Doña Perfecta: Analysis of Major Characters
"Doña Perfecta" is a novel that delves into the ideological clash between traditional and modern values in 19th-century Spain, centered around the character of Doña Perfecta Polentinos. A wealthy and devoutly religious woman living in the provincial town of Orbajosa, she embodies a reactionary and intolerant attitude towards change, particularly through her opposition to her nephew Pepe Rey, who represents progressive and free-thinking ideals. Pepe, an educated engineer from Madrid, poses a direct challenge to Doña Perfecta's beliefs and seeks to marry her daughter, Rosario, which incites her wrath.
Rosario, caught between her love for Pepe and her loyalty to her mother, ultimately agrees to elope with him but faces tragic consequences. Supporting Doña Perfecta’s agenda are figures like Don Inocencio, a local canon whose manipulations serve to further entrench traditional values, and María Remedios, who desires her son Jacinto to marry Rosario. The narrative intensifies as Doña Perfecta resorts to extreme measures, leading to Pepe's murder, which results in Rosario's descent into madness. The novel portrays a dismal struggle between old and new societal norms, illustrating the destructive impact of rigid adherence to tradition amidst changing times.
Doña Perfecta: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Benito Pérez Galdós
First published: 1876 (English translation, 1880)
Genre: Novel
Locale: Orbajosa, Spain
Plot: Social morality
Time: Late nineteenth century
Doña Perfecta Polentinos (DOHN-yah pehr-FEHK-tah poh-lehn-TEE-nohs), a wealthy and intensely religious woman who lives in the provincial town of Orbajosa, Spain. She represents the old order of provincial Spanish life: reactionary traditionalism, country (versus city) values, regional (versus central) government control, and, above all, neo-Catholicism characterized by religious intolerance and often profound hypocrisy. Her religious convictions—indeed, her whole way of life—are challenged when her nephew and ideological foil Pepe Rey appears on the scene from Madrid. He offends local sensibilities at every turn and, worst of all, proposes marriage to Doña Perfecta's daughter, Rosario, a prospect that Doña Perfecta simply cannot abide. Seeking to protect her way of life, as well as her family's reputation, Doña Perfecta engages in a battle of wills with Pepe, whom she sees as a symbol of evil. She will stop at nothing to oppose him. In the end, as Pepe attempts to elope with Rosario, Doña Perfecta gives the order to have him killed. The rest of her days are spent in intense religious activity as a form of self-punishment and martyrdom. Given her behavior, Doña Perfecta's name is, to say the least, ironic.
José “Pepe” Rey (hoh-SEH PEH-peh rreh), a young, handsome, well-traveled, impeccably educated, and outspoken engineer from Madrid who symbolizes a modern, progressive, free-thinking Spain. He is therefore Doña Perfecta's exact ideological opposite. Worse yet, he is quite blunt, even tactless, in the expression of his unwelcome opinions, particularly those concerning the church. Although the novel focuses on the issue of social morality, it also reads in many ways like a Greek tragedy because of Pepe's fatal flaw of not being wise enough to express his opinions less often and more moderately. Arriving in Orbajosa at the request of his father, a celebrated lawyer in Madrid, he soon clashes with Doña Perfecta's world and finds himself opposed at virtually every turn and at various levels, from his attempts to do surveying work in the region (through the loss of government contracts), to his pursuit of Rosario's hand in marriage (the final roadblock to which is his murder). He is clearly out of his element and unwanted. He successfully connects with Rosario, however, and makes plans to elope with her, against her mother's wishes. Any possible positive symbolism regarding the union of the old order and the new that might be read into a marriage between Pepe and Doña Perfecta's daughter, however, is dashed emphatically when Doña Perfecta has Pepe killed.
Rosario (rroh-SAHR-ee-oh), Doña Perfecta's daughter, who is dominated by her mother and torn between her love for Pepe and her obligation to her mother. Near the end of the novel, she agrees to elope with Pepe. Rosario goes insane as a result of Pepe's murder, a lamentable fate for the one character who represents a ray of light in an otherwise dismal environment and situation.
Don Inocencio (dohn ee-noh-SEHN-see-oh), a local canon who successfully incites Pepe with incessant sarcasm and who is in many ways Doña Perfecta's partner in crime, or at least her chief adviser regarding her outspoken nephew and how she should handle him. Although Don Inocencio clearly holds the same values as Doña Perfecta, his opposition to Pepe goes beyond simple ideology: He wants his great-nephew Jacinto, not Pepe, to marry Rosario, a fact that leads the priest to work to end all talk of marriage between the cousins. As in the case of Doña Perfecta, Don Inocencio's name is ironic.
María Remedios (mah-REE-ah reh-MEH-dee-ohs), Don Inocencio's niece and housekeeper, who wants her son Jacinto to marry Rosario. She too plots against Pepe at every opportunity.
Jacinto (hah-SEEN-toh), María Remedios' son, a lawyer, who wishes to marry Rosario and who opposes Pepe for other reasons.
Caballuco (kah-bah-YEW-koh), a regional guerrilla fighter against the central government. He, like so many in the novel, hates all outsiders. He kills Pepe on Doña Perfecta's orders.