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Anales galdosianos. Ao XIII, 1978

39

40

41

Some considerations of the religious allusions in

Prez Galds Torquemada novels
Terence T. Folley

As readers of Galds' novels are aware, the Spanish author inherited the technique of the
repeating character from the French novelist, Honor de Balzac. One such repeating character,
the usurer, Francisco Torquemada, also possesses an original model in Gobseck, the
moneylender created by Balzac. When introducing Torquemada to his readers in El Doctor
Centeno (1883), Galds refers to him as Gobseck, thereby acknowledging, as Professor
Robert Ricard has pointed out, sa dette envers Balzac.51 One aspect of the latter's
characterization of Gobseck has a particular bearing on Galds' presentation of Torquemada: the
image of a nineteenth-century usurer as a form of modern inquisitor. The power wielded in
contemporary society by the usurers, and the influence they enjoy, recall for Balzac the control
exercised in former times over their fellow-men by members of the Holy Office. This striking
parallel is brought out by Gobseck himself, when describing to the fascinated narrator of the
novel the manner in which the usurers of Paris constitute a secret tribunal. At their regular
meetings, they pool information, which enables them to sit in judgement on members of a
society in which financial considerations have replaced questions of religious orthodoxy:
Casuistes de la Bourse, nous formons un Saint Office, o se
jugent et s'analysent les actions les plus indiffrentes de tous les
gens qui possdent une fortune quelconque et nous devinons
toujours vrai.52

The picture presented by Gobseck awakens a responsive note in the narrator's mind, to the
extent that the latter repeats the image, later in the novel, when referring to two debtors
standing abjectly before the implacable Gobseck:
Ils taient en ce moment tous deux devant leur juge, qui les
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xaminait comme un vieux dominicain du XVI e sicle devait pier

