Los Suenos en las Novelas "Marianela," "Fortunata y Jacinta," Y "Miau" de Benito Perez Galdos

Abstract

A close examination of the novels "Marianela," "Fortunata y Jacinta" and "Miau" by Benito Perez Galdos and a careful reading of a wide variety of secondary sources about this famous Spanish realist has revealed a few small areas which have yet to be fully investigated. One of these areas is Galdos' use of dreams and it is this topic in relation to the three above mentioned novels that this thesis (written in Spanish) examines. The results of this research suggests three major conclusions. The first is that Galdos uses dreams as part of the overall construction of the novel. For example, the dream is used to summarize or fore-shadow the plot of the novel. The second is that Galdos uses dreams to aid him in the development of his characters. In this instance one finds dreams reflecting the frustrations of the main characters, not infrequently sexual in nature. And finally Galdos uses dreams to reveal the religious conflicts and tensions within his characters. And not infrequently in this usage, we find Galdos criticizing the Catholic Church of his day.