to the Baron. There is a triangle of mutual u n d e r
standing among the aristocracy, the Church and cap-
italsim. After the fall of aristocratic power in
France, capitalism wou l d have to find other allies.
This search is presaged in the alliance between Valindin
and the police (the military) represented by Letouche
and Dubois.
Hubris and Catharsis
The Church, the Police and Valindin are all
formidable antagonists in El concierto de San O v i d i o ,
but foes of this type are needed to challenge David's
pride. Left unchecked by a more benevolent Prioress, an
understanding and k i ndly entrepreneur, David would have
taken charge of the Hospice and expropriated the
orchestra. David's desires are not diabolical, but they
are extrmely ambitious. In this respect, David is much
like Oedipus, who pursues his quest to a tragic end.
David, already blind, possesses all the characteristics
65
of a classic hero. When Valindin tells Adriana of his
plans for a comic spectacle and brags of p s e u d o
philanthropy, there has been enough mentioned of David
previously to "set the stage" for a confrontation
between protagonist and villain.
Valindin's Techniques
Valindin's techniques are similar to those
used by an oppressive state to handicap or "blind"
individualistic rebels. His techniques are restrictive,
propagandistic and deceptive. He is very deceptive
when he first talks to the Prioress. He tells her of
the great opportunities that the musicians will have —
they will eat well, they will be supporting themselves
and they will earn money--opportunities which Valindin
declares will all be ph i l a n t h r o p i c a l . When the Prioress
describes the simple activities that the blind pursue,
the Hospice and the financial difficulties they
experience, Valindin begins to weep. His tears,
contrasted with his later, more candid statements to
Adriana about philanthropy and his threats to Donato and
David, are not only superficial but deceitful. Later,
Valindin takes possession of the beggars' instruments.
In this way. they cannot practice, that is, better
themselves. The dress rehearsal before the performance
66
reveals more of Valindin's techniques. While the blind
musicians are trying on their costumes, Valindin tells
them to be careful not to knock over the music stands
and candlesticks. A closer inspection by David reveals
that the music stands are backwards. The peacock,
Gilberto's costume, represents foolishness or stupidity.
A fter David has revealed how the concert will appear,
the musicians begin to investigate, touching their
costumes and discussing their appearance. They are
beginning to see Valindin's deception because of David's
sharp insight. The group then threatens to leave and
not participate in the concert if they have to appear as
imbeciles. Valindin first attempts cajolery:
ipero comerîs! 'Dejad que rian! iTodos nos

reimos de todos;' el m u n d o es una gran feria! iy
yo soy empresario y se lo que quieren! (Enanos,
tontos, ciegos, tullidos! iPues a dclrselo! IY
a reir mas que ellos! iY a comer a su costa!
(Con enorme desprecio) »Y dejaos de . . .
musicas! (Con una gran voz dominante. )
iVamos! iLos anteojos y a ensayar!
When there is a further resistance Valindin knows
exactly where the weakest link is. He speaks to Donato,
the most fearful, and uses the oppressive technique of
fear and terror:
Valindin. Pero riQuien te crees que eres,

hijo de perra? (Va a Donato y lo za r a n d e a . )
Y tu, monigote? (Donato grita, asustado por la
sdbita agresion.) (Ciegos, lisiados, que no
mereceis vivir! dSabîs lo que hacen con ninos
ciegos en Madagascar? »Yo he sido marino y lo
67
he visto!
David. iNo lo digais!
Adriana. iLuis, por Dios santo!
Valindin. (Zarandeando a Donato.) JLos
matan! jLos matan como a perros sarnosos!
Deception, restriction, propaganda and fear; all
are techniques of an oppressive society or state, and
all are used by Valindin. The musicians, except for
David, are "blind." David's lack of "blindness" is due
to one factor; he has spent a great deal of times
educating himself.
Social Criticism
For David, life has been a frustrated learning
experience. David learns, but he can never reach full
potential because of the lack of educational facilities.
This is evident throughout the play. It is ironic that
Valindin tells the Prioress they are in the year 1771,
and men are opening new roads to knowledge and to
wealth. Valindin has a definite interest in wealth, but
he attacks knowledge when it gets in his way. This is
one of the main difficulties between Valindin and David.
Valindin cannot conceive of changing the musical
arrangements immediately before the opening of the Fair
just for the sake of bettering or experimenting with his
enterprise. For David, the least important aspect of
the concert is the money; what is important is to know,
68
to "see" more. Donato explains to Adriana that David
spends his extra time with friends that Donato does not
know. Just before the dress rehearsal, David reveals
that he had talked to a friend, a student, who told him
the meaning of the peacock in mythology.
The quintessence of learning for David is his
dream of the blind Melania de Salignac and her
accomplishments. David believes that somehow he will
learn to read, write and even read music as she had
done, but as the other beggars point out, Melania de
Salignac must have been very rich to afford such an
education. Buero emphasizes this aspect because of the
impact of the social and economic structure on poverty
and education in Spain which keep muc h of the country
intellectually blind.
Buero is not the only writer to criticize the
educational system in Spain. In a work entitled
Struggle for the Spanish Soul Arturo Barea wrote of
excessive illiteracy and an educational system that had
failed to keep Spain in sight of the rest of Europe with
regard to technological and educational change.
Concerning the Spanish university system, Barea was of
the opinion that it is a closed system that confines its
parameters to the Catholic Church, army officers, the
professions and civilian government employees. The vast
69
majority of Spaniards do not have an opportunity to
attend the universities.
There is an obvious parallel between the masses
of Spaniards who, in the first half of the t w e ntieth
century, could not enter Spain's universities and David
who could not find a method that would enable him to
learn. From his student friends he has learned of
Melania de Salignac, and he knows that there are methods
that could help him. However, he has no access to these
methods because of an economic system which keeps him in
poverty and "blind."
In El con c i e r t o de San O v i d i o , only one of the
blind musicians, David, sees and understands the
situations which control and limit his quest for
knowledge. In his search for a way to overcome his
limitations David is thwarted, threatened and beaten for
his efforts. A l t h o u g h he is physically blind, David
knows that there are ways to overcome this obstacle.
David sees things very clearly when they concern his
abilities in music or life in general. He is not overly
enthusiastic about his ability to beg on the street, and
he uses the hospice as a place to stay and obtain
something to eat. This attitude is enforced by the
Prioress who thinks that the beggars are practically
useless and that they should spend most of their time
praying and begging. The Church is not an evil insti
tution that willingly and gladly does things that
are malevolent. The Church is represented as a status
quo institution that does not wish to upset any
capitalistic endeavor such as Valindin's farcical
concert.
Although not connected directly with David until
the end, the police emerge as protector of capitalism.
Latouche and Dubois are always ready to protect these
interests. It is not surprising that Hauy, the only
individual that possesses enough insight to help the
blind, is thwarted by the police who are protecting
Valindin's interest at the concert.
It is not w i thin the scope of this study to
determine whether capitalism, or any economic system, is
good or evil. But it is not without purpose that Buero
has created such an evil and cruel villain in Valindin.
Valindin has driven himself in excess of honest spec
ulation and, once an enterprise is underway, nothing
is to impede its progress. He shortchanges his workers,
beats his mistress and performers, relentlessly pushes
himself beyond endurance to the point that he needs an
anodyne such as alcohol continuously. He is well aware
that "time is money," and is constantly checking his
watch to see that no one is wasting his time. Valindin
71
is a diabolical caricature of the nineteenth or
twentieth century businessman that oversees every step
of an entrepreneurial adventure, driving his employees
at times beyond their capacity to create, make and
reinvest capital.
Blindness as Symbol
Blindness as a symbol in El concierto de San
Ovidio is closely linked to the criticism of economics,
but blindness itself is only the superficial story.
Blindness is used to direct emphasis toward the fact
that very few characters in the play are aware of the
economic chains that bind all of them to a servile
existence. Only David realizes the significance of the
economic tyranny. In the forefront is Valindin who is
completely blinded by his pursuit of money. The Baron
de la Tournelle is intent on retaining the decadent
privileges of aristocracy. The Prioress is dependent on
the aristocracy and also, to a lesser degree, on
capitalism. The police are also dependent on Valindin.
The most important element, the people, are divided
between fear of the system and a staid acceptance of
things as they are, closing their eyes to the system's
atrocities. Ireneo Bernier, the carpenter, is afraid of
returning to the countryside where there is very little
72
to eat. Catalina, the servant, shares this fear because
of her dependency on Valindin.
David's ultimate reaction toward Valindin is a
violent act, but his hubris will permit nothing less
than the destruction of his antagonist, Valindin. David
destroys the primary obstacle to his quest for k n o w l
edge, and it is history, utilized so well by Buero,
that will communicate to the audience or reader that
David's search for knowledge was justified, but that his
method of eliminating one of the obstacles was not. It
is not illogical to correlate David's situation to the
Spanish Civil War.
Spain has experienced little success with ex p e r
iments in democracy during the last two centuries and
has usually allowed some sort of military d i c t a
torship to decide the aftermath. Having, and knowing,
so little about democratic freedom, Spain has remained
"intellectually" blind, and it is this point to which
Buero alludes as much as David's hubristic reaction
against Valindin and the capitalistic "system."
As in Un sofiador para un pueblo, the economic
conditions depicted in El concierto de San Ovidio are
similar to the conditions of the post Civil War Spain
of the twentieth century. These post Civil War c o n
ditions parallel the conditions of the blind beggars
73
and the conditions of the blind in general during this
pre-revolutionary period in French history. The
conditions of the blind have been improved notably in
the course of two centuries due m a inly to the efforts of
teachers and educators such as Hatiy and his successor,
Louis Braille. The economic, political and educational
conditions are as bad in Spain, and Bu e r o is attempting
to project similar measures and progress in these areas
if they can only be seen and attempts to implement them
be initiated. This is the realistic application of
Buero's hope in C o n c i e r t o .
Thus, in El c o n cierto de San O v i d i o , Buero uses
the technique of distanciamiento c r o n o l o g i c o , criticizes
the economic, political and educational situations in
Spain by pointing out the same level of conditions in a
different but parallel situation. With regard to Spain,
the difficulty in alleviating these conditions is
twofold. The first is a lack of economic resources
which produces a multitude of secondary effects such as
greed and illiteracy, both of w h i c h contribute to a weak
economy. The second part of the difficulty is a very
basic idea in Buero's philosophy, an intellectual or
spiritual blindness which impedes the average citizen
from recognizing these societal ills.
74
Notes
^Ricardo Domenech, El teatro de Buero Vallejo
(Madrid: Editorial Gredos, 1973), p. 208.

2
Joelyn Ruple, Antonio Buero Vallejo: The First
Fifteen Years (New York: Eliseo Torres, 1971), p. 163.
3Ibid.
4
A ntonio Buero Vallejo, El concierto de San
Ovidio (Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1980), p. 33.

5
Ruple p. 165.
6A r t u r o Barea, Struggle for the Spanish Soul
(London: Seeker and Warburg, 1941), pp. 51-59.
Îbid.
O
Buero, pp. 73, 74.
9I b i d .
CHAPTER V
TWO GENERATIONS AT WAR:
LLEGADA DE LOS DIOSES
In Llegada de los dioses the protagonist, Julio,
because of a reaction to psychological traumata, is
temporarily blind. There is only one character who
clearly sees the circumstances that blind Julio; this
is Veronica, Julio's lover. Symbols are important in
L l e g a d a , and there are several: the sea, the island,
the sky, several aspects of painting and, of course,
blindness. There is a social criticism, mainly against
violence and war, and in Llegada Buero suggests that the
human race may not be quite advanced enough to deal with
the problem of eliminating war, and so, like Julio, man
vacillates between two points, never moving very far
from the status quo. Buero also criticizes the upper
middle class whose values have made them so complacent
they have lost sight of real dangers, i.e., a nuclear
war. It should also be noted that Buero's technique for
presenting Julio's blindness can be confusing at times
because of the dramatist's attempt to have the audience
identify with the affliction.'*' Intellectual blindness
75
76
in Llegada pertains specifically to the question of
whether society will choose to look at its problems.
Analysis of L legada de los dioses poses two
questions: What specifically has caused Julio's
blindness? And, because of the psychological or
psychosomatic nature of the illness, what possible
remedy should Julio use so that he can regain his sight?
The reason may be Julio's poor art exhibition in Paris,
the sudden recognition that his father, Felipe, was
responsible for many agonizing hours of torture on
political prisoners, causing blindness in one case.
There is also the possibility that Julio is
subconsciously envious of his father's success in
painting. Whatever the reason for Julio's blindness,
his condition serves to emphasize the upper middle
class's blindness to past atrocities and future
possibilities of war.
The problems w h i c h have caused Julio's condition
have been internalized psychologically. The problems
which beset Ignacio in A r d i e n t e and David in Concierto
were real problems which existed in a real world. David
wanted to accomplish things which people with eyesight
could do; he wanted to read music and be able to play in
an orchestra. Ignacio's desire to see was an emphatic
and symbolic move to make contact with the real world.
77
Julio's uncertainty impels him to v a c i l l a t e between
harsh criticism of his father and introspection.
Veronica assures him that together they can search for
answers to his dilemma. However, even a f t e r his
father's death, Julio is still indecisive about plans
for his future.
The setting of Llegada de los d i o s e s is a small
resort island n e a r Spain in Felipe's l u x urious beach
home. Julio, temporarily blind, is attempting to orient
himself with reference to his father's house. Julio and
Veronica leave, and Felipe, Matilde and A r t e m i o enter.
Felipe tells Matilde and Artemio that the reason for
Julio's blindness is not organic. "El o jo ve, pero el

