Summary Of The Opening Chapter Of The Life Of Lazarillo De Tormes

The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes was written as a criticism of many of the social structures and moral contradictions that were present in 16th century Spain. The book was so critical, in fact, that it was written and published anonymously is several different places at once to avoid the author being punished by the Catholic Church, the dominating institution at the time. The novel is broken up into seven different chapters, each focusing on Lazarillo’s servitude to one master told from the perspective of an older Lazaro. Each of these chapters serves as an illustration of the different social classes in 16th century Spanish culture and the inequalities and hypocrisies that each of them experienced. The first chapter focuses on Lazarillo’s

This is perhaps the most shocking and abhorrent example of moral contradiction and hypocrisy that Lazaro encounters within the Catholic religion. Lazaro states that this salesman had numerous tricks and hoaxes that he used to sell his indulgences to believers. Throughout the chapter Lazaro describes the tricks which include staging miracles and bribing priests to help him sell his indulgences. It is with this man that Lazaro witnesses the false claims made by many powerful men in the Catholic Church in the pursuit of profit. He sees that the religion and its followers are being taken advantage of. At the end of the chapter, Lazaro remarks that he endured many hardships during his four months with the seller of indulgences, but he always had enough to eat. This reflects the idea that while many suffered, the high-ranking members of the Catholic Church were able to profit and benefit from the power of the Church. This realization is summed up when Lazaro says, “What a lot of tricks of this kind theses sharks must play on innocent people!”

He says that he quickly quit this job due to its dangerous nature. He then went on to become a town crier, in Toledo, where he makes announcements about the sale of wines, auctions, lost articles, and to go beside men being prosecuted for crimes. In this job, Lazaro works under the Archpriest of San Salvador who married Lazaro to one of his servants. Lazaro ends his story by saying that he has not once regretted his marriage, but has heard rumors that his wife is actually a mistress of the Archpriest. Eventually, the Archpriest advises Lazaro that it would be in his best interest to ignore these rumors and Lazaro obliges. This makes evident the fact that Lazaro has conformed to the ways of society that he once found repulsive. Lazaro has now completely transformed from the innocent young boy he once was, into a young man plagued by the contradictions and hypocrisies that also plague society. He uses his higher status to justify his behavior, just as those he earlier served had