Lazarillo De Tormes Sparknotes

No Better Than Your Neighbor: Relationship Dynamics in “Lazarillo de Tormes”
In the book “Lazarillo de Tormes” the main character Lazaro narrates his story of traversing masters and employers by request of a person, most likely a civil authority, referred to only as Your Honour and because of references to “Your Honour’s servant and friend” probably his current neighbor the Archpriest of Toledo as well (59). The Archpriest noticed how skilled Lazaro is at collecting and disseminating information throughout the city as the town crier, and encouraged him to marry one of his concubine servants and become his neighbor in an effort to ensure the scandal’s obscurity. Lazaro most likely knew of the Archpriest’s affair, yet also knew that because his

lowly social position, he needed to demonstrate that he would be compliant and not instigate problems for the church through his occupation. Within the novel, Lazaro provides proverbs, short phrases that contain truth or knowledge often in an ironic way, to give context to his situation with the Archpriest. Through his proverb use he mocks the municipal and ecclesiastical powers in such subtle way, in order that he not incur harmful repercussions but still poignantly address the corruption of power in 16th century Spain all the while proving his trustworthiness to Your Honour and the Archpriest to maintain his livelihood in Toledo.
Lazaro states in the Prologue that he believes that “important events” should “see the light of day”, referring indirectly to the affair between his wife and the Archpriest that is discovered later in the book, yet known to Your Honour from the beginning of the story (3).

The proverb that is used, “One man’s meat is another man’s poison” can be taken to mean both; his wife making the Archpriest content by being his concubine servant and how it causes Lazaro some distress from having to share his wife and protect his honour within the city (3). The same proverb can also mean that Lazaro’s wife by being the Archpriest’s concubine, grants Lazaro great privileges such as the house next to the Archpriest and various additional gifts from him. This causes stress on the Archpriest to ensure a high level happiness for Lazaro lest knowledge of the affair spread throughout the city. This proverb can apply to some of the other relationships that Lazaro goes through, as well as several others proverbs mentioned in the book also apply to the situation with the Archpriest and his

wife.
In his first experience with the outside world after being orphaned off by his mother, he travels with a blind man who shows Lazaro “how to make living” and survive (8). Whilst teaching him street smarts that indubitably helped Lazaro later on in the story, the blind man certainly takes advantage of him through starvation and frequent severe beatings. Lazaro’s poor treatment and living conditions are repeated in various forms with his subsequent masters, but he implements what he has learned in his experience with the cruel blind man in his other relationship. The most important lesson that the blind man imparts to Lazaro, which is applicable to some of his relationships that directly foreshadows his present situation with his wife, is: how being in a cuckolded relationship “will give you an ill-deserved day’s meals” (13). The proverb illustrating how he will willingly forfeit the sanctity of his marriage which endows him with trivial gifts and a slight economic and social advantage in his life.
Later, Lazaro joins with a fake papal indulgence salesman who hustles whole cities if they annoy him.

This soon takes Lazaro to a town with many greedy citizens not wishing to buy indulgences, but when he offers them for free almost everyone in the area took one. The indulgences were in fact worthless and, since the act of selling the phoney papers was the entirety of the scam, the charity of the swindler initially seems out of place. However, after everyone in the city took one and their names were recorded, the indulgence salesman, agitated by the people’s sense of entitlement, tells the city clerk that “they’ll pay ransom for the release of at least ten Christian slaves in Algiers” (54). This experience with the dishonest indulgence salesman brutally asserts the proverbs ‘you can’t get something for nothing’ and that ‘there is always a catch’. Lazaro’s ironic use of these proverbs becomes clear when he reveals that he is receiving extra benefits from the Archpriest on special Christian holidays; he gets various gifts of clothing, food, and preferential treatment from the Archpriest, but at the cost of his wife’s faithfulness and potentially his honour within the city. Admittedly, Lazaro’s honour may not be all that important to him anyway as he is a lowly town crier, a profession of relatively low social standing, and finds that honour is not needed as long as you “keep with respectable people”

(59).
Once Lazaro starts to live beside the Archpriest, the most prestigious clergyman portrayed in “Lazarillo de Tormes”, he clearly knows that the Archpriest is sleeping with his wife and is therefore willfully disobeying a commandment of God: “… thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife…” (Exodus 20:17 KJV). He also understands his position as a low-life within Toledo, since he is not noble born and has been a scavenger and a vagrant his whole life. Because of his knowledge of the Archpriest’s activities and his own self-awareness, he proverbially insults the Archpriest in the Prologue by saying that, “I am no better than my neighbor” (4). This proverb also could be seen as having a double entendre referring to how Jesus commanded to “love thy neighbour as thyself” as the Archpriest goes far beyond what is meant by the scripture (Mark 12:31 KJV). Your Honour in collaboration with the Archpriest would notice this affront and Lazaro would gain no favours by attacking them without the sufficient protection of being able to remind the intended audience that his position in the ménage à trois is the most preferable outcome.
Lazaro explains that after he left a negative relationship with a priest that starved him inches from death, he encounters a fine dressed minor nobleman that decides to take Lazaro on as a servant. Lazaro believed at the time that it was a lucky break to finally have someone of wealth to work for, so he could end his starvation. However, it was discovered that the squire had no financially viable assets and was very poor, yet informs to young Lazaro a certainty when dealing with masters and superiors that “rich men… don’t want honest men in their houses” (43). Lazaro then applies this truth in his subsequent relationships by showing his willful compliance with the un-Christian behaviour of his masters. This, along with his steadfast denial of his wife’s infidelity to his fellow citizens, demonstrates to Your Honour and the Archpriest that he is trustworthy enough to keep in his position and he will not reveal the liaison with the Archpriest and his wife.
Throughout “Lazarillo de Tormes”, Lazaro demonstrates his comprehension of the affair and the possible consequences for him or for the church and government and literarily attacks the injustices of his masters over a series of proverbs. He tells his superiors that they are of poor moral character and threatens them with the abysmal life that he has had and how he could make it happen to them. The book serves as a warning to Your Honour and the Archpriest that they would do well to maintain the status quo of Lazaro’s position to avoid public uproar.