2
cerebro se niega a registrarlo."
Julio attempts to frighten Nuria, A r t e m i o and
Matilde's fifteen year old daughter, by d escribing a
nuclear war but is interrupted by Felipe who overhears
the conversation. Af t e r Nuria leaves, J u l i o accuses
Felipe of having fathered Nuria. Felipe denies the
accusation.
In a ludicrous scene, the art reporter, Margot,
approaches Julio about the possibility of his becoming
the world's first blind painter. Julio p o i n t s out to
Margot that if he were to achieve success as a blind
painter, he would have to remain blind for the duration
of his painting career.
A phone call brings word that Nuria has been
mutilated by an old grenade which she accidentally
detonated by jumping on the saltador (trampoline-type
toy). Felipe suffers a fatal cardiac arrest at the same
time that Julio imagines the tortured m a n from Wessels
is stabbing his father in the chest. After Felipe dies,
Verdnica and Julio talk about his hallucinative spec
ters, and Verdnica promises to help him ascertain
their meaning. Julio believes that they are a form of
insanity, but Verdnica thinks he will never develop and
mature unless he can understand them.
Felipe
B u e r o 1s social criticism and the concept of
intellectual blindness are directed toward Felipe and
the leisured class in general. This class, represented
by Felipe and his business associate, Artemio, also
includes Margot, the obsequious art reporter. They
have money, and they spend it in an effort to escape
tedium or past transgressions. Artemio and Margot
appear unintelligent, and Matilde and Felipe must hide
their past concerning Nuria. Felipe is the most
representative of this class, and it is Felipe who
receives the brunt of Julio's criticism. Guilt is the
undercurrent which pushes Felipe. Like Oedipus, Felipe
must escape from any indication of guilt or blame and,
although he does not openly fear his son's accusations,
it is his blind son who, like Teiresias, finally forces
Felipe to anagnorisis and catharsis. The confrontations
have a profound effect on Julio, and he guickly with
draws to weigh his actions. And he vacillates.
Julio's vacillation results from his ambivalent
attitude toward his father. Outwardly, Julio takes many
steps to confront what he thinks should be examined or
rectified. He thinks about his father's crimes during
the war, the possibility of unconscious jealousy
concerning his father and his f a t h e r ’s amorous indis
cretions. Whether he attempts these confrontations
correctly may be guestioned, but these confrontations,
all bitter, denunciatory and loud, do not alleviate his
psychosomatic affliction. His accusatory remarks result
from his inner feelings and are without a steady
direction. Julio is searching for answers. He
confronts everyone in the immediate area, including
Nuria and Verdnica, but he does not confront himself.
Inside, Julio is on very shaky ground.
Julio's Ambivalence
Julio moves in two directions. He moves forward
in an attempt to solve his problems, and, at the same
time, he wants to regress to the warmth and security of
the womb. Whenever he tires of calling Veronica
"ninita," he calls her " m adrecita." One moment he
assumes the adult male role in the relationship; the
next moment he wants to be mothered. This indecision
about his role with women may stem from the lack of a
mother's care as a child. At any rate, it is evident in
his social relations with all the women he meets at his
father's home. First, he treats Nuria as a childish
teen-ager who has become infatuated with him; later, he
attempts to frighten her with stories about a nuclear
holocaust. Two statements by Julio describe this
vacillation. After he has threatened Veronica and
Felipe because of an imaginary fear that the two are
having an affair, he contemplates his actions and shows
a definite sign of maturity; "Pero me averguenzo.
c. c6mo he podido abandonarme a esos celos ridiculos, a
esa escena de melodrama que acabo de haceros . . . ?
i Cucinta porqueria de nifio mimado!"^ A few minutes
later, he again wants to retreat; "Veronica, es
irresistible la tiniebla. Dejame disfrutar hoy de esta

4
dulzura, aunque sea una dulzura culpable."
81
Julio is struggling to achieve a realistic
situation and relationship with his father, but his
relationship with Verdnica is what provides the key to
his dilemma. Childlike, he relies heavily on her
emotional strength and maturity, both of which he lacks.
Verdnica provides the usual attributes that a mature
lover could provide, a tenuous relationship at best, but
it is a relationship which she understands will probably
be temporary. She admits to Felipe that because of
their age differences, she will probably not be the last
woman in Julio's life.
Verdnica
V e r d n i c a 's exposure to the world has not made
her calloused. She is not only mature in years;
she has struggled with the same problem. She acts as a
mother, a counselor and, at times, a psychotherapist.
Veronica's treatment of Julio is interesting to observe
throughout the play. She is maternal to the point of
acting as a mother, but if Veronica is willing to take
the part of a mother, she is also cognizant of the fact
that she must be stern in their relationship concerning
his psychological illness. Several times Julio refers
to the specters he sees. Some are only humorous
caricatures with which Julio amuses himself. They are
82
an escape of which Veronica does not approve. There are
other recurrent figures which Veronica wants Julio to
explore fully. She recognizes their closeness to
reality and their relation to Julio's psychological
development. When Julio is experiencing one of these
apparitions, she tells him: "Aunque te torturen (the
figures), prefiero para ti los que te inquietan a los
que mventas para

,
reir. Estos no te salvaran."
, 5
The
last dialogue between Julio and Veronica in the play
again refers to the phantom fears which terrify Julio.
Veronica identifies Julio's fears as precisely the
objects he must deal with and analyze in order to
mature. Julio is still fearful:
Julio
|No!
Veronica
ISii Esas imagenes que te espantan te haran
crecer.
*
Julio
ISon mi locura!
Veronica
Serin tu fuerza y tu m i s t e r i o cuando las mires
con los ojos abier t o s . (Con inmensa ternura).
Yo te ayudare aâbrirlos, ahora que conoces tu
propia miseria.
Julio is incapable of consciously solving his
problems, and this conflict has made him physically
blind. At the unconscious level these same problems
have appeared as specters, and, even at this level, he
has trouble looking directly at his predicament. Bue-
ro's intent is to show that if Julio again avoids the
responsibility of choice, the result will be insanity.
Julio's Inner World
The apparitions or specters also merit d is
cussion. Veronica attaches a great deal of importance
to them, and Julio reacts to them emotionally. There
are four apparitions. The first, the comic figures,
represent a further escape for Julio, and they
are a self-delusion which threatens Julio with
intellectual blindness. Julio's imagination is
attempting to avoid reality. Veronica realizes that
these specters are only an escape and advises Julio not
to concentrate on them. The other three apparitions are
important in that they each represent a basic emotion in
Julio and a limited maturity which denies him from
viewing his father realistically. The tortured man from
Wessels represents Julio's suppressed hostility or
aggression toward his father, an aggression which has
prompted him to judge his father harshly. Julio can
not openly and directly judge his father, and his
subconscious mind has created a specter which not only
serves as a reason to detest his father but as an
executioner as well. Another specter which appears in
84
Julio's imagination pertains to the lovemaking scenes
between Felipe and Veronica. Actually, nothing has
happened between his father and Veronica, and this
specter represents a deep-rooted fear of his father's
power and authority. The last specter is of Nuria's
funeral procession and is related to Julio's feelings of
vengeance toward his father.
The specters serve to emphasize Julio's physical
blindness as an ambivalent reaction concerning his
father and also his father's intellectual blindness.
Julio has judged his father severely, but his conscious
mind cannot openly attack his father's deeds; one part
of his mind is not mature or strong enough to rebel
against such an authority figure. Yet these very basic
emotions, aggression, fear and vengeance, must be dealt
with in order for Julio to progress toward maturity. If
not, then Julio is in no position to judge his father.
Julio stops short of fulfilling his role because
of immaturity, something which he has not rectified at
the end of the play. Nor is Felipe a villain in any
sense of the word as was Valindin in El concierto de San
Ovidio. Felipe's main fault— and he is symbolic of an
insensitive leisured class in the world--is that he is
intellectually blind, and he remains so until just
before his death. Indeed, it is difficult to judge
85
Felipe harshly. His w a r crimes do cross the line into
i n h u m a n i t y , but the rest of his trangressions are no
more severe than those of m o s t businessmen. There is a
pattern to Felipe's i n t e l lectual blindness.
Felipe's Intellectual Blindness
Felipe's rationale for what he does is that he
is no better or worse than others who do or have done
the same thing. Felipe is an intellectually blind
conformist by choice. His attitude toward anything
negative, whether it has to do with the tortures in
Wessels or the p o s s i b i l i t y of a nuclear war, is to
suppress the thought. Upon hearing Julio's de s c r i p t i o n
of a nuclear war, Felipe interrupts in order to
d i scredit his son. Superficially, he attempts to
protect Nuria although, as a rational man, he is aware
of the dangers of nucl e a r radiation. Felipe tries to
protect Nuria from reality, and he exposes his own
philosophy:
Olvida sus p a l a b r a s , nena. iTe juro que son

falsas! Y cSlm a t e . . . No llores m 5 s . Toma mi
panuelo. (Le toma la mascara, que ella retenia
en sus m a n o s , y se la pone suavemente. J ulio
s o n r x e .) Y ahora vuelve a tu casa. iY a tus
juegos, y a tu risa! iTu risa es buena y
limpia! ( R i s u e n o . ) Nada malo te sucedera; ni
tus padres ni yo lo p e r m i t i r f a m o s . Ser^s feliz,
ya lo vercls. El m u ^ d o no es como este imbecil
lo describe . . . .
86
Felipe is the character in Llegada who undergoes
anagnorisis and catharsis. Just before he dies, Felipe
will suffer for his sins, and he will be cognizant of
the reason. Julio also believes he knows the reasons
for his father's death. He sees the blind, tortured
victim from Wessels stab Felipe repeatedly at the same
time Felipe is having a fatal heart attack, but this
happens only in Julio's imagination.
Stage Techniques in "Llegada"
The stage technique used in Llegada is much the
same as Buero's El sueno de la r a z d n , and the idea of
participation and identification has the same objec
tives. The audience sees all that Julio imagines
in his phantom world, and when Julio sees nothing,
the audience usually sees nothing. When Julio is
experiencing one of his visions, the spectator also sees
the vision as well as what the rest of the characters
experience. Thus, the audience becomes, at times, an
omniscient observer in the play and recognizes what can
happen before the characters do. For example, the
audience observes, with the accompaniment of a different
shade of light, the love scene between Felipe and
Veronica which Julio imagines. However, the audience
has also witnessed other scenes between Felipe and
87
Veronica which deny any relationship between the two.
If Julio had been completely correct in all his visions,
he would have functioned in the same way that Teiresias
does in Oedipus the K i n g , as a prophet of doom. The
reader is able to obtain a verification of what the
spectator will see on the stage by reading the stage
directions. In this way, reading the play enhances the
performance and vice versa. An example in Llegada is
the stage direction in one of the last scenes of the
play which depicts Felipe's death. Ostensibly Felipe
dies from a cardiac arrest, but in Julio's imagination,
the avenging, tortured man from Wessels stabs Felipe.
Another scene which rivals Felipe's death scene is that
of Nuria's "funeral procession" on the saltador. The
stage direction tells what Julio sees:
(Alza la cortina. Tarareando s uavemente, muy

divertidas, la "Cancion de Primavera," de
Mendelssohn, avanzan cadenciosas In^s y Faby en
sus atractivas ropas playeras, pero sus p^lidas
caras son las de dos calaveras sonrientes.
Traen a hombros un ataud sin tapa, que el
torturado gostiene a retaguardia. Se
detienen.)
This premonition of Nuria's death and funeral,
which Julio visualizes on the saltador, will become a
reality. Only the vision of Felipe and Veronica as
lovers is incorrect as Julio will admit later.
88
Julio and S o p h o c l e s 1 Oedipus
Richard Domenech believes that Lleqada de los
dioses is based on Sophocles' Oedipus the King and lists
three characteristics as the most evident:
Los rasgos edfpicos mcis evidentes son: 1. el

sfmbolo de la ceguera, cuya funcion es bdsi-
camente similar a la gue tiene en Edipo R e y ,
primero con Tiresias y, al final ya de la
tragedia, con Edipo; 2. la relacion conflictiva
padre-hijo, que termina con la muerte del p r i
mero; 3. en Lleqada de los dioses no hay
ningun incesto, pero el autor muestra ^ste como
una realidad latente, como un impulso secreto.^
These similarities between Lleqada and Oedipus the King
are clear. The "inner" sight and blindness is not to
be denied, and there are several possibilities for
potential or latent incest. There is also a link
between intellectual blindness and the two generations.
What Buero does with father-son conflict is create a
generational confrontation emphasizing what Julio "sees"
but cannot consciously accept and what Felipe refuses to
see or has suppressed.
Generation as Distance
There is a distinct polarization between Julio
and Felipe. This can be recognized in their speech,
their friends and their professions. Felipe represents
the quintessence of the worst side of war: torture of
political prisoners in Germany's Third Reich and the
89
Franco regime in Spain. Felipe has s u ppressed this
aspect, b ut J u l i o is the opposite. Julio is against war
to the p o i n t of fanaticism. This is e v i d e n t not only
from what he tells his father and Nuria. Felipe is
trying to forget the past which co n t a i n e d so much
violence. Jul i o is attempting to e v o k e precisely this
memory of w a r so that people who have forgotten (his
father) or the very young (Nuria) w i l l be cognizant of
the horror and brutality of war. Julio is forty years
younger than his father. This is ap p r o x i m a t e l y a
generation, and their professions, avoca t i o n s and
friends separate them even more.
Felipe is basically a businessman, and he has
been very successful. He has made m o n e y and enjoys an
upper leisured class lifestyle. He tells Veronica:
" iNo es un crimen ganar fortunasl Y es bueno hasta para
vosotros: ni tu ni mi hijo podriais e s t a r aqui si yo no
fuese rico. (Fuma nervioso.) Ni en Paris . . . , donde
a Julio nunca le faltaron mis cheques." As Veronica
explains, J u l i o and she did not use the money but gave
it away, pres u m a b l y to maintain the feeling (or
illusion) of economic freedom. This is something that
Felipe could never understand. His wo r l d has been
composed of economics and business deals. Although he
recognizes Julio's sensitivity he could never understand
90
any motives which were alien to the world of an upper
class businessman.
Robert L. Nicholas, in The Tragic Stages of
A ntonio Buero V a l l e j o , writes that the "conflict between
generations" is "one of the play's central themes.
This conflict has developed, according to Nicholas,
because of the godlike status with which, as a small
boy, Ju l i o had regarded his father. Julio, at the time
of the play, is a young man who had never outgrown this
hero worship, and the shock of finding out that his
father had committed such ignoble atrocities as to
torture and blind a man was too much.
One of the most noticeable differences between
Julio and Felipe is their choice of friends. Felipe's
friends on the island are superficial and insensitive.
They are intellectually blind to some things and distort
others to ridiculousness. Luis Iglesias Feijoo has
studied this aspect of their speech:
Encerrados en su mundo ficticio, tratan de

ocultar la realidad con la manipulacion del
lenguaje, tema mas bien insinuado que planteado
en la obra. Con sus continuos "muchacho" creen
po d e r mantener todavia las ilusiones de una
juventud ya definitivamente perdida. Sera quien
desenmascare la farsa: wHasta os llamSis
muchachos y sois viejos . . . ."
Esta trivialidad en los dialogos,
concentrada en una de las primeras escenas, en
la que oimos expresiones como: " 4Ya andais de
tonteo?" "Estas d e s l u m b r a d o r a ," " iTu s£ que
estas hecho un sol!" "Eres un cielo," "Me
91
enloquece," "Eres un amor," o "Eres un encanto."

tiene, pues, una funcion dramatica: revelar la
hipocresia y la mentira en que se basjij las
relaciones en el mundo de los padres.
The most superficial member of Felipe's group is
Margot, the art reporter for the island newspaper.
Julio criticizes her hypocrisy when she offers to
interview him and conceal his blindness. Julio
criticizes her for using half-truths and innuendoes.
Artemio, Matilde's husband, describes and defends
Margot's writing: "Claro, Julio. Una cronica de Margo
no es de despreciar . . . Ya veras como, dentro de unos
dias, se te quitan esas murrias y te pones a pintar. Y

12
Margot a e s c n b i r de ti." These are Felipe's friends,
and their speech, like their lifestyle, manners and
beliefs, are superficial and reflect an intellectual
blindness which isolates them from the dangers which
Julio sees in the world. They hide from the real world
on an island and suppress any mention of the world's
dangers. Felipe is more intelligent than Margot, but he
has deeper and harsher secrets to suppress. Margot is a
much more superficial person. After her offer to
interview Julio, she returns to Felipe's mansion with
another proposal:
No, Julio. He pensado much en t i . Y se me ha

ocurrido que, mientras no recobrases la vista,
podias aprovechar. 4No comprendes? El primer
pintor ciego del mundo! iserias genial! (R i e .)
92
Bueno, la idea tambien es genial, reconocelo.

