Genre
Picaresque novel
Setting and Context
The novel was written in various cities and towns in Spain during the Spanish Inquisition.
Narrator and Point of View
The narrator is Lazaro and he presents the events from a first person subjective point of view.
Tone and Mood
Comic, tragic, violent
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist is Lazaro and the antagonists are various people who have mistreated him during his life, such as the priest.
Major Conflict
The major conflict can be considered as being between Lazaro and the various masters he had but also between the rich population of the country and the poor population of the country.
Climax
The story reaches its climax when Lazaro gets married to the maid.
Foreshadowing
The subject of the novel and the direction in which it will eventually go is foreshadowed by the first sentences of the book when the narrator claims that he will write about certain subjects even though he knows he will be criticized for writing about them.
Understatement
When the maid claims that she was never unfaithful to her husband is an understatement because she continued to sleep with her former master even after she got married.
Allusions
When Zaide is punished, it is alluded that the reason he was punished was because he dared to marry a white woman. This was not acceptable in the time when the novel is set and the people around them felt as if it was their duty to remediate the situation.
Imagery
Lazaro’s wife is portrayed as being a cunning woman, someone who knows how to manipulate her husband and who knows what to say to him in order to believe her.
Paradox
The relationship between Lazaro and his wife is paradoxical in the sense that even though he was warned that his wife will cheat on him, he still stayed with her and agreed to remain with her.
Parallelism
N/A
Metonymy and Synecdoche
When Lazaro mentions children, he usually refers to them in a metonymical sense referring to a state of innocence.
Personification
N/A
