Previous
Lazaro de Tormes
The blind man is Lazaro’s first master, about whom Lazaro writes the most. A miserly and streetwise old beggar, the blind man earns a living by travelling from town to town saying prayers and blessings for whoever will pay him. He beats Lazaro and doesn’t feed him well, but he teaches Lazaro valuable lessons about how to protect and provide for himself. Like other blind men in literature, he seems to have a gift for prophecy, predicting the two most notable developments of the book’s conclusion: that Lazaro’s livelihood will depend on wine, and that he will become a cuckold.
The blind man Quotes in The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes
The The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes quotes below are all either spoken by The blind man or refer to The blind man. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 1 Quotes
It seemed to me that at that moment I awoke out of the simplicity in which I had remained like a sleeping child. And I said to myself, “He’s right. I’d better keep my eyes open and my wits about me, for I’m on my own, and I’ll have to figure out how to manage for myself.”
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
In this passage, following the incident in which the blind man knocks Lazaro’s head against the stone bull, Lazaro reflects on the blind man’s admonishment of him for his stupidity and he resolves that he will learn everything he can from the blind man about what it takes to survive on his own. This incident and the realization it produces in Lazaro will prove to be a major turning point in the development of Lazaro’s character—what Lazaro once would have seen as an unjustifiable act of cruelty, he now sees as an exercise of power and cunning that he would Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam con
He put wine on the places where he’d cut my face with the broken jug, and he smiled and said, “What do you think of that, Lazaro? The same thing that got you hurt heals you afterwards and gets you back into shape.”
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
After the blind man smashes the wine jug on Lazaro’s face, he cleans the cuts using the wine. He makes this remark in reference to the wine, pointing out its dual nature as something that has the power to do harm even as it is a source of joy and healing. But the statement could just as easily apply to the blind man himself—a cruel and bitter master who harms and deceives Lazaro while simultaneously caring for him and teaching him valuable life lessons. That the blind man uses his power over Lazaro to both harm and heal him bears Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At
“Oh wicked object, the fruit of worse behavior! How many there are who would like to see you on their neighbors’ heads, and yet how few want to have you for themselves, or even want to hear you mentioned in connection with them! … It’s a bad dinner and supper I’ve got in my hand here, but I’ll give it to you one of these days… What I’ve said is true. You’ll see, if you live long enough.”
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
The blind man utters these cryptic but prophetic words at the inn in the town of Escalona, after he has rested his hand on an animal horn that is mounted to the exterior wall of the inn. At this time in Spain, horns were a common symbol for a cuckold, or a man with an unfaithful wife. Therefore, by reacting to the presence of a horn as a bad omen, the blind man is repudiating the practice of cuckoldry by cursing the horn which symbolizes it. The blind man’s statement that many people wish their neighbors would be cuckolded but Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusanti
“Honestly, I waste more wine washing this boy in one year than I drink myself in two. Lazaro, to put it at its very least you owe more to wine than you do to your own father. He only gave you your being once, whereas wine has brought you to life a thousand times. … I’ll tell you, if there’s anyone in this world to whom wine will be a blessing, it will be you.”
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
The blind man says these words to Lazaro after he has beaten him for stealing the sausage and then used the wine to clean Lazaro’s injuries. Once again, the blind man distorts the narrative of Lazaro’s misfortune, ignoring the fact that the blind man was the person who injured Lazaro in the first place and choosing to focus instead on the resources he is wasting on healing Lazaro’s injuries. This should evoke the hypocrisy of the Spanish ruling class, whose superficial handwringing about poverty and morality masks their own corruption and complicity in perpetuating class inequality. This is also the Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qu
Chapter 3 Quotes
“He’s poor,” I said to myself, “and nobody can give what he hasn’t got. Whereas that miserly blind man and that niggardly skin-flint of a priest had both done alright for themselves in the name of God, the one with his hand-kissing and the other with his line of patter, and they starved me half to death. So it’s perfectly fair to be down on them and to take pity on this one.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Lazaro says this to himself in the squire’s bedroom one night after having looked through the squire’s pockets to see if he has any money. Upon discovering that the squire has not a single blanca in his purse, Lazaro takes pity on the squire, recognizing that his poverty makes him worthy of compassion. Here Lazaro, more directly than anywhere else in the text, speaks to the religious hypocrisy of his first two masters. Although the sequence of events in Lazaro’s life until now has been “from bad to worse,” it is noteworthy that Lazaro’s response to learning that he has Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accus
Get the entire Lazarillo de Tormes LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
The blind man Character Timeline in The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes
The timeline below shows where the character The blind man appears in The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
One day a blind man comes to the inn and, thinking that Lazaro could be of use to him, asks...
(full context)
The blind man realizes that he isn’t making any money in Salamanca and decides that he and Lazaro...
(full context)
As the blind man and Lazaro are leaving Salamanca they come across a statue of a stone bull by...
(full context)
Lazaro describes how the blind man is able to collect a fair amount of money by affecting an air of religious...
(full context)
During this time Lazaro also learns to steal swigs of wine from the blind man ’s jug, but the blind man notices the jug getting lighter and learns to always...
(full context)
In their travels, the blind man and Lazaro come to the town of Almorox where a kind stranger gives the blind...
(full context)
In Escalona, Lazaro and the blind man stay in a shoemaker’s shop where ropes are hung from the ceiling. The blind man,...
(full context)
One night while they are staying in Escalona, the blind man is roasting sausages and cooking a stew. He gives Lazaro some money and asks him...
(full context)
...to health by the friendly innkeeper’s wife, who uses the wine Lazaro stole from the blind man to clean his wounds. The blind man jokingly makes another prophesy that Lazaro, more than...
(full context)
They leave Escalona a few days later, passing through a town where the blind man stops to beg. As night falls and it begins to rain, the blind man decides...
(full context)
Chapter 2
...to help with mass and Lazaro says that he does—a skill he learned from the blind man —and so the priest agrees to take Lazaro as his servant. Almost immediately Lazaro realizes...
(full context)
Chapter 7
...thief is of high quality. The sight of the rope reminds him of what the blind man had said about the ropes in the shoemaker’s shop in Escalona, and the memory makes...
(full context)
...archpriest’s chambers, causing Lazaro suspicion. As a result, Lazaro is often haunted by what the blind man said to him long ago in Escalona about the horns on the wall of the...
(full context)