Yo te ayudaria en el lanzamiento, en la p r o
paganda. Traeria notarios que diesen fe de
que nadie te ayudaba . . . Hay toda una teorfa
por construir de la pintura ciega y tambien en
eso te ayudaria, si quieres. (Se pavonea.)
Aunque me estl mallei decirlo, no tengo mala „
pluma . . . Pintarias abstracto, n a t u r a l m e n t e .
Another aspect which differentiates Felipe and
Julio is their painting. Julio is a canvas painter who
uses oils and has a very strong desire to create, some
thing he continues in his imagination even after he is
blind. Felipe is a "week-end" painter, and he refers
to himself as a "pintor de domingo," a painter of
watercolors who has mastered the techniques of moving
a brush across paper and who can explain the intricacies
of keeping air bubbles out of a painting to Nuria. He
admits that he does not possess the ability and sen
sitivity that Julio has. Very symbolic is the fact
that Felipe uses watercolors to paint, that is, some
thing that will not endure and that does not have a
great deal of depth, either in color or substance.
These differences in the two with regard to their
painting are important in understanding Nuria's position
and character in the play.
93
Nuria as Symbol
Nuria, as a symbol of youth, is ingenuous. Her
parents, her lifestyle, and, of course, Felipe, have all
protected her. Felipe attempts to blind Nuria in the
same way he has suppressed his own past. The c o n
frontation between Julio and Felipe illustrates the
difference in attitudes and generational values between
father and son. It also shows Nuria's importance,
symbolically and realistically, for Felipe and Julio.
During the course of Julio and Nuria's conversation,
Julio mentions that to her the sky did not represent a
danger, that it was like a giant watercolor "lleno de
aviones" and if she did not like what was on the
watercolor painting she could wash away the painting.
The allusion is obviously to Felipe, his watercolor
painting and his lifestyle. Thus, in a sense, Nuria
represents a tabula rasa on which Felipe and Julio can
imprint their designs for the future.
Nuria becomes a symbol of the future in Lleqada
and the confrontation between Felipe and Julio becomes a
battlefield on which the two generations struggle for
ideological points. Nuria is young. She can be
influenced, and she becomes an excellent sounding board
for the conflicting opinions. What she hears and
subsequently becomes will represent an important aspect
94
for each of the generations. Buero is again pointing
out, as he did in En la ardiente oscuridad, the
importance of knowledge, that it is better to k n o w what
is going on in the world and be able to react wisely.
Intellectual Blindness and Guilt
Felipe, at least on the surface, had been
successful in covering his past life and deeds. The
tortures which have contributed to Julio's illness, have
not affected Felipe in the same way. Felipe represents
the vast majority of soldiers, propagandists, anyone who
has participated in war and knows his participation was
wrong, but who has managed, through rationalization, to
accept his part as past history. Felipe has blinded
himself to the atrocities of war, and he wants e v e r y
one, certainly Julio, to do the same. This is an
impossibility for Julio.
Julio does not want people to forget. Julio
wants to remind people of the horrors of war, not only
past wars but of the possibility of a nuclear war. His
descriptions to Nuria of nuclear bombings and c o n
tamination of the air and water are very vivid, and
she sees the horror; this is evident by her fear. For
Julio these admonitions to the young are important,
especially to someone like Nuria who is naive and has
95
been protected by her parents, her godfather and her
lifestyle. From Julio's point of view, Nuria must be
psychologically prepared for the real world.
There are similarities between Julio's blindness
and Daniel Barnes' impotence in Buero's La doble
historia del Doctor V a l m y . Both Julio and Daniel Barnes
suffer from guilt, and both have psychological makeups
which render them especially susceptible to guilt.
One similarity between Llegada and Valmy is the
lack of a parent. Julio had never known his mother and
searches for the warmth and protection of a woman
(Ver6nica) who is older than he. She treats him, at
times, as she would a small child, a treatment which he
apparently needs. Veronica acts as a psychological and
surrogate mother who also must be more demanding since
Julio is a grown man with psychological problems.
Barnes' immediate superior, becomes a substitute father,
albeit a truly sinister one.
Neither Barnes nor Julio has been successful
with the substitute parent relationship. Daniel Barnes
has not been able to break the psychological hold that
Paulus has on him and, at the insistence of his wife,
Barnes tries to obtain a transfer to another country.
The transfer fails, and at the end of La doble historia
del Doctor V a l m y , Barnes' wife, having learned of the
96
torture, kills him. Julio's fate is not as tragic as
Barnes', but Julio has not been able to break his
paternal ties, nor has he regained his sight.
Another similarity between Daniel Barnes and
Julio is their psychological affliction. One answer may
be found in the idea of expiation or sin and redemption
through social inheritance. Daniel Barnes' punishment
is more direct. Julio's case is different and results
from shock supposedly received from his father's deeds.
Julio has been able to put his problems into a better
perspective, but he has not solved them. Before Nuria's
death, Julio regains his sight more than just m o m e n
tarily, and his newly regained vision produces an
irrational reaction. Julio immediately grabs a weapon
and threatens Felipe and Veronica whom he imagines to
be lovers. After word arrives of Nuria's mutilated
condition and Felipe's heart attack, Julio again loses
his eyesight. There is no clear-cut reason for the
return of Julio's blindness. The reason may lie in
Julio's acceptance of inner guilt feelings produced by
hatred toward his father. A description of Nuria's
condition and the stage direction of Julio's reaction
to Nuria's accident and hiii father's fatal heart attack
seem to confirm this:
97
Veronica
No esta en su casa. La han llevado al
h o s p i t a l ...
Multilada. Quiza no sobreviva.
(Con un estertor, Felipe se acerca al sofa,
donde se derrumba. A un oscuro algo mas
prolongado, sucede todavia un largo destello
durante el cual Julio, con los ojos
d e s o r b i t a d o s , mira a su padre y lanza,
i n e s p e r a d a m e n t e , una seca y amarga carcajada.
Despues, osc^ridad absoluta. Y la luz no vuelve
para Julio.
Julio's Blindness: Determinism and Existentialism
Julio's vacillation produces a sort of
backward/forward movement which can be related to the
wavering progress of history. This may be the gist of
what Buero is attempting to communicate, that history
takes a definite step forward only with a definite
decision on the part of people who are willing to
support that decision. Steps taken almost equally
forward and backward produce stagnation or, at best,
maintain the status quo. Yet Julio continually stays in
the middle of the road, moving one way or the other only
long enough to lash out at one side or the other and
then return to the relative safety of a middle position.
His position is deterministic, and these vaci l l a t i o n s —
m ovements from side to side, forward and backward, from
one extreme to ano t h e r — also occur with Julio's feelings
toward his father, his relations with Veronica and
98
Nuria, the external world/internal womb and the phantom
specters and the harmless caricatures which Julio paints
in his imagination.
No other vacillation can be contrasted quite as
much as Julio's movement, now toward the open w orld with
its uncertainties and vague, bright lights, n o w back to
the darkness and security of the womb. This vacillation
places Julio somewhere between facing the w o r l d as a
mature adult and fearfully hiding in the amniotic waters of
a symbolic w o m b represented by the financial security of
his father and the island retreat.
The specters and caricatures also suggest a
vacillation in Julio's movements. The specters
represent reality and his fears, and Julio is reluctant
to face them. Veronica insists that Julio concentrate
on the specters. "Estoy intentando comprender por que
te has quedado ciego. No volveras a ver si no ves
primero en tu interior." Julio prefers to d raw his
imaginary caricatures in the black nothingness of his
imagination.
Julio teeters continuously on a ledge between
determinism and existentialism. If he retreats
symbolically to the womb, everything will be provided.
If he severs all ties with his father,he will lose
economic security. If he stays with his father,he can
offer no expression of volition. Gradually there emerges
a pattern which might best be termed a future/past
contention. It is also a view which Robert L. Nicholas
believes can be traced to Unamuno's San Manuel Bueno,
Martir.
In some respects, the symbols used in this

play (island, sea and sky) resemble Unamuno's
mountain, lake and sky in San Manuel Bueno,
Mclrtir. Buero's island seems to symbolize life,
that speck of reality that juts out of the
mysterious infinity of the past (the sea) only
to be engulfed by the infinite mystery of the
future (the sky). And Unamuno's lake reaches
downward toward m a n 's origins and the mountain
stretches heavenward toward his destiny. The
symbols in both works span the gamut of man's
faith and doubt, posing the eternal questions
of his existential quest: "4De donde vinimos
y adonde v a m o s ? " ^
Julio has recognized his position concerning his
father and their relationship. He has been too close to
his father tô realize a complete break. In order to
continue his search for values, with or without sight,
Julio must recognize the ties, and therefore, the sins
which bind them together. His father was in some ways
an evil person, mainly because of his war crimes. Julio
recognizes these sins but, because of his feelings for
his father, all he can manage to do is project his own
guilt feelings in the form of blindness. Perhaps, as
Julio suggests, future generations will develop intel
lectually to the extent that they will circumvent
100
or solve these problems. This development in the human
race will then represent an arrival of the gods.
Speaking to his dead father, Julio admits this:
Ha sido tu muerte el deforme engendro de mi

envidia.... io el castigo que tu propio hijo
debia traerte desde el pasado...? Tal vez las
dos cosas: las dos cosas mediante una sola
c e g u e r a . ..infi n i t a . Nunca sabr£ por qu^ he
cegado. Solo s^ al fin que no soy un dios, sino
un e nfermo de tu mundo enfermo. Si llegan un
dia, otros seran los dioses. No soy m e j o r que
ttf: yo, tambien te he torturado hasta la
muerte.
Julio's blindness is also a projection of
intellectual blindness in the world. There are aspects
of life that no one wishes to "see" (confront), such as
violence, war and nuclear holocausts, b ut— and this is
one of Buero's main points, a point made in many of his
plays— these dangers must be confronted. Even if m an is
not able or prepared to resolve them at the present
time, they must be kept in the conscious mind of
soc i e t y .
There are three general observations concerning
Lleqada de los d i o s e s . First, like Oedipus, Jul i o has
gained knowledge. The knowledge that his father was a
war criminal is painful and blinds Julio. Julio "sees"
more than when he possessed physical sight. Second,
Julio's blindness serves to emphasize Felipe's and his
leisured class' intellectual blindness. This blindness
101
concerns several objects: war, violence, willful
ignorance of conditions of poverty in the world. Felipe
and his friends refuse to look at these shortcomings in
society and the world remains the same. The third
observation is a generational dispute and specifically
deals with Julio's position between a strong dependence
on his father and a fearful attempt to m o v e away from
his father. It is difficult for Julio to m o v e either
way. In order to accept his father's financial success,
Julio must also accept what his father had done during
the war, and this is unacceptable. The other way, to
completely renounce his father (as V e r o n i c a had
renounced her f a t h e r ) , at times seems even m o r e
difficult because this would renounce the adoration and
respect for his father he had experienced as a boy.
J ulio is in a position to choose between
intellectual blindness (choosing not to see the problems
of the world) or a continuation of his r e c ently acquired
inner sight, an equally painful alternative. At the end
of the play, Julio has not made a definite move or
decision.
Notes
1Angel Fernandez Santos, "Ibsen, Buero y Valle
Inclcln," Insula 300, 301 (1971): 27.