les tortures de deux Maures, au fond des souterrains du Saint
Office.53

Apart from a single-minded passion for money and his implacable cruelty towards his
victims -a cruelty which includes forms of blackmail- Torquemada also appears to have
inherited from his French model the semi-religious quality referred to above. The Spanish
usurrer is described initially as: (un) hombre feroz y fro, con facha de sacristn.54 The term
facha would seem to emphasize the essentially false nature of Torquemada's apparent
clericalism. The juxtaposition of two strongly contrasted elements, the cleric and the
moneylender, stresses the basically deceptive quality in the usurer's appearance. We realize
that this is pseudo-clerical, and our realization is in no way diminished by the fact that at the
time there were clerics who engaged in the lucrative trade of usury. The pseudo-clerical aspect
of Torquemada is repeated in La de Bringas (1884). The heroine of the novel borrows money
from Torquemada in order to pay debts she has incurred without her husband's knowledge. On
her first encounter 42 with the usurer, she notes his cierto aire clerical. (IV, 1644) This
impression is reinforced by Torquemada's peculiar gesture, which he makes while talking:
Acompaaba sus fatigosos discursos de una lenta elevacin del
brazo derecho, formando con los dedos ndice y pulgar una especie
de rosquilla para ponrsela a su interlocutor delante de los ojos,
como un objeto de veneracin.
(ibid.)
The key expressions, elevacin and veneracin, suggest a religious significance for the gesture,
but as we know we are dealing with a ruthless moneylender, this becomes a matter of pseudoreligion. Torquemada is not a priest consecrating the Communion Host at the Mass, but a
cunning usurer preparing to trap yet another hapless victim. The element of cruelty implicit in
the gesture is stressed by the misleading impression the listener receives, that Torquemada is
offering something, whereas in fact he is refusing to show mercy. This is brought out on the
occasion of a later visit by the heroine to Torquemada, in the vain hope of persuading the usurer
to extend the time-limit for repayment of the loan:
Torquemada negaba y negaba y negaba, acentuando su
crueldad con la pavorosa aparicin de la rosquilla entre el espacio
comprendido entre las miradas de los dos interlocutores.
(IV, 1654)
The characteristic gesture also serves to emphasize the predicament of the heroine and her
agitated state of mind. Consequently, we find that when Rosala Bringas can repay the loan in
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the nick of time to avoid a confrontation with her husband: La adoracin de la rosquilla
formada con los dedos no la mortific tanto como otros das (IV, 1665). Having established the
individualizing effect of the gesture, Galds also seems to have wished to avoid the risk of
flatness and caricature arising from too frequent use of this particular pseudo-religious
element. According as the usurer's character develops, the gesture receives increasingly less
attention. It crops up in later novels, such as Fortunata y Jacinta (1886-87), where it retains its
original religious connotation, e. g. (doa Lupe) contempl la o con veneracin (V, 195). The
semi-religious aspect of the gesture is less apparent on the few occasions the physical
idiosyncrasy is mentioned in the Torquemada novels. When this stage of the usurer's evolution
has been reached, the centre of religious, or pseudo-religious interest has moved elsewhere.
At the centre of the first phase of Torquemada's religious involvement lies the crisis
concerning the illness and death of the moneylender's only son, Valentn. The latter, at the time
of his death, is a twelve-year-old mathematical prodigy. His father carries an intense paternal
affection for the child to the extreme limits of a fanatical devotion bordering on idolatrous
blasphemy. As Torquemada states after Valentn has died: Aquello no era hijo: era un diosecito
que engendramos a medias el Padre Eterno y yo (V, 935). When the boy falls fatally ill, the
usurer, in a desperate effort to avert the inevitable tragedy, undertakes a series of acts of
charity. Torquemada hopes to bribe Providence by means of these charitable actions, thereby
persuading God to spare his son's life. All is in vain: Valentn finally dies and his grief-stricken
father swears revenge against God and man for having turned a deaf ear to his pleas.
The second volume of the Torquemada series commences with the central figure in the
same vengeful mood. He is living alone in part of a tenement property he owns in a popular
quarter of Madrid. Torquemada resembles an eccentric 43 recluse, surrounded as he is
by an assortment of furniture, objects d'art and junk. Only one thing is missing from the physical
labyrinth Torquemada has created around his person: religious images and pictures. The usurer
has rejected these, because they -including the particular image venerated by his deceased first
wife, doa Silvia- represent a Providence that, Torquemada feels, has let him down in the hour
