There has been a tendency to regard the novels discussed in this chapter as the product of Galdós's search for the spiritual. As seen in the previous chapter, Angel Guerra's charitable mission has been analysed from the perspective of Angel's Tolstoyan religiosity. Similarly, the other three novels under consideration – Nazarín, Halma and Misericordia – have traditionally been seen as a reflection of Galdós's spiritual dimension, and often as forming part of a trilogy. (Although in this chapter each section discusses a particular novel, where relevant, reference is at times also made to other novels.) On the other hand, little attention has been devoted to these novels as a product of the material, in particular the social and class transformations that characterized late nineteenth-century Spain. I would like to argue that these novels are not simply concerned with spiritual issues, but are deeply reflective of contemporary social problems and controversies, especially the vibrant debates that occurred at the time on poverty and the dispensation of charity. I hope not only to show how these contemporary discourses throw new light on the novels under consideration here, but also to elucidate Galdós's position with regard to these debates.

The Deserving and Undeserving Poor in Angel Guerra

Angel Guerra, disillusioned with politics, and after a series of upheavals in his life such as the death of his daughter and mother, decides to spend the inheritance left to him by his bourgeois mother on setting up a charitable institution in the countryside. Guerra's philanthropic impulses are, to a great extent, influenced by the mystic Leré, his dead daughter's governess. After the death of Guerra's mother, Leré has a conversation with him, which is central to a major theme in the novel: that of the deserving and undeserving poor and the indiscriminate giving of charity. In this conversation Leré tells Guerra that it would be sinful if, being in possession of a large fortune, he kept it to himself instead of giving it away to those who are in real need. Guerra, surprised by what he first regards as an eccentric idea, replies, ‘De modo que yo peco por no dedicarme a sostener vagos’ (I, 171).