2
Antonio Buero Vallejo, Llegada de los dioses
(Madrid: Ediciones Catedra, 1977), p. 224.
3Ibid, p. 330.
4 Ibid, p. 331.
5 Ibid, p. 251.
6 Ibid, p. 342.
7 Ibid, p. 263.
8 I b i d , p. 298.
^Ricardo Dom^nech, El teatro de Buero Vallejo
(Madrid: Editorial Gredos, 1973), p. 266.
38Robert L. Nicholas, The Tragic Stages of
Antonio Buero Vallejo (Chapel Hill: Estudios de
Hispanofila, 1973), p. 107.
^Buero, L l e g a d a , Luis I. Feijoo,
"Introduction," p. 65.
1 2 Ibid, p. 241.
1 3 Ibid, p. 310.
14Ibid, p. 336.
33Nicholas, p. 116 (author's footnote).
^Buero, L l e g a d a , p. 340.
CHAPTER VI
A DREAMER FOR BLIND PEOPLE: FIVE CHARACTERS IN
SEARCH OF INTELLECTUAL SIGHT
"Ese ciego insignificante llevaba el destino en
sus manos. Nada s a b e m o s . Tan ciegos como el . .
This statement by Leopoldo de Gregorio, the Marquis of
Esquilache, expresses well B u e r o 1s theme of intellectual
blindness in Un sofiador para un pueblo. All of the
characters in Sofiador are blind intellectually, and the
reasons are diverse. Fernandita, the Spanish people,
the aristocracy, Carlos III and Esquilache, in some way,
fail to grasp intellectually and completely what is
important for the betterment of Spain.
Although Esquilache fails to carry out his plans
for progressive measures in Spain, measures that were
espoused by Carlos III, Sonador is Buero's most
optimistic play since it explicitly projects hope for
the people of Spain. Carlos III is benevolent and
progressive. The Spanish people, although possessing
some negative elements, are described as basically good,
and Esquilache sees in Fernandita a basic honesty which
may serve to illuminate Spain. Only the aristocracy is
portrayed as negative and, Esquilache believes, some
■103
104
are intellectually dead; others, such as the Marquis of
Ensenada, have been defeated by their lack of a dream
for the Spanish people. Both positive and negative
elements of these characters are seen more clearly by
contrasting specific characters.
In Un sonador para un p u e b l o , the ubiquitous
Ciego de los romances, a blind balladeer who cries the
words of Torres Villarroel, serves to emphasize the
intellectual blindness of the Spanish people. One
important point that Buero mak e s in Sonador is that most
of the common people are not educated. This lack of
education, or enlightenment, together with their
rebelliousness, creates intellectual blindness, and they
are easily duped by the aristocracy.
Leopoldo de Gregorio, the Marquis of Esquilache,
is Carlos Ill's appointment as Prime Minister of Spain.
Esquilache has executed a number’ of reforms whi c h have
made him extremely unpopular with the thieves and the
aristocracy. The aristocracy believes that the Spanish
people are temperamental and not suited for democracy.
Throughout the duration of the play Esquilache attempts
to keep the affairs of state moving, but he has to
contend with the red tape of bureaucracy. He also
quarrels constantly with his wife, Dona Pastora.
Through an accidental exchange of servants, Esquilache
105
meets Fernandita who represents an honest and broad seg
ment of Spanish society. Fernandita, Bernardo, other
minor characters and the Ciego de los Romances represent
the Spanish masses. Unknown to Esquilache, Ensenada has
been plotting against the government. Ensenada's motto
is "todo para el pueblo, pero sin el pueblo," and he
adds, "el pueblo siempre es menor de edad."^ Esqui
lache 's reforms and Ensenada's re b e l l i o n lead to three
days of rioting in Madrid. The second part of the
play begins during the rebellion. King Carlos III
tells Esquilache that he will support him but, unless
Esquilache accepts exile, there w i l l be a civil war.
Esquilache accepts exile.
In Un sonador para un pueblo there is a cross
section of characters who serve to emphasize Buero's
concept of intellectual blindness. Each character is
intellectually blind in some way, and each contributes
to a totality of Spanish political temperament.
Fernandita: Social Class and Education
Fernandita is depicted as a very honest, simple
servant girl. She is illiterate, b ut she recognizes the
good that Esquilache is attempting in Spain. The
following conversation between E s quilache and Fernad-
dita reveals her simplicity. E squilache has just read
her some lines from an Italian poem:
Fernandita. No los entiendo bien, pero . .

. conmueven . . .
Esquilache. (Brusco.) Son ridiculos.

(Deja de mirarla y agita dos veces la
campanilla. Dice, muy seco:) Gracias por todo,
Fernandita. (Fernandita se inclina y va a
recoger su bandeja. Entra el Mayordomo.
Relano, embozado, aparece por la primera
izquierda y se recuesta sobre el muro.) Don
Anto n i o Campos. Y mi carroza.
Mayordomo. Si, excelencia.
(Sale el Mayordomo. Fernandita va a salir con

la bandeja, despues de inclinarse.)
E squilache. (Con la hiriente frialdad de

un "ilustrado.") dSabes leer, Fernandita?
Fernandita. (Avergonzada.) No, exce

lencia. Perdon, excelencia . . .
The above quotation reveals two imperfections
that blind her intellectually. There is a side of
Fernandita that can not respond to Esquilache's hope
for Spain. Although essentially good and honest, Fernan
dita can not be much more of a political force in Spain
than Bernardo; Fernandita is illiterate and she is solid
ified as a member of a servant/caste level in Spain who,
at the time of this period in history, was either in awe
of the aristocracy or too class conscious to rebel
politically.
1-07
The Spanish People: A Need for Enlightenment
The Spanish people can be analyzed as a
composite character or a kind of disjointed chorus. As
a composite character, they suffer a common need,
and B u e r o 's point is that the Spanish masses need
enlightenment. Some, Antonio Campos, for example, are
educated but completely subservient to the aristocracy.
Others are wise in the ways of the street but illit
erate. They all suffer intellectual blindness.
Diego de Torres y Villarroel (el Ciego de los Romances)
is in the street with admonitions, in the form of a
blind balladeer, but only Esquilache listens to the
prophecies of the Piscator de Salamanca.
It is not by accident that Buero has chosen
Torres Villarroel to represent the prophecies of the
people in the streets of Madrid. Torres Villarroel was
one of the intellectuals (ilustrados) during the same
historical period as Esquilache. Torres Villarroel
attempted to better the Spanish mind by educational
methods, and he suffered defeat. He gained the chair of
mathematics at the University of Salamanca not because
of his mathematical studies--he was an average student
in math--he obtained the position because there were so
few who were qualified that the chair had not been
filled in over thirty years. Still, Torres Villarroel
108
was a serious thinker who was interested in better
education for Spaniards. He also recognized the
difficulties of completely altering a people whose main
concern was trying to get something to eat. Torres
Villarroel had encountered the same problems and had
lived among the same type of street people that Buero
describes in S o n a d o r . In V i d a , Torres Villarroel's
autobiography, he describes these people:
Es cierto que propongo algunas verdades y

sentencias, pero si les faltara esto, ya hubiera
quemado todos mis papeles. Los mils de ellos los
he parido entre cabriolas y guitarras, y sobre
el arc<5n de la cebada de los mesones, oyendo los
gritos, chanzas, desverguenzas y pullas de los
caleseros, mozos de mulas y caminantes; y asi
estan llenos de disparates, como compuestos sin
estudio, quietud, advertencia ni meditaci<5n. La
necesidad ha tenido mucha influencia en esta
parte; porque yo estaba hambriento y desnudo,
con que no tr|taba de ensenar, sino de
comer . . . .
Such were the conditions of the Spanish m a sses during
the period of Esquilache's attempts to better the living
and educational conditions in Spain. In a region of so
much illiteracy, there seems to be a natural tendency to
refer to the condition as blindness. Torres Villarroel
uses the same imagery as Buero:
Nunca tuve traza, inclinacion ni sosiego para

ser estudiante; siempre earning vago, sin
sujeci6n, sin libros y sin maestro . . .yo bien
conocia mi ignorancia y ceguedad . . .; pero
tambiln sabfa que estaba en la tierra de los
ciegos; porque padeci6 entonces la Espana una
obscuridad tan afrentosa, que en estudio alguno,
109
colegio ni universidad de sus c i u d a d e s habia un

hombre que pudiese encender un candil para
buscar los elementos de estas ciencias.
In order to understand why the Sp a n i s h masses
would retaliate with a rebellion against someone w ho was
trying to a c complish so m u c h for them, it is necessary
to view the historical period. In 1776, the year of the
rebellion against Esquilache, Spain had just fought a
war with the English, a war which the Spanish lost. At
the beginning of the play Esquilache, as Pri m e Minister,
attempts to replace the ships that had been lost during
the war. Also, the harvests for the three previous

g
years had been disastrous. The general e conomy of the
country was in bad shape; this was also d e s cribed in
Torres V i l l arroel's autobiography. The period after an
economically draining war, followed by a bad economy,
with pandemic poverty which appears to haunt Spain, was
very similar to the period immediately after the Spanish
Civil War in the twentieth century. Perhaps this is the
reason that Bu e r o chose to write about this period.
Such a harried people are usually ripe for a strong
reaction of some kind against their government. Spain,
with two mi n i s t e r s from Italy, Grimaldi and Esquilache,
was no different from any country with economic
problems. It was not difficult for Esquilache, well
educated and a m e m b e r of the ilustrados, to see the
110
social ills of Spain. But the table is closer to the
peasant's heart than the garbage pail. For the peasant
in the street, whether he was part-time thief or honest,
some of Esquilache's programs, such as cleaning the
garbage from the streets, may have seemed a bit
idealistic and off target. In Un sonador para un
p u eblo, Buero describes, in addition to Fernandita,
another part of the Spanish people.
Bernardo, according to several critics, is the
evil side of the Spanish people. He represents not
good, as Fernandita does, but evil. Bernardo believes
himself capable of leading a rebellion against
Esquilache and of becoming a leader of the people.
Unfortunately, Bernardo, like Fernandita, is not
educated and is so misinformed that he becomes a tool
of the aristocracy.
The Spanish Aristocracy and Decadence
Most of the aristocracy in Sonador is depicted
as a negative influence with regard to any progressive
measures that Esquilache attempts to carry out. There
are exceptions and Carlos III, as monarch and pro
gressive, supports Esquilache's ideas for progress in
Spain. Also, Esquilache, although Italian, is a member
of the aristocracy. There are two characters in Sonador
Ill
that show the Spanish aristocracy to be repressive and
reactionary, the Duke of Villasanta and the Marquis of
Ensenada. Both are intellectually blind to the needs of
the Spanish people.
Villasanta does not take an active part in the
rebellion against Esquilache. However, he appears to be
openly contemptuous of Esquilache, and he is ready with
open criticism. Villasanta is a member of what
Esquilache believes is a decadent segment of Spanish
society, a segment that attempts to retain the status
quo because of its aristocratic positions.
The Marquis of Ensenada is a much more active
element in instigating the rebellion against Esquilache.
He had enjoyed a position of power, having served as
Prime Minister before Esquilache, and he uses what is
left of his influence to attempt to oust Esquilache.
Ensenada has become an anti-progressive who is
bitter toward Esquilache because of jealousy. Ensenada
still commands a position of respect and power, and he
exerts a strong influence on the middle class as well as
the aristocracy. This is observed when he talks to
Antonio Campos while waiting for Esquilache. Campos, a
civil servant and secretary to Esquilache, is completely
subservient to Ensenada.
112
Ensenada believes that everything should be done
without the people's consent because they are too
disoriented and immature to know what is good for them.
He chooses not to recognize the needs of the people.
Buero uses the Ciego de los Romances to emphasize this
point. The Ciego is representative of the Spanish
people. During a meeting between Esquilache and
Ensenada, Esquilache asks Ensenada if he has heard of
the Piscator de Salamanca. Ensenada thinks that
Esquilache is talking nonsense and says that they should
continue their business. Esquilache answers: "No era
disimulo . . .Es que, a veces, me preocupan cosas muy

~ 7
pequenas." By this statement, Esquilache means that he
pays attention to small details which concern the
people. However, Ensenada's aristocratic attitude does
not permit him to listen to the desires of the people
Carlos III has Spain's best interests in mind,
and he has attempted parity with the rest of Europe.
Carlos III had first appointed Ensenada as Prime
Minister and, as Esquilache remarks, Ensenada had
accomplished a good beginning. Carlos III does have one
blind spot. He underestimates or fails to see the lack
of tolerance that the Spanish people have for any type
of foreign intervention.
113
In Un sonador para un p u e b l o , Buero depicts
Carlos III as a fair and intelligent monarch who has
attempted to produce changes which will benefit Spain.
He knows the good that Esquilache is accomplishing for
his country, but Carlos III is also aware, when there
are rumors of unrest, how the Spanish people may react
and who is responsible for inciting the unrest. His
ideas about improving Spain are very clear in the
following dialogue w i t h Esquilache.
El Rey. Los espanoles son como ninos . .