of his greatest need.
Cort, pues toda clase de relaciones con el Cielo, y cuantas
imgenes haba en la casa, sin perdonar a la misma Virgen de la
Paloma, tan venerada por doa Silvia, fueron llevadas en un gran
canasto a la buhardilla, donde se las entenderan con las araas y
ratones.
(V, 952)
In the place of these conventional symbols of Roman Catholic devotional practices, Torquemada
has erected a type of altar dedicated to a semi-religious cult of the late Valentn's memory.
Galds states explicitly that an enlarged photograph of the child is the sole object representing
the Deity in the house. The picture is the centre-piece of a collection of objects associated with
Valentn, which are gathered on top of a cabinet. The usurer spends the long, sleepless hours of
the night arranging and rearranging this assortment of relics and communicating silently with
the spirit of Valentn through the photograph, which seems to reply by grimaces and winks. The
sensation of an altar is further intensified by the presence of a pair of silver candlesticks that
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Torquemada is continually polishing. The whole acquires an unmistakably religious, or pseudoreligious significance, and one night it crosses the usurer's mind that his solemn actions recall
those of a priest saying Mass. (V, 953)
One should not overlook the obvious comical possibilities of these pseudomystical sessions,
or sances. The silent exchanges between father and son are communicated to the reader in
the form of a dialogue. Valentn's spirit is conjured up at a critical stage in the usurer's life -as
Ricardo Gulln has pointed out55 - and it serves to give voice to ideas which have begun to
emerge from the fringe of the moneylender's conscious mind. The ghostly communications
represent a level of Torquemada's mind different from that revealed by the latter in his normal,
day-to-day existence. For instance, when Torquemada is finally about to acquiesce in the
matter of taking his family to the north of Spain for the hot summer months, Valentn's voice
expresses the wish to travel in a train, but it states this in typically childish terms, Pap, yo
quiero dir en ferrocarril (V, 1057). On an earlier occasion, while Torquemada is toying with the
possibility of a second marriage, to the aristocratic Fidela del guila (a step which would give the
humble usurer access to the upper-class circles of society), the child's spirit places a seal of
approval on the notion by expressing a desire to be reincarnated. (V, 967)
Allowing for the fact that Valentn's spirit represents a more or less subconscious level of the
usurer's mind, there is another aspect of the above-mentioned sances that has a direct
bearing on this study of the religious allusions in the novels. In relation to the theme of religious
imagery, a particularly interesting session takes place in the relatively respectable house the
usurer owns in the calle de Silva. On this occasion, Galds appears willing to give more or less
free rein to what the late Professor Carlos Clavera has aptly termed the author's veta
fantstica.56 At first, Torquemada is lying half-dressed in his bed, where he is beginning to sink
into a deep slumber. Suddenly, the voice of Valentn calls out, waking the 44 usurer and
causing him to jump from his bed. Torquemada wraps a blanket around himself and rubs his
eyes, in a vain attempt to come fully awake. Sleep once again overpowers the moneylender, who
sinks into a chair, sprawling in it like a drunken man. The spirit voice continues to communicate,
and as the dialogue between father and son develops, in response to the latter's statements the
usurer's body adopts a huddling posture: hecho un ovillo, la cabeza entre las piernas (V, 967).
Then he is seen lying on the floor, tendido cuan largo era en medio de la estancia (ibid.).
Immediately afterwards, Torquemada begins to crawl around the floor on his hands and knees,
imagining that Valentn is being reborn and searching frantically for the child's mother, as if her
existence in the usurer's life were already a fait accompli. The physical effort awakens
Torquemada, who comes to on his knees in the silence and darkness of his bedroom.
The sance, we are aware, concerns a matter which has been preoccupying Torquemada
for some time, namely, the question of his marriage into the guila family, referred to above.
The imagined desire of Valentn to be reborn is both the motive and the excuse for this
important step in the usurer's life. A second marriage, and furthermore, into an aristocratic
family, contains a certain element of risk, and Torquemada appears to be conscious of this fact,
hence the usurer's hesitation and self-questioning. There is another aspect of the sance
described above, which requires closer examination. It will be noted that, as the imaginary
reincarnation approaches its climax, Torquemada behaves as if the event were actually
taking place. His trance-like state, between sleeping and waking, would help to explain the
usurer's actions, which also reveal an intense personal desire to witness the reincarnation of his