.Se quejan c u a n d o se les lava la basura. Pero
nosotros les adecentaremos aunque protesten un
poco. Y, si podemos, les ensenaremos tambien un
poco de logica y un poco de piedad, cosas ambas
de las que se e n c u e n t r a n bastante escasos.
Quizci p r e f e rirlan un tirano; pero nosotros hemos
venido a reformar, no a tiranizar. (Lo m i r a
fijamente.) N a t u r a l m e n t e , esa resistencia no es
espontanea. La m u e v e n quienes se resisten a
todo cambio.g Y tambien, ambiciones aisladas.
<Me equivoco?
Carlos III knows that Esquilache's goals are
idealistic, and that they are similar to his own goals.
He also realizes that Esquilache is a "dreamer" in the
sense that Esquilache appears ambitious to his
colleagues but is ruled by an inner conscience. The
King knows how to deleg a t e authority, and he is a good
judge of character. This becomes evident when he exiles
Ensenada after the r e b ellion because of vested
interests.
114
Esquilache, the Blind Dreamer
Leopoldo de Gregorio, the Marquis of Esquilache,
is portrayed as having the best interests of the Spanish
people at heart. Buero is very careful in his creation
of Esquilache. Esquilache does not see through
Ensenada's facade, probably because of deference.
He is condescending to his secretary, Antonio Campos, an
attitude which causes Campos to leave his position
angrily after the rebellion. He severely criticizes
Villasanta as representative of the decadent aristocracy
in Spain while readily recognizing the basic goodness of
one of the muffled rabble-rousers who does not want to
bother an old man (Esquilache) and a young girl
(Fernandita). His intentions toward Fernandita cannot
be entirely objective; when the King asks him if he is
in love with her, Esquilache replies only that he is an
old man.
Esquilache is one of Buero's most memorable
characters. He represents progress and betterment for
the Spanish people; yet, he is also one of Buero's most
human characters, mainly because of his human frailties.
Indeed, Esquilache's faults--his inability to control
his wife's many indiscretions, his own quasi
indiscretion with Fernandita and his egotism
outnumber the defects of the Marquis of Ensenada.
Ensenada's ideological world has collapsed because he
cannot control his jealousy, a jealousy which ultimately
defeats him. Yet Buero's realistic creation of
Esquilache, a man with many faults, serves only to
accentuate Esquilache's quixotic dreams for Spain
Esquilache never loses his dreams for Spain. Ensenada
has long since lost what he tells Esquilache are only
"illusions." This difference in ideology between the
two nobles is very important to Buero's social criticism
in S o n a d o r , and it serves to contrast the two charac
ters. Ultimately, the Spanish people condemn (at least
symbolically) Ensenada's actions and philosophy. This
condemnation reveals a threefold contrast of intellec
tual blindness: 1) a contrast between Esquilache and
Ensenada, 2) a contrast between the people, symbolized
by Fernandita, and the two nobles and 3) a contrast
between Fernandita and Bernardo.
Contrasts of Intellectual Blindness
Ensenada had been the prime minister and was
appointed by Carlos III. His rule was marked by prog
ress, and Esquilache is aware of Ensenada's contribu
tions. Esquilache's weak point, and what leads him
to intellectual blindness, is his inability to discern
Ensenada's ideological change.
116
Although Ensenada had once supported progressive
measures, Ensenada, because of jealousy, ridicules
Esquilache's projects as "crazy." In turn, Antonio
Campos, representative of a small middle class aligned
with aristocracy, admires Ensenada. Ensenada's
description of Esquilache's projects as insane prompts
Campos to answer, "pero ilustrado." Thus, early in the
play, a communicative link is established between Campos
who, although educated, must be considered one of the
masses, and Ensenada, an embittered aristocrat who no
longer has any "illusions" about the people. This link
will be developed more between Ensenada and Bernardo.
Ensenada gives an early indication that the e x
prime minister had identified, at least superficially,
with the covert element of the m a s s e s . During a scene
with Antonio Campos, Ensenada exposes his bitterness
toward the Spanish people: "Nues'tro pais olvida siempre
los favores: solo recuerda los odios . . .
Esquilache's ingenuousness concerning Ensenada's
position is also observed. Esquilache's dream of
progress for the Spanish people has blinded him to the
possibility of Ensenada's deceit although Ensenada
speaks very openly about the Spanish people:
Ensenada. (Sonrie.) No iras lejos con

esas ilusiones. Yo las perdi hace veinte a n o s .
FEs que han dado nunca la menor muestra de
117
comprender? £.Te agradecen siquiera lo que haces

por ellos? Les has engrandecido el pais, les
has dad o instruccion, montepios, les has quitado
el hambre. Les has ensenado, en suma, que la
v ida puede ser dulce . . . Pues bien: te
odian.
Esquilache's intellectual bli n d n e s s of Ense
nada's dec e p t i o n continues throughout the play, but
Esquilache is not to be regarded as unintelligent; he
is blinded by a projection of his own good intentions.
Also, Ensenada is cleverly deceitful. Ensenada pre
tends to k n o w nothing about the r e v o l u t i o n in Madrid
since he has been on his property in Andalucia, but e-
ven the least astute observer of d e c e p t i o n has to notice
that Ensenada's answers and exclamations are evasive.
As Esquilache explains the situation, Ensenada answers:
"dDe que hablas?" "iDiablo!" "dGente elevada?"

* 4 , *
"dQuienes eran?" "dMotin?" Yet, E s quilache never
suspects tha t Ensenada is an adversary. Ensenada, who
symbolizes the aristocracy with a v e s t e d interest in the
status quo ante and an especial interest in Esquilache's
office, is clearly the antagonist, but it is Carlos III
who enlightens Esquilache.
King Carlos acts as Esquilache's friend
and confidant, but he does not advise Esquilache
specifically about the affairs of state nor Ensenada's
true feelings. Carlos recognizes that Esquilache is an
idealist and that to tell him of Ensenada's deception
might disillusion him. The King prefers to let
Esquilache learn on his own. Carlos tells Esquilache:
dSabes por que eres mi predilecto, Leopoldo?

Porque eres un sohador. Los demcis se llenan la
boca de las grandes palabras y, en el fondo,
sdlo esconden mezquindad y egoismo. Ttf estcis
hecho al reves: te ven por fuera como el mcis
astuto y ambicioso, y eres un sonador ingenuo,
capaz de los m^s finos escrtipulos de con-
c i e n c i a .-1-2
Carlos' term, "ingenuo," can certainly be
applied to Esquilache. In one of the last scenes,
Esquilache has undergone several bad experiences, but
he has learned that the King still supports him. Esqui
lache resigns the office of prime minister to avoid
a civil war. He tells Ensenada that the loss of office
is not important if Ensenada has been sent to replace
him. Esquilache is still unaware of Ensenada's
deception. Esquilache believes that Ensenada has the
same goals as he, and that if Ensenada replaces him, his
idealistic dream will be continued. After Ensenada
tells Esquilache of his exile, Esquilache realizes that
Ensenada was one of the nobles that had directed the
rebellion. At this moment Esquilache begins to lose his
intellectual blindness. He criticizes Ensenada for
having lost his dream of progress and sees clearly the
importance of Fernandita1s simple belief as a member of
the Spanish people.
Many points can be used to contrast Fernandita
and Ensenada. Fernandita is a simple, uneducated
servant who does not always grasp the significance of
what Esquilache tells her; she is "una insignificante
mujer . . . del pueblo," as Esquilache describes her.
Ensenada is cleverly deceptive and uses Esquilache's
respect for him to conceal his actions. Fernandita
realizes the good that Esquilache has done for the
Spanish people; Ensenada sees the people as a tool to
regain power. The last scene of Sonador contrasts
Fernandita and Ensenada very effectively. After
Esquilache discovers that Ensenada was one of the nobles
responsible for the rebellion, he asks Fernandita to
enter the room where he and Ensenada are talking.
Esquilache immediately begins to criticize Ensenada.
Ensenada is disdainful and cannot believe that
Esquilache is criticizing him in the presence of a
servant. Esquilache continues, relating Fernandita
bad experiences resulting from the rebellion. Fer
nandita, however, is as ill at ease as Ensenada. She
is fearful that Esquilache will mention her relationship
with Bernardo. Although Esquilache does not identify
Fernandita as Bernardo's victim, the audience is aware
of the relationship, and Fernandita becomes a symbol of
120
the Spanish people who are Ensenada's victims.
Bernardo's use of deception in an attempt to
seduce Fernandita parallels Ensenada's deception of the
Spanish people and Esquilache, and her confrontation
with Bernardo is similar to Esquilache's last meeting
with Ensenada. Thus, the last scene between Bernardo
and Fernandita acquires much more importance than an
exercise in morality and self-discipline. She refuses
Bernardo's advances with the same dignity that E s q u i
lache summons to tell Ensenada that he has defeated
the ex-prime minister because he still has a dream
about Spain's future. At that point Buero clarifies
F ernandita's role in Sonador as a symbol of the Spanish
people.
The contrast between Fernandita and Bernardo
illustrates one of B u e r o 's points concerning the
attitude of the Spanish people toward progress. It is
Ensenada who directs the rebellion against Esquilache,
but his plans are executed by the masses. Bernardo,
guided by Ensenada, reacts against Esquilache in a
violent manner, inciting riots in the street. Fernan
dita is the opposite of Bernardo. Unfortunately
for Esquilache, Carlos III and the Spanish people,
Bernardo's violence and Ensenada's jealousy and
bitterness are victorious. To understand these two
elements of the Spanish people, symbolized by Bernardo
and Fernandita, it will be necessary to examine some
ideas that the Spanish w r i t e r and thinker, Jose Ortega
Gasset, has formulated concerning the Spanish people in
g en e r a l .
In Espana i n v e r t e b r a d a , Ortega writes that Spai
lacks a cohesiveness whi c h exists in most of the other
European countries and enables them to progress at a

. . . 12
competitive rate m the world. This lack of
cohesiveness, according to Ortega, divides Spain into
what he has called "watertight compartments," not only
among geographical regions which have historically
attempted to separate themselves from Spain (the last
attempt was immediately before the Spanish Civil War in
the twentieth century), but also among segments of the
Spanish society that should work together. The m i l i
tary, the agricultural and business segments and the
politicians often pull in diverse directions and away
from the people. The typical Spaniard possesses an
attitude that refuses to recognize what Ortega terms
"las minorfas selectas," leaders who should direct the
main enterprises of the country. The reason this
attitude is so prevalent in Spain is that Spain never
experienced a true historical period of feudalism.
During the feudalistic period of many other European
countries Spain was involved in a reconquest of the
country against the Muslims (711-1492 A.D.) This
continuous struggle of more than six centuries precluded
the development of feudal lords and an aristocracy
which, in the other countries of Europe, developed into
the select minorities which would later direct the
energies of the Renaissance and, later, the Industrial
Revolution. Without this directive force, Spain was
destined to fall further and further behind the other
European countries.
Thus, Bernardo and Ensenada are representative
of an independent people who were never forced to swear
allegiance to feudal lords. Spain, in a sense, had
always been united in their struggle against the Moors,
and a strong period of developing nationalism never took
place. Bernardo and Ensenada react against a foreign
element, but Bernardo also represents the rebellious
element which had destroyed Carlos III and Ensenada's
attempts earlier. Bernardo is very representative of a
people who Buero describes as intellectually blind to
the necessities of modernization and progress.
Bernardo's intellectual blindness, contrasted with
Fernandita's recognition of good, is what creates an
especial significance for Fernandita. Esquilache's
anagnorisis (his confrontation with Ensenada) reveals a
123
different element of the Spanish people who can "see"
and is a contrastive device with which to evaluate
Spain.
Because of the absence of a feudalistic period
in Spain, in Ortega's opinion, a select minority of
nobles never developed. The people in Spain acquired a
tremendous importance with regard to what was accom
plished and, according to Ortega, if something was
not accomplished by the people, then it was not
accomplished. This idea of the Spanish people acting as
an entity is also substantiated by the literature of
Spain. Two examples, Lope's Fuenteovejuna and
Cervantes' El cerco de N u m a n c i a , illustrate this point.
In F u e n t eo v ej un a , an entire town rebels against an
unjust leader and murders him. The town or village,
Fu en teo ve ju na, takes the blame as an entirety. In El
cerco de N u m a n c i a , a play set during the period of the
Roman invasion of the Iberian peninsula, the entire
fortification decides to commit collective suicide
rather than be subjected to domination by the Romans.
These two examples also substantiate what Ortega writes
of the Spanish masses: when the masses intervene, they

13
usually intervene in a violent manner. The Spanish
masses have historically reacted against what they
thought was an injustice. Ortega's point is that they
124
recognize no superiority in Spain's political and social
leadership. Buero's point is that there does exist an
element that recognizes leadership qualities, but that
this element needs to be developed. This element is
Fernandita who, either by example or her recognition,
represents a segment of the Spanish people who sees the
needs of Spain. Fernandita recognizes a need for the
criminal element to be suppressed and the sanitation to
be maintained. By example, Fernandita displays a
need for education, and, by denying Bernardo, she
demonstrates a need for the people to react strongly
against violence in Spain.
At the beginning of Un sonador para un p u e b l o ,
the Ciego de los Romances shouts the problems of Spain;
as one of the last voices in S o n a d o r , he shouts the
confirmed prediction of Esquilache's fall. The Ciego
draws attention to the intellectual blindness in the
play, and all of the characters are intellectually blind
in some way. Fernandita, illiterate, is functionally
incapable of purposeful contribution to progress
although she does recognize the good that Esquilache
has accomplished. The aristocracy, represented by
Villasanta and Ensenada, are blind to the needs of the
people. Villasanta symbolizes one of the "airtight
compartments" described by Jose Ortega y Gasset.
125
Ensenada is one of the members of the aristocracy
who is blinded to the needs of Spain by jealousy and
bitterness. The Spanish people in general exhibit wh a t
Ortega might have termed a violent rebellion of the
Spanish masses. Carlos ill possesses admirable
qualities but fails to anticipate Spain's reaction to
foreign leadership and progress. Esquilache is well
educated and pursues progressive programs. Only toward
the end does he realize the temperament of the Spanish
people and an element of the mas se s that recognizes
Spain's needs.
Buero uses the technique of distanciamiento
cronolc^gico to point out the ills of a previous era in
Spanish history and to remind the public that these
same ills are present in contemporary Spain. Social
criticism which is true for the eighteenth century in
Spain is true as well for the twentieth century. The
historical distancing of the objects criticized was
necessary because of the censors, but the objects
criticized--mainly social reform and education--are
easily recognized. Buero's point is that for some
one not to be aware of Spain's problems is to be
intellectually blind.
126
Notes
3Antonio Buero Vallejo, Un sonador para un
pueblo (Madrid: Es pas a- Ca lp e, 1978), pp. 203, 204.
2I b i d , p. 111.
3 Ibid, p. 122.
4 .
Diego de Torres Villarroel, Vida (Madrid:
Espasa-Calpe, 1964), p. xviii (In tro duc cio n).
3 Ibid, p. xxi.
^Ricardo Dom^nech, El teatro de Buero Vallejo
(Madrid: Editorial Gnedos, 1973), p. 136.

7
Buero, S o n a d o r, p. 109.
8 Ibid, p. 149.
Îbid, p. 106.
10 Ibid , p. 111.
13 Ibid , p. 150.
12
Manuel Dur&n, e d ., Ortega y Gasset: Sus
mejores pltginas (Engelwood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc.,
1966), pp. 64-67.

13 ✓
Jose Ortega y Gasset, La rebelion de las masas
(Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1966), pp. 76-82.
CHAPTER VII
INTELLECTUAL BLINDNESS IN LAS MENINAS.
AND LA TEJEDORA DE SUENOS
In Las Meninas and La tejedora de suenos Buero
uses a different approach to the theme of enlightening
the intellectually blind. Unlike El concierto de San
Ovidio in wh ic h Buero offers education as a means of
combating intellectual blindness, or Llegada de los
dioses with its direct but useless confrontation between
two generations concerning war, both Meninas and
Tejedora portray characters who attempt to leave a
message of social criticism for future generations in an
artistic creation. Any conjecture concerning social
criticism in the actual painting Las Meninas or pacifism
in the mythological Penelope is pointless. Buero's
Velazquez has painted social criticism onto Las M e n i n a s ,
and Buero's Penelope has woven her dreams of a world
without war into a shroud.
Buero's main point is that any given period or
place in history may be blind to its own problems, and
it is posterity's responsibility to analyze these
problems. Any historical evidence or legacy that helps
one generation to understand another becomes a valuable
127
128
aid for any future generation. M e n i n a s ' portrayal of
the corruption, decadence and intrigue of Felipe IV's
Court can aid the twentieth century to understand
similar situations, and Tejedora seryes to remind the
world of the present-day dangers of war.
Las Meninas and La tejedora de suenos share a
similar structural technique. The creation of dramatic
tension in both plays depends on the protagonists'
attempt to enlighten the world concerning two truths.
In M e n i n a s , it is the decadence of a country brought
about by a corrupt government; in T e j e d o r a , it is the
ruination of a government caused by an overindulgence in
war. Secondary characters support the protagonists and
help to clarify these truths; Pedro Briones and Maria
Teresa in Meninas and Anfino in T e j e d o r a . Both
Velazquez and Penelope are opposed by antagonists who
are intent on maintaining the' status quo, the Marquis
in Meninas and Ulises in Tejed or a. There are also
secondary antagonistic characters. It is the character
Marla Teresa who is responsible for the success of Las
Meninas. La tejedora de s u e n o s , lacking a similar
character or device, is not a dramatic success. Toward
the end of Las M e n i n a s , it is apparent that, like Pedro
Briones, Marfa Teresa is capable of understanding
Velazquez's message painted on the canvas of Las
Meninas. However, in Te j e d o r a , there is little hope of
survival for Penelope's dream. Dion e has been hanged,
and the shroud which contained P e n e l o p e ' s dreams of
peace has been burned with A n f i n o 's body. In Las
M e n i n a s , Maria Teresa is alive and has begun to learn of
her father's Court. She represents the future and is an
example of how the present can be enlightened in order
to better the future, an idea Bue ro has expressed many
t ime s .^
Diego Velazquez/Penelope
Much has been written co nc er ni ng the
verisimilitude of Buero's Velazquez; especially his
indignation with the Marquis and his candor with the
Royal family, have been questioned as behavior that

2
would be improper in the Court. However, it is
necessary to keep in mind that Bu e r o ' s Velazquez is a
fictional character created to d e v e l o p the central theme
of the play. Buero's creation is based on the actual
painter to lend credibility to the social criticism
contained in the play. One only need compare Buero's
Penelope with the Penelope of cla ssical mythology.
Buero changes Penelope completely in order to criticize
war, and his Velazquez stays w it hi n the parameters of
the actual Velazquez. Buero's Vela zqu ez is a twentieth
130
century social critic, in effect a Velctzquez set in the
twentieth century reacting to a twentieth century Spain.
The establishment of Vela zqu ez 1 honesty is
important to the success of Las Menin as. Throughout
the play Buero portrays Velazquez as open, frank and
essentially honest, for it is Velazquez who is the
interpreter of the "light," symbolic of truth, to
which almost the entire Court of Felipe IV is blind.
Velazquez' judicious candor combined with honesty create
the impression that he can be trusted. This honesty
affects the Princess Maria Teresa who asks him to tell
her the truth about what is happening in the Court.
Thus, early in the play, Velazquez reveals to Marfa
Teresa the care with which he must expose the truth:
Tennis dieciocho anos. Yo, cincuenta y siete.

Si se supiese que os decia la verdad, nadie
comprenderia . . . . La verdad es una carga
terrible: cuesta quedarse solo. Y en la Corte,
nadie, £lo ofs? nadie, pregunta para que le
digan la verdad.
These few words reveal that Velazquez, because
of his position in the Court, must be careful with the
truth. They also reveal that the truth is a terrible
burden. When Pedro Briones describes Velazquez sketch
of Las M e n i n a s , Velazquez listens to him with "deep
emotion." However, there is also an increase in the
dramatic tension. Velfzquez, thankful that another
131
person is aware of the truth, takes Pedro Briones into
his home and attempts to shelter him from the author
ities .
La tejedora de suenos, unlike Las M e n i n a s, does
not build up dramtaic tension to the same degree. When
Penelope openly and fiercely criticizes Ulises for his
insensitivity, this comes as no surprise to the audi
ence. Penelope has voiced these opinions throughout
the play. When she does loudly berate Ulises, there is
no one present who agrees with her because Anfino is
dead. The circumstances are different when Mar:fa Teresa
steps forward to defend Velazquez. Maria Teresa has
defied not only the King but the Inquisition as well.
And, as Buero has written so often about his works,
an additional element of hope (besides Pedro Briones) has
been introduced, an element which will survive both
Pedro Briones and Velazquez.
The shroud that Penelope weaves throughout La
tejedora de suefios should have functioned the same as
Ve la zqu ez1 Las M e n i n a s . In the shroud, never revealed
to the audience, are Penelope's hopes of a world without
war. The shroud also reveals her relationship with
Anfino, a relationship which would have been realized
if the other four suitors had left. However, the shroud
holds a much more significant message than just the
132
amorous feelings of a woman who has grown weary of
avaricious suitors and the return of an unwanted
husband. Woven into the shroud is a message against war
and violence.
As Ulises* bow is a symbol for war and
destruction, Penelope's shroud is symbolic of her
desire for peace. The shroud, however, ne v e r creates
the dramatic tension that the painting in Las Meninas
does. The shroud remains hidden, as it mu st be, from
the suitors, and only Penelope knows what it contains.
From time to time in the play there are indications that
the shroud changes with each weaving as Penelope creates
new dreams, and it is these changes which reflect
Penelope's own blindness. Ulises* bow symbolizes
destruction and murder, but Ulises' bow is consistent
with its purpose. Penelope only criticizes war and the
suffering that it brings, but Penelope is only against
wars that cause her personal discomfort. Her frequently
quoted speech -
Esperar . . .Esperar el dia en que los hombres

sean como tu(Anfino) . . .y no como ^se. Que
tengan corazdn para nosotras y bondad para
todos: que no guerreen ni nos abandonen. Si;
un dia lleqarci en que eso sea cierto. (A
Ulises.) lA ti te lo digo, miserable! <LY sabes
cuando? icuando no haya mcCs Helenas . . .ni
Ulises en el mundo! Pero para eso hace falta
una palabra universal deâmor que solo las
mujeres sonamos a ve c e s .
133
- is doubtless sincere. However, Penelope is a vi c t i m
of jealousy and her ego wh i c h blind her. Secretly she
enjoys the attention of the suitors.
Buero humanizes both Penelope and Ulises. This
in itself creates a modern atmosphere. Joelyn Ruple
makes a valid point when she compares Dona Pastora
(Esquilache's wife in Un sona do r para un pueblo) to a
twentieth century woman. Dona Pastora has become bored
with Esquilache's devotion to the affairs of state and
has begun some "affairs" of her own. This is the same
situation with Penelope. Unlike the Homeric myth,
Penelope is disenchanted with the long wait for her
husband and has become interested in a lover. Her
deception of the other four suitors is not to stall for
Ulises' arrival but to see if they will lose interest,
leaving her Anfino. What Buero emphasized regarding
Penelope's situation is not an indictment of women in
general, nor of the myopia created by an amorous impulse
in Penelope. Buero has created a modern Penelope who
voices her opinions and criticizes war, an opinion
Ulises must suppress in order to preserve his way of
life. In doing so, he also suppresses Penelope's valid
argument for pacifism.
134
Ulises/The Marquis
Ulises, in Buero's hands, is demythologized,
that is, he is humanized. His struggle to string his
bow attests to the fact that he returns to Ithaca aware
that he has aged, and that it will be a struggle to
protect his interests. And, main tai nin g his position as
King of Ithaca puts him in direct confrontation with
Penelope and Anfino. His mi li ta nt traits blind him to
Penelope's pacifism. His statement to Penelope that
wars will never be suppressed indicates the blindness of
his own social inheritance. A f t e r spending so many
years in the Trojan War and becoming one of its heroes,
it would be illogical for Ulises to suddenly denounce
interests in which he had believed for so long. The
results of the confrontation between Penelope and Ulises
reflect how ingrained war and mi li ta ry conquest are in
most governments. To protect hi’s militant interests,
Ulises not only wants to blind his world to Penelope and
Anfino's dreams, Ulises wants to blind posterity.
Ulises' censorship represents a universal
problem. Like the young princes who become Penelope's
suitors, the next generation and posterity will have
forgotten the negative aspects of war. Nor, due to
Ulises' censorship, will they have access to Penelope's
criticism of war. This censorship Ulises achieves
135
through the use of an "official medium" (the chorus of
slaves) that mouths the "official lie". The only
discord in the group, Dione, has been eliminated. In La
tejedora de s u e n o s , there is criticism of war and the
effects of war— death, desertion, desolation, in
essence, the four horsemen of the Apocalypse— and
Buero, through Ulises' censorship, emphasizes a fear
that this criticism will not exist for future
generations.
What Buero points to as a blind spot in the
masses is that even though the destructive element of
war is recognized as a deterrent to future wars, the
media, the historians of the state, even the poets can
change criticism to propaganda so that it suits the
powerful, keeps them in control and manipulates social
circumstances for their political progeny in the future.
The masses are not only blind to what happens to them
daily; in another sense they and their descendents are
destined to future blindness caused by suppression of
historical facts.
Buero's warning is not unique. George Orwell
wrote of the same possibilities in 1 9 8 4 , and it is
possible that Orwell, with the title 1 9 8 4 , disguised
criticism not of a future world, but of the world of
1948 and that he reversed the last two digits to
136
conceal w h a t he had determined of censorship techniques
in 1948 , the year he finished 1 9 8 4 . Winston, an
historian of the state, was engaged daily in changing,
reshaping and propagandizing the immediate past.
Winst on's situation is similar to the circumstances
found in T e j e d o r a . Like Penelope, he has become aware
of the ridiculousness of an endless w a r which is
propa gated by the "official” word of the state. His
task in the Ministry of Truth, not unlike Ulises'
changes in the lyrical chants, is to alter news and
information so that they support and confirm the
gov er nment's actions:
This process of continuous alteration was

applied not only to newspapers, but to books,
periodicals, pamphlets, posters, leaflets,
films, sound tracks, cartoons, photographs— to
every kind of literature or documentation which
might conceivably hold any political or
ideological significance. Day by day and almost
min ute by minute the past was brought up to
date.
Winston is cognizant of the fact that the past
is continuously changed and that the public only reads
the state's version. His dilemma parallels that of
Penelope, and their methods of rebelling against the
state are similar— find a way for the future to know the
truth as they perceive it, in effect, so the future will
not be propagandized. Penelope weaves her feelings and
perceptions concerning Anfino and pacifism into cloth
137
and conceals her dreams there for the future. Winston
conceals his rebellious thoughts in the form of a diary.
Fire in the form of Anfino's funeral and the Ministry of
Truth's me mory tubes, destroy both Penelope and Win
ston's rebellions.
There are other similarities. The children in
1984 are even more enthused over war and violence than
Telemaco. They imitate their leaders' violent practices
and are disappointed that they cannot attend the public
hangings that eliminate enemies of the state, the same
method used to silence Dione in T e j e d o r a . War, in both
works, is the most important function of the government.
However, both Orwell and Buero conclude that the
possibility of posterity's ignorance about their past is
the most desolating crime of all. Ulises' statement
that no one in the future will know of the problems of
the past is similar to O'Brien's words to Winston:
You must stop imagining that posterity will

vindicate you, Winston. Posterity will never
hear of you. You will be lifted clean out from
the stream of history. We shall turn you into
gas and pour you into the stratosphere. Nothing
will remain of you; not a name in a register,
not a memory in a living brain. You will be
annihilated in the past as well as i n g the
future. You will never have existed.
As long as Penelope is alive, her dre am of
Anfino will live, but there is a poss ibi lit y that
Penelope's dream of pacifism will not be realized since
138
the official word is reshaped to suit the powerful, and
the word that is received by the public and posterity
has been changed to erase any bitter aspect of war.
The Marquis, Velazquez' antagonist in Las Meninas
is blind to the problems of the people because he
chooses to be. The Marquis is primarily interested in
amassing wealth at the expense of the Court. The
Marquis uses deception to further his interests and to
mainta in his advisory position to Felipe IV. First, he
uses adulation to dissuade the King from doing anything
which would prevent corruption. The King is so
preoccupied with trying to produce a son that he gives
nothing more than a slight attention to the problems of
Spain. The Marquis' efforts to protect his interests
lead him to direct confrontation with Velazquez who has
criticized the administration of the Treasury. The
Marquis' main concern is to assure the King that all is
well in Spanish affairs of state. He is clever, and he
understands the dismal conditions in Spain very well.
His ability to assuage the King's fears is built on the
rationalization that all is well in the Kingdom— the
very point that Velazquez is trying to disprove. The
following dialogue illustrates the Marquis' ability to
deceive the King:
139
El M arq ues . (Se acerca.) El grande y