semi-divine first son. Nevertheless, the series of physical positions adopted by Torquemada's
body attracts the reader's attention. Allowing for the probability that the peculiar postures
reflect the usurer's agitated state of mind at the time, and that they also correspond to the
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character's established trait of physical awkwardness, it is equally noteworthy that the sance
referred to is the only such occasion on which Galds devotes so much detail to the bodily
actions of Torquemada. There is a certain ritualistic sequence to the movements; the huddling
posture, lying stretched out on the floor, the first efforts at crawling and, finally, the action of
rising to his knees. The question arises whether we are here dealing with an instance of
sympathetic magic. If this is so, then Torquemada would seem to be attempting to bring about
an intensely wished for event, by imitating some of the principal physical positions associated
with child-birth. He is evidently performing these actions in a mental state resembling that of a
trance, when the subconscious can express itself more freely. The image of Torquemada as the
officiating priest of some weird atavistic cult, would in this case represent a further extension of
the pseudo-religious qualities we have already noted in the cult devoted to Valentn's spirit.
It would not be possible to insist categorically on the above interpretation of the sance.
Rather, this remains an interesting possibility revealing the concatenation of associations
evolving from the original image of Torquemada. As always happens in Galds novels, the
delicate balance between reality and fantasy is sooner or later adjusted in favour of the former.
As time passes and Torquemada becomes increasingly absorbed in the practical affairs of his
new family, he can no longer indulge freely in these flights of fancy. The memory of Valentn
gradually fades into the background, the pseudo-mystical communications 45 no longer
take place and even the cabinet dedicated to the cult of the dead child is finally despojado
totalmente de las apariencias de altarucho (V, 1056). The usurer's fanatical insistence on the
inevitable quality of the reincarnation of Valentn becomes a fact, when his wife gives birth to
a baby boy. The latter is also christened Valentn, but instead of the long-awaited return of the
original mathematical genius, the second Valentn turns out to be a congenital imbecile, a
grotesque animal-like caricature of his father's uncouth grossness. The tragic reality of the
second Valentn finally drives the ideal image of his first son entirely from Torquemada's mind:
evocaba al primer Valentn y le sala el segundo (V, 1152).
Apart from its dynamic evolution in the novels, the theme of the usurer's cult of Valentn is
also related to a further aspect of the religious allusions, namely, to Torquemada's satanism. We
find an instance of what Gustavo Correa has called the usurer's orgullo luciferino57 in
Torquemada's determination that the child Fidela is expecting can be none other than Valentn
reincarnated: Si es el hijo mo que vuelve, por voluntad ma, y decreto del santo Altsimo, del
Bajsimo o de quien sea (V, 1046). As with other aspects of Torquemada's personality and his
physical appearance, the satanic element possesses its comical side. This can be seen in the
manner in which the grief-stricken usurer emerges from his tenement building. To the women
inhabitants of the property, Torquemada appears to be haciendo unos gestos tales que pareca
el mismo demonio persignndose. (V, 918) There is also the example of the moral domination
of the miserly usurer by his sister-in-law, Cruz, who is continually forcing Torquemada to spend
money he would prefer to hoard. Galds describes this jocosely, comparing the moneylender's
situation to that of Satan writhing in helpless rage at the feet of St. Michael the Archangel, as
depicted in the well-known statue (V, 1058). Torquemada's dislike of Cruz is referred to as
aversin diablica. In the final volume of the series, his early-morning irascibility is aptly
described as rezndole al demonio Padrenuestros y Biblias (V, 1113) and also as dndose a
los demonios. (V, 117)
By means of such allusions, in addition to their humorous or satirical intention, Galds
reinforces the theme of satanism and constantly reminds us of the principal concept of the
novels: the conflict between money and religious values, or, in other words, between Matter and
the Spirit.
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Central to the main theme, and basic to Torquemada's function in relation to the latter, is
the rle played by money. Throughout the novels, financial considerations are inextricably
bound up with religious problems. The usurer personifies the power of money, as Balzac's
moneylender had, more than forty years earlier. The narrator of the French novel declares:
Ce petit vieillard sec avait grandi. Il s'tait chang mes yeux
en une image fantastique o se personnifiait le pouvoir de l'or.58

The Spanish usurer's wealth provides him with a similar aura, but, as distinct from the effect
created by Gobseck, the manner in which Torquemada personifies money acquires a religious
significance. On the purely material level, Torquemada's rise to prominence is related to the
general development of Spanish capitalism in the nineteenth century. We are informed that the
usurer belongs to a specific historical period: Una poca que arranca de la desamortizacin (V,
908). The concrete reference to the legislation of lvarez Mendizbal's government of 46
1836-37 merges with the religious allusions that proliferate in the novels, when we are also told
that the usurer has his roots in a clearly-defined social group who represent los msticos y
metafsicos de la usura. (V, 980) Consequently, when Galds described Torquemada's
generation as one which has made una religin de las materialidades decorosas de la
existencia (ibid.), the religious theme is reinforced. Money and religion are continually
juxtaposed in this manner, so that the usurer's money gives a note of semi-religious solemnity to
the most common-place opinions expressed by Torquemada, and those listening to the latter
bajaban la cabeza ante el brbaro, y le oan como a un padre de la iglesia... crematstica (V,
1022). The equation of money=religion reveals the ironic note in certain everyday Spanish
phrases, as used by Galds to describe the public adulation offered to Torquemada: golpes de
incensario and incensar al tacao (V, 1103).
One major character in the Torquemada novels, the blind brother of Fidela and Cruz, Rafael
del guila, is not impressed by the usurer's money. Rafael violently opposes his sister's marriage
to the coarse moneylender, but family circumstances outweigh his opposition. The young men's
awareness of his helplessness in the matter intensifies his bitter reactions. On one such reaction,
when Rafael utters a sarcastic anticipation of an after-dinner speech that Torquemada, as the
guest of honour, will give at a public banquet, we owe a further development of the religious
images associated with Torquemada. Speaking as his brother-in-law to an imagined audience,
Rafael declares: os digo que me tengo bien merecido el culto de adulacin que me tributis a m,
reluciente becerro de oro (V, 1093). In other words, from high priest of the cult of Mammon,
Torquemada has been elevated in this sarcastic outburst to the position of the central object of
devotion in the false religion which the usurer personifies. Shortly before he commits suicide,
Rafael reiterates the image of the Biblical Golden Calf: Yo, que fui el mayor enemigo del
becerro, ahora le pido hospitalidad en su sacrista. (V, 1094).
The struggle for dominance between the two opposing forces of Matter and Spirit reaches
its climax in the final volume of the series. At one level, the encounter is symbolized by the
attempts of the ex-missionary priest, Gamborena, who represents a relatively conventional
attitude to the problems centering on Torquemada, to save the soul of the materialistic usurer.
At a level of greater intensity, the struggle also takes place between the irreconcilable opposites
within the latter's person. The juxtaposition of money and spiritual matters is continued by
Torquemada, who interprets financial questions in terms of religious belief, and who also
frequently reverses the process by viewing religion in terms of commerce. This habit of mind
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gives a highly personal note to the usurer's attitudes towards spiritual problems. On occasion,
the personal tone reveals a point of view bordering on the ridiculous. For instance, Torquemada
expresses his conviction that the child Fidela is carrying must be a reincarnation of Valentn.
Should the child turn out to be anything other than the prodigy reborn, the father states he will
demand his money back from God (V, 1076), as if Torquemada's irrational belief were a form of
deposit made in the good will of the Deity. Torquemada quickly realises that no hay expresin
(ibid.) for the idea in his mind, yet he is unwilling to issue a blank cheque, so to speak, by
surrendering his conscience through a total acceptance of the Church's spiritual teaching. He
considers an 47 action of this nature to be a form of deposit against which he can demand
certain guarantees (i.e., an assurance of eternal life), and he informs Gamborena that it would be
unfortunate: que yo diera mi capital y que luego resultara que no haba tales puertas (i.e.
leading into Heaven), ni tal gloria ni Cristo que los fund... (V, 1157).
The ideal synthesis of business and religious faith keeps eluding Torquemada. God refuses
to be contained within the rational, acceptable limits of commercial practice. Finally, the usurer
can no longer contain his exasperation and in a violent outburst he expresses his belief that God
is not playing fair with financial interests:
O el Seor tira de la cuerda para todos o para ninguno. Ah
tiene usted a los militares, cuyo oficio es matar gente y nos hablan
del Dios de las Batallas. Pues, por qu, por vida de los ales! no
hemos de tener tambin el Dios de las haciendas, el Dios de los
presupuestos, de los negocios o del tanto ms cuanto?
(V, 1188)
This characteristic obsession with business and financial questions accompanies Torquemada to
his death-bed. Shortly before he dies, the usurer enthusiastically conceives a scheme for
converting the Public Debt. Although his dying expression is conversin, experience of
Torquemada's obdurate mentality causes Gamborena to remark grimly: Conversin! Es la de
su alma o la de la Deuda? (V, 11966).
As I have indicated above, Galds is explicit in his references to the usurer's historical and
social background. The author's main preoccupation, however, is with the moral aspects of the
problems raised by Torquemada's attitudes, behaviour and metamorphosis. This concentration
of attention is brought to light by the theme of pseudoreligion, various aspects of which I have
attempted to analyse in this article. The reader's attention is directed progressively towards the
vacuum awaiting the moneylender at the end of his social and financial evolution. This sense of
dynamic progression is maintained by the continually evolving series of religious allusions, which
seem to derive from one another in succession. For this reason, one is tempted to regard the
allusions as a concatenation of associations, developing dynamically in step with the character's
general evolution. Consequently, the religious images and references reveal a parallel
development noted in the usurer's use of language and intellectual concepts,59 and in
Torquemada's clothes.60 The existence of a number of descriptive elements possessing a
parallel function and development, is indicative of the fundamental unity of concept underlying
the characterization of Francisco Torquemada. It is partly through these allusions that Galds
succeeds in emancipating his usurer far beyond the limits of the latter's original French model,
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achieving in Torquemada one of his most interesting and most memorable literary creations.
University College. Cork, Eric

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