sereno cinimo de vuestra majestad no debe sufrir
por las malas nuevas del Concejo. Otras veces
las hubo peores y Dios no dejo de ayudarnos.
El Rey . En El conffo. Mas sabîs que
pocas veces no fue tan necesario el dinero . .
.( . . .) fSeis galeones, marques! Y el ingles
los ha hundido. Entre tanto, nuestros tercios
carecen de alimentos. (Se d e s c ub re .)
El Marques . Vivir^n sobre el terreno,
senor, como siempre hicieron.
El Re y. -- Puede ser. Mas su marcialidad
decrece . . .Hemos perdido Cataluna. La paz
s e n a preferible.
El Marques . La plata no se ha terminado en
las Indias, senor.
El Rey.-- No. ( . . . . ) L Y Espana?
El Ma rqu es. No es la primera vez que mi
lealtad me fuerza a insistir acerca de ello ante
vuestra majestad. Nunca es mas peligrosa la
rebeldia que cuando se disfraza con un rostro
sumiso.
El Rey.-j-<Uablais de Velazquez?
El Marques. Asi es, senor.
Much of the Marquis' success in deceiving the
King can be attributed to the shallow personality of
Felipe IV; however, the Marquis is very astute at
judging personalities. The above dialogue reveals that
the Marquis had mentioned the possibility of Velazquez
disloyalty before. He has recognized for some time that
Velazquez is a threat and must somehow be eliminated or
silenced. It is this situation that leads to a con
frontation between him and Velazquez and continuously
heightens the tension in the play. Velazquez* concern
with the decadent situation in Spain and his attempt to
enlighten anyone who can understand his work creates a
140
resolute path to political reform. Velazquez, as Buer o
so poignantly describes in the scene in which Pedro
Briones recognizes Velazquez' intent in the sketch of
Las Me ni nas , symbolizes light or truth (enlightenment),
and it is the Marquis who tries to suppress this
enlightenment. The Marquis also represents one of the
main reasons for the decadence in Spain. His greed,
obtained at the expense of the country, is recognized by
Velazquez as one reason for Spain's poverty. Any
mention of the Marquis' wealth makes him defensive.
The Marquis has established a network of spies
throughout the Court. One of these, Nicolasillo, is the
cause of Pedro Briones' death because of the information
he makes known to the Marquis. The Marquis also
influences the other painters in the Court to examine
and criticize Velazquez' work. At every turn the
Marquis tries to stop Velazquez from enlightening the
Court.
Pedro Briones/Anfino
Anfino is not as credible a character as Pedro
Briones. Anfino is limited to a sounding board for
Penelope, and he represents a mythological character, a
vague representation of the future whom Penelope hopes
all men will emulate someday. Anfino does represent a
141
departure from the other suitors in that he is d i f
ferent— he is a pacifist. However, these differences
are not too clearly defined by Buero. Pedro Briones, on
the other hand, is a well delineated character whose
attributes are similar to those of Velazquez, and his
support during the play, is neither vague nor mythical.
Pedro Briones is very much a man of "carne y hueso" who
has experienced first hand the same corruption of minor
officials in the army and in the countryside that
Velazquez has seen in the Court of Felipe IV. Pedro
Briones had rebelled against an army officer w h o sold
supplies to soldiers, and he had led a rebellion against
higher taxes on grains, something that the Marquis had
mentioned to the King as unavoidable.
Veliiz quez' reluctance to speak frankly to Maria
Teresa and his position in the Court prepare the
audience for Pedr o Briones' arrival. The scene in which
Pedro Briones recognizes fully what Velazquez intends to
paint is especially interesting in that it clarified
Velazquez' thoughts for the audience and identifies
Pedro Briones as an ally:
(Pedro se aleja para ver m e j o r . ) Pobre animal .

. .Estcf cansado. Recuerda a un leon, pero el
le<£n espanol ya no es mcts que un perro
Velazquez. (As iente.) Lo curioso es que
le llaman Leon.
Pe dr o. No es curioso? es fatal. Nos
conformamos ya con los nombres. (Una pausa. )
142
Si, creo que comprendo. (Velazquez emite un

suspiro de g r a t i t u d . ) Un cuadro sereno: pero
con toda la tristeza de Espana dentro. Quien
vea a estos seres comprender^ lo
irremediablemente condenados al dolor que estan.
Son fantasmas vivos de personal cuya verdad es
la muerte. Quien los mire manana, lo advertir^
con espanto . . . s i , con espanto, pu e s llegara
un momento, como a mi me sucede, en que ya no
sabra si es 4l el fantasma ante las miradas de
estas figuras . . .Y querr£ salvarse con ellas,
embarcarse en el navfo inm6vil de esta sala,
puesto que ellas lo miran, puesto que ^1 estS ya
en el cuadro cuando lo miran . . .Y tal vez,
mie ntras busca su propia cara en el espejo del
fondo, se salve por un momento de morir. ( . . .
.) Habr^ dicho cosas muy torpes de vuestra
pintura. He llegado tarde para gozar de ella.
Velazquez. (Que le oy6 con emoc i<4n
profunda.) No, Pedro. Esta tela os esperaba.
Vuestros ojos funden la crudeza del bosquejo y
ven ya el cuadro grande . . .tal como yo
intentare pintarlo. Un cuadro de pobres seres
salvados por la luz . . .He llegado a sospechar
que la forma misma de Dios, si alguna tiene,
ser£a la luz . . .Ella me cura de todas las
insanias del m^ndo. De pronto, veo . . .y me
invade la paz.
Anoth er scene, immediately before the hearing
with the Inquisition is just as important. Pedro
approaches Ve lazquez briefly to tell him that he must
protect himself before the members of the Inquisition,
even lie if necessary, in order to protect his works.
The last scene of Las M e n i n a s , probably the most
emotional, is Velazquez' lament for Pedro Briones'
death.
And it is Pedro Briones' death, contrasted with
Maria Teresa's appearance before her father and the
143
members of the Inquisition, which create a successful
dramatic situation in Las Meninas. This ending,
completely different from the depressing note of
Anfino's death in La tejedora de su en os , is the
difference between enlightenment in a play by Buero and
the dramatic failure which is Tejedora. In fact,
Buero's portrayals of Pedro Briones and Anfino is
specifically responsible for his great success in Las
Meninas and the very limited, if any, success of La
tejedora de s u e n o s .
The Suitors/Telemaco
In La tejedora de suenos Penelope’s suitors
project a strong image of militarism, and they have
influenced Telemaco perceptibly with their bravado. In
short, the suitors and Telemaco represent another form
of Ulises' militant heritage.
Buero's description of the envy between the
generations concerning war experience illustrates the
eagerness of youth, the suitors and Telemaco, to become
defensive of those who had fought at Troy. Ulises (as
the Stranger) asks why the suitors want to open the door
to where Penelope weaves:
Eurimaco. (Un tortuoso hipocrita. Se

ac e r c a , s u a v e . )
Ten cuidado con nosot ro s, piojoso, y no
144
preguntes demasiado. Te diriges a r e y e s .
Extranjero. (Con un gesto de excusa.)

Debi ver antes vuestro porte majestuoso. Pero
sois muy jovenes . . .
Antinoo.
CTe crees que por s.er un carcamal puedes
llamarnos ninos? iA qu£ te amordazamos?
Pisandro.
Este es como nuestros padres. ivamos a atarlo!
Leocrito.
Todos estos vejestorios nos desprecian porque
estuvieron en Troya. No hay que presumir tanto.
(Tira el escobajo del racimo y se limpia las
manos en la tunica.)
Extranjero.
Sin duda, sin duda. Yo tambiengestuve en Troya
y, ya veis: ahora no soy nadie.
As the main target of Buero's criticism and the
central object of U l i s e s 1 intellectual blindness, the
idea of a socially inherited attitude toward war recurs
throughout La tejedora de s u e n o s . Penelope's treatment
of Telemaco is indicative of her attitude toward war,
her husband and violence. Whenever Telemaco tries to
assert himself as a man, it is generally a powerless
threat against Anfino. Telemaco is eager to prove
himself, but he realizes that he is no match for the
suitors. For this reason, and also because Dione is
interested in Anfino, Telemaco challenges Anfino who
pays him little attention and only defends himself.
During earlier encounters between the other four
145
suitors, Anfino had usu al ly defended Telemaco w h i c h
further infuriates Ulises' son. Another reason Telemaco
tries to provoke A nf i n o is the latter's reluctance to
use violence. Telemaco does not consciously admire the
suitors, but he would r at he r imitate them than Anfino.
They are at least warlike, although they have not
experienced war.
Penelope's cr it ici sm of her son is much more
painful to Telemaco than the danger of Anfino's blade.
During the excitement of the contest to bend and string
Ulises' bow, Penelope has planned to omit An fin o's turn
so she can announce that he is her choice. T el em ac o
tells his mother that there are two suitors remaining,
and Penelope answers w it h cutting phrases: "Tu no
puedes regular nada. Tu eres un nino." Penelo pe knows
that her son is a y o u ng er version of Ulises, and she
fears that he will become more like his father. In the
Homeric version, Telem ac hu s took a more active pa rt in
his father's revenge of the suitors, and Buero's
Telemaco is only too willing to try to prove himself.
The suitors, as rivals for Penelope's hand, are n a t u
rally antagonistic and militant. Their influence on
Telemaco is especially trying for Penelope who has tried
to forget her warlike and adventurous husband and center
her attention and dreams for the future on the
146
pacifistic Anfino. She knows that Telemaco, almost
instinctually, will blindly follow Ulises, the suitors
or the men who left their families to fight at Troy.
Only men like Anfino (if others exist), who have
conquered their natural desires for conquest with the
enlightenment of logic, will resist violence and war.
The Artists/Maria Teresa
There is a connection between Maria Teresa and
the Court artists in Las Meninas which culminates in her
appearance before her father, the artists and the
members of the Inquisition. Without the artists, the
Marquis would not have been able to criticize Diego
Velazquez concerning his work. The Marquis is also
representative of the deception in the Court, a
deception that Maria Teresa has questioned.
The artists are doubly significant. They feel
jealousy toward Velazquez and are a part of the intrigue
in the Court. However, they are also artists, painters
like Velazquez. If two of the King's artists cannot
comprehend the symbology of Velazquez' works, can
anyone, as Velazquez complains, understand his work?
Angelo Nardi, in criticizing one of Velazquez' works,
illustrates the deception and distortion that the
Marquis wants propagandized, that of the condition of
147
the Spanish soldier in external wars:
Nardi. En su regocijante pintura del dios

Marte, senor. Es claro que esa figura pretende
representar a un soldado de Flandes. Y cuando
no es burla, en la pintura de don Diego hallamos
desdln o indife ren cia , mas no respeto. Los
mismos retratos de personas reales carecen de la
majestad adecuada. Se diria que entre los
perros o los bufones que 4l pinta y . . .sus
majestades, no admite distancias. Otro tanto
podria decir de sus pinturas religiosas: son
muy pocas y no creo que muevan a devocion
ninguna, pues tambi^n parece que s<$lo busca en
ellas lo que tiene de humano lo divino.
What Nardi says is ve ry similar to Ulises' words
at the end of La tejedora de s u e n o s , that the world, the
masses and posterity should see only the vision that the
power of the state would have them see, that is, a
reflection which is favorable to those in power. The
masses should not see the image of a common soldier in
Flanders as Mars, nor detect any lack of majesty in
paintings of the Royal family. Nardi's speech is
interesting in that, although he does not interpret
Velazquez' works as Velazquez would have interpreted
them, he does give an accurate description of what
Velazquez had indeed painted— a truth which is repugnant
to the Court.
Nieto Velazquez' interpretation of Venus del
espejo illustrates a lack of critical insight. He
claims that the painting is lascivious because it is a
nude painting. Although Nieto's criticism is in
148
agreement with the Spanish Court and the rulings of
the Inquisition, Diego Velazquez claims that any
lasciviousness regarding the painting is Nieto's own
psychological projection. Whether the members of the
hearing believe Diego Velazquez or not, no one else
criticizes the Venus del e s p e j o .
The artists' criticism not only lacks insight
and understanding concerning Velazquez' work, their
criticism also shows an attempt to obscure and distort
what little they recognize. It is this criticism by the
artists that makes Pedro Briones' observations of the
painting Las Meninas so important to the dramatic
structure and theme of M e n i n a s . Because of his honesty
and candor, it is not difficult for Pedro Briones to
correctly interpret what he sees in Velazquez's work,
just as it had not been difficult for Velazquez to paint
it. Velazquez doubts his work because there are few
honest eyes in the Court. Besides Velazquez, only the
Princess Marla Teresa is interested in honesty and
truth, and she had not seen the painting.
Why did not Buero have Maria Teresa view Las
Meninas? Her interpretation would have destroyed some
of Buero's historical accuracy. More important is her
development as a character in the play and how she
relates her experiences in the Court. At the beginning
149
of Las Men in as , Maria Teresa has not yet developed to
the stage where she can be trusted completely with what
Velazquez refers to as the "truth." She is honest, and
she pursues the truth. But she is young. When she
confronts her father and the artists she has learned
more about the Court and also more about using the truth
efficiently.
Maria Teresa is an illuminative character
in the sense that she supports V e l a zq ue z1 beliefs on
enlightenment. She recognizes the truth as well as
Pedro Briones or Velazquez, and she is better able to
use her knowledge because of her position in the Court.
In her speeches she has criticized what amounts to the
"official word of the state," the word that the Marquis
wants propagandized through the artists. It is
reasonable to assume that if Marfa Teresa had seen
Las Meninas she woul d have recognized its significance.
Las Meninas is a more developed work than La
tejedora de s u e n o s . The idea of intellectual blindness
is present in La tejedora de su e n o s, but the structure
of the play does not revolve strictly around the idea of
communicating Penelope's thoughts on pacifism through
enlightenment. Ulises' destruction of all that has to
do with Anfino also destroys any future hope of r e a l
izing Penelope's dreams. Penelope's speech that one
day men will all be like Anfino theoretically leaves
hope, but is is not present in human form as it is with
Marfa Te r e s a in Las M e n i n a s . Nearly nine years passed
from the debut of La tejedora de suenos to the first
presentation of Las M e n i n a s , and Buero had improved
greatly in communicating the Classic idea of hope in the
tragedy. He had succeeded before in En la ardiente
oscuridad and other plays, but in no other play does he
succeed as well as in Las M e n i n a s . And the hope is
related to the concept of intellectual blindness:
Velazquez' ideological desire to enlighten, the
a ntagonists who are intent on blinding the eyes of the
Court, and an honest man who understands Velazquez. The
subsequent death of Pedro Briones and, at the same time
the appearance of Maria Teresa as an ally who symbolizes
the future--all these elements contribute to the
dramatic success of Las Meninas.
151
Notes
■'"Bernard Dulsey, "Entrevista con Buero Vallejo,"
Modern Language J o u r n a l , March 1966, p. 154.

2
Gonzalo Torrente Ballester, Teatro espanol
contemporaneo (Madrid: Ediciones G u adarrama, 1968) pp.
394-396.
3
Antonio Buero Vallejo, Hoy es f i esta, Las
M e n i n a s , El tragaluz (Madrid: Taurus Ediciones, 1968),
p. 227.
4
Antonio Buero Vallejo, La tejedora de s u e n o s ,
Llegada de los dioses (Madrid: Ediciones Catedra,
1977), p. 206.
5
George Orwell, 1984 (New York: The New
American Library, 1983), p. 36.
6 I b i d , p. 210.
7
Buero, Las M e n i n a s , pp. 236, 237.
8 I b i d , pp. 245, 246.

9
Buero, La teiedora de s u e n o s , pp. 127, 128.
■'■^Buero, Las Meninas, p. 289.
CHAPTER VIII
CONCLUSION
Intellectual blindness, in the six tragedies by
Buero Vallejo examined in this study, implies the
question of what has not been "seen" or perceived. That
is, intellectual blindness indicates areas which have
not been accessible to human understanding in some way.
In the main, this concept focuses on man's inability or
refusal to see problems both physical and metaphysical,
which if understood and rectified can result in im
provement of the human r a c e — an important objective in
all of Buero's works.
Charles Segal, in Tragedy and Civilization: An
Interpretation of S o p h o c l e s , states that in mythology:
"The price of this inward knowledge is blindness to the
physical world." However, there is always an acqui
sition of knowledge or insight which can affect the
physical world. It is this inner sight with which
Sophocles, Shakespeare and Buero concern themselves.
Both Oedipus and Gloucester experience a complete change
in values after they become physically blind. Buero's
characters are similar, but Buero also addresses the
problem of intellectual blindness in other ways.
152
Some of Buero's characters "look but do not see," while
others are mindful of the problems of the w orld but
refuse to look deep enough to solve any of the problems.
The most important characters in Buero's w o r k s are those
that undergo a change in values, a change which, if
effected, could change the world.
En la ardiente o s c u r i d a d , symbolic at two
levels, does not suggest the possibility that Carlos and
Ignacio might be able to gain the physical sense of
sight. Physical vision lays the foundation for two
symbolic levels which attempt to aid the re a d e r or
spectator to comprehend the human race better. Ardiente
contains a political message which symbolizes rebellion
against a totalitarian system. The other symbolic level
is metaphysical and, as explained by Ignacio ("|Quiero
v e r ! "), represents a continuous quest for truth.
Buero criticizes educational needs and methods
in El concierto de San O v i d i o . David is c e r t a i n of his
abilities and of what he could accomplish if he had the
opportunity. His blind companions, however, are unable
to comprehend his potential. Excessive greed in
capitalism, represented by the character, Valindin, is
an obstacle to betterment and education.
In L l e g a d a de los d i o s e s , both Julio and Felipe
choose what they wish to see, and they suppress what
displeases them. Felipe's suppression of his war crimes
ultimately leads to his death during catharsis, and
Julio's vacillation among sin, forgiveness and redemp
tion- is the cause of his psychosomatic blindness.
Julio, physically and symbolically, "closes his eyes" to
what he has learned about his father.
In Un sonador para un p u e b l o , the Spanish
aristocracy blinds the masses to Esquilache's attempts
to better education, sanitation and politics. The
aristocracy, led by the Marquis of Ensenada, contains
progress with reactionary, violent measures. Esquilache
himself is blind to the true motives of the Marquis of
Ensenada who had begun progressive programs years
before. Esquilache does see hope for the Spanish people
in Fernandita who symbolizes latent potential for
progress in Spain.
V e l a z q u e z ' attempt to communicate the misery and
sorrow that he feels for Spain is sorely lost in the
court of Felipe IV in the play Las M e n i n a s . Felipe IV,
sheltered from the truth concerning the pitiful state of
his kingdom by nobles who wish to gain economic favors,
cannot comprehend the truths that Velazquez paints into
Las M e n i n a s . Only Pedro Briones, almost blind and
completely exhausted from a life of rebellion against
injustices in Spanish society, can clearly see "toda la
155
tristeza de Espana" in the painting.
La tejedora de s u e n o s , Buero's version of
Ulysses and Penelope, criticizes militarism and
violence. Ulises is incapable of understanding the
agony of Penelope's long wait while he participates in
what she believes is a senseless war for the sake of an
imprudent woman. Only Anfino, one of the suitors who is
pacifistic, is attractive to Penelope. In T e j e d o r a ,
Buero also criticizes the altering of historical
accounts to ensure their use for propagandistic purposes
in the f u t u r e .
However, to view Buero's works as solely
political and social criticism would limit their
application to more universal truths, truths which can
surface only from within the dramatic structure of
classical catharsis. Some of the characters in these
six works never possess or gain intellectual insight,
for example, Valindin in El concierto de San O v i d i o ,
King Felipe VI in Las M e n i n a s . Others, Ensenada in Un
sonador para un p u e b l o , Ulises in La tejedora de s u e n o s ,
attempt to hide the truth using intellectual blindness.
The characters who either possess or obtain intellectual
insight— Ignacio and Carlos in Ardiente, Valentin Hauy
and Adriana in C o n c i e r t o , Felipe and Veronica in
Llegada, Esquilache, Carlos III and Fernandita in
Sonador, Diego Velazquez, Pedro Briones and Maria Teresa
in Meninas and Penelope and Anfino in Tejedora- - a 11
undergo an experience of enlightenment which transcends
contemporary political criticism and projects, as
Buero has stated as one of his objectives, a hope
representative of "una constante humana de la futuri-
zacion, de ir hacia una mejora."
•APPENDIX
TWO LETTERS FROM ANTONIO BUERO VALLEJO
157
O lM M ti O U S N l U I K . I I
A N T O N IO BUERO VALLEJO
M A D R lO * I
Madrid, 4-9-1933
Sstimado Sr. Gillespie:
Contesto con mucho gusto a su carta del 29 de Julio, que sfilo
hace unos dias llegfi a mis manos.
Las influenciss o antecedentes que hayan podido darse en las
obras mias donde aparece la ceguera. deberan buscarse, creo,*en
obras que yo pudieae conocer antes de escribir "En la ardiente
oscuridad". A1 respecto debo decir que, antes de esa prinera obra,
yo conocia naturalmente "El Rey Lear" y "Los c u e m o s de don Frio-
lera". Tambifin conocia, de Valle-Inclfin, "Luces de Bohemia", cuyo
protagonista estfi ciego. Y "Marianela" de Galdfis, donde el protago
nists masculino es asimismo ciego. Y conocia, cfimo no, "Edioo Rey"
y "Edipo en Colono". Conocia tambifin "El pais de los ciegos", el
famoso cuento de Wells.
iZn qufi nedida han nodido influir en mi esas creaciones? Ko lo
sfi bien. Creo qne Shakespeare habrfi influido en mi en General, nero
no esnecialmente "El Rey Lear". S6focles quizfi haya influido mfis,
por la relacifin culpa-castigo que entrana la ceguera de Edipo.
V.'ells, se.nursmente, habrfi influido, cues ha influido e'n alguna otra
obra mia n y es lectura nia temnrana. Gald6s o Valle, poco o nada
en lo referer.te a la ceeuera, aunque los admire mucho.
Uneruno es otra de mis influencias reconocidas (tengo muchas:
Cerventes, Calderfifl, Ibsen, etc.) y puede que, indirectamente, de
"La Venda" me llegasen influôs. Pero tendria que ser muy indirec
tamente, pues, a nesar de mi o-ran aficifin a este escritor, yo, lec
tor poco metfidico, no lei ess obra hasta bastante despufis de haber
escrito la primera mia de ciegos. Lo mismo podria decir de "Los
ciegos" de Maeterlinck, obra que se me citd alguna vez como posible
antecedente, pero que yo no conoci hasta mucho despuds de pscribir-
la mia.
En esta cuestifin de las fuentes, siempre compleja, yo me incli-
no a nensar cue las mfis honcas son siempre otras, que la critica no
suele rastrear y de las que el propio escritor no tiene a menudi
conciencla. irobeblemente, en el tema de mis "cegueras" habrfin in—
fluido, nfis que obras donde enarezcan ciegos, otras donde, sin
hsberlos, las limitaciones, sub.ietivismos y tragedias humanas Pen
man especial fuerza; por e.iemplo, "La vida es sueno" de Calderfia.
Mucho le a-rad=zco su eleccifin .de un especto de mi teatro para
su tesis doctoral. Si, mfis adrlante, necesitase consultarme alguna
otra cosa, le ccntestarfi sustosamente.
"ineda m-.iy ccrdialcente de Vfl--
A N T O N IO BUERO V A LLE JO O sks *al Out r o « u « . . • •
•*ADMIO«f
/?-</-rs*
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£, p/Ctsj+zz :
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Ltô A y M * / u £ -f‘> u u n — t-C * >7 i£ C ix **£ c -. ew -*11 f< n f» £ * V A *y

/utfCcMO. «** <f O x t*B 4 tA 4 u t« *tL , jl£ . h J tffr flM x L ' f f * i * C l u U l JU u. C rS fc t* #£&-
O-rf-Z. t p**~ U-f~ r #&iv?t*tZx- faX-*- U* ttiC ^ u .
l£ ^ / .^ ^ /!* . yTL«<rW A ^ U ( t* { u jk u + ;< A x fb , C .U
li±.r0 f^x MX Â- *'£'*- '«Je ML] *C* "•
^ J U j 1+** #<: cruiu , «*ct u '^ u <
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t-h Lo^ jU v j u ' ^ l ’< C \ i - ( u t z . f-* t- <J- fit * * * /« ^ *-<
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<_ k^MC-n , * (^-‘■'t'J.fa h tCA -/ H-. % t*.

r /n ttttu u l-h , A- ^-/*- •&• jittJ fc **-“ *- f a t J p n * ,u * * - fr u iC tu tC 'J t I * . U tv t-
etc. ot. nti<c d*tr- f^- trj Aituij - } t& (ulHiu- - / / “ *» /"-a ■U' •“ «.
fiutd!*.,
tC ejutJj At *>h. rtn. a. /'***>, C A JuA .it c {£ Ltuu ( t u . ):£,
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1. . ►, . ^ /*• !• ii»>v»►
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Au Xxx/ ,-'j«^ / 4a A-t. lutLu. Kcw /*, ./ /
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<Vt«*rM /Cx» tUA (ifc / £' r
f3^ »£ce >\. u m t-**-L» (U«^c ^Wluxi. . ,
.- ^ , i ‘M ~ , < A f t c i . ,tU a . e l s u t J . l u ,
A j tti'* e C t. C tt d t l U t u u t t u .
160
(transcription of second letter from Antonio Buero Vallejo)
Madrid; Abril 19, 1985
Sr. Ed Gillespie
Universidad de Texas
Estimado Sr. Gillespie:
Celebro haberle servido de ayuda. Permitame solo
unas lxneas para contestar a la pregunta que me hace.
No tengo en el resto de mi teatro ninguna otra obra
donde aparezca una persona ciega. Sin embargo, creo que
debo informarle de que en Dialoqo sec r e t o , m i ultima obra
estrenada en Agosto de 1984 y hoy todavxa en el cartel de
Madrid, el personaje principal es un critico de arte
dalt6nico, defecto que ha logrado ocultar durante toda la
vida pero que es la razon de su angustia y su sufrimiento.
Con este motivo, hago uso tambien en esta obra de uno de mis
"efectos de inmersi^n": en los momentos adecuados de la
accion, una gran copia de "Las Hilanderas" de Velazquez que
el tiene en su salon muda los bellos colores en tonos
blancos, negros y pardos, tal y como el los ve. Y en otro
momento, su hija le tiende una trampa, maquillandole la cara
de un verde claro que los demas--y el publico--ven, pero que
el no percibe.
El asunto de esta obra se halla, pues, cercano al
tema que usted trata. Dialoqo secreto esta ahora en la
imprenta y espero que saldra pronto.
161
Supongo que la ceguera, total o parcial, no volvera a
aparecer en mi teatro: ya lo ha hecho muchas veces. Pero
dquien puede decir lo que hare manana?
Por ahora no tengo entre manos ninguna nueva idea
dramatica, aunque si estoy comprometido a dar otra obra a mi
actual empresario.
Le saluda c o r d i a l m e n t e ,
Antonio Buero Vallejo
•162
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Intellectual Blindness in Six Works by Antonio Buero Vallejo

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INTELLECTUAL ELINDNESS IN S IX WORKS BY ANTO NIO BUERO VALLEJO

The University of Texas at Arlington Ph.D. 1986

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Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of

The University of Texas at Arlington in Partial Fulfillment

for the Degree of

THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON

WORKS BY ANTONIO BUERO VALLEJO

All Rights Reserved

This study came about as a result of an interest in

Antonio Buero Vallejo and the concept of intellectual

blindness which began in a course taught by Dr. Jos£ G.

Sanchez during the summer of 1982.

I would like to thank Dr. Sanchez, as well as all the

members of the dissertation committee: Dr. Lenard H.

Studerus, Dr. Bertie N. Acker, Dr. Virgil L. Poulter and Dr.

Emory D. Estes, for their help in reading and criticizing

Two letters received from Antonio Buero Vallejo in

which he clarified several points concerning his sources

were greatly a p p r e ciated.

I would also like to thank the Interlibrary Loan

Department of the University of Texas at Arlington for their

help in locating and obtaining m a n y works which were

essential for this study.

Finally, I acknowledge a tremendous debt to my wife,

Elizabeth Olivares Gillespie.

April 10, 1986

INTELLECTUAL BLINDNESS IN SIX WORKS BY ANTONIO BUERO VALLEJO

Edward V. Gillespie, Ph.D.

Supervising Professor: Jose G. Sanchez

Six of Antonio Buero Vallejo's works deal with a

concept which is not new in literature and certainly not in

the field of drama. The idea of intellectual blindness is

present in Sophocles' Oedipus the King and Shakespeare's

King L e a r , and it is also found in several other works.

However, no other writer besides Buero has written so

intensely about the idea of intellectual or spiritual

blindness and how it affects the social and political

structures of societies and individuals.

These six tragedies by Buero En la ardiente

o s c u r i d a d , El concierto de San O v i d i o , Llegada de los

d i o s e s , Un sonador para un p u e b l o , Las Meninas and La

tejedora de suenos all deal very specifically with the

idea of intellectual blindness. Also, all depict a

Buero's life considerably and, after his long imprison

ment, he gradually turned from painting to the thea