Previous
The blind man
The priest of Maqueda is Lazaro’s second master, more selfish and stingy than even the blind man. He agrees to take Lazaro on as a servant, but he deprives Lazaro of food while he indulges in excessive eating and drinking himself. The priest takes the bread that is donated to the church and eats it, and he also stuffs himself on the feasts of the funerals he administers. Through his selfishness, dishonesty, gluttonousness, and cruelty toward Lazaro, the priest epitomizes the hypocrisy of the church.
The priest Quotes in The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes
The The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes quotes below are all either spoken by The priest or refer to The priest. 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 2 Quotes
All I can say is that my new master had collected all the stinginess in the world and was hoarding it. Whether he had been born with that character or had put it on with his priest’s cassock I don’t know.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
This is how Lazaro introduces his second master, the priest. It sets the tone for all that is to follow in the chapter by highlighting the priest’s utter lack of charity. Beyond that, the quote establishes a relationship between members of the clergy and a moral character typified by selfishness and self-interest. This characterization of the priesthood stands, of course, in stark contrast to the moral standard of generosity, compassion, and selflessness that the clergy is supposed to uphold. The fact that Lazaro so instinctively equates the “priest’s cassock” (the garment worn by church officials) with moral corruption suggests that 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
“I’ve had two masters. The first one nearly starved me to death and when I left him I took up with this one who’s virtually brought me to the edge of the grave. If I quit this one now and land myself with another one who’s even worse, there’s only one thing that can happen to me: I’ll die.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Lazaro is speaking to himself here, lamenting his bad fortune and reasoning with himself as to why he can’t leave the priest. In fact, as Lazaro will find out, his luck can and will become worse, but not in the way he anticipates in this passage; instead of a master who gives Lazaro too little, his next master goes so far as to take bread from his own servant. So the pattern of “bad to worse” that Lazaro articulates in this passage does, in fact, continue. The fear and hopelessness in Lazaro’s speech is expressive of the extreme difficulty faced 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 suscipi
So it went on, and we kept it up at a great rate, fulfilling the old saying that “Where one door shuts another opens.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Lazaro is describing the process of stealing bread from the priest by making holes in the priest’s locked chest, only to have the priest discover the holes and cover them up. This has become a cycle of, night after night, Lazaro creating holes and the priest patching them. To illustrate his point, Lazaro invokes a biblical proverb, but to unintentionally humorous effect. The meaning of the proverb Lazaro quotes is that God provides for those in need, but Lazaro turns the proverb on its head and casts it in a cynical light by interpreting it literally—Lazaro must “open doors” to 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. D
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 priest Character Timeline in The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes
The timeline below shows where the character The priest appears in The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2
Lazaro meets his next master in Maqueda, where he goes to the priest to ask for alms. The priest asks if Lazaro knows how to help with mass...
(full context)
The priest has a habit of taking the holy bread from the church and locking it away...
(full context)
...only opportunities Lazaro has to feed himself adequately are at funerals, when he and the priest both stuff themselves on the funeral feast provided by the families of the deceased. Lazaro...
(full context)
One day a tinker comes to the door while the priest is away and Lazaro convinces the man to give him a key that will open...
(full context)
...can break off many little pieces from each of the loaves, and that way the priest will think that mice have gotten into the chest through one of its many holes....
(full context)
The priest begins to lay mouse traps inside the chest, baiting them with pieces of cheese, but...
(full context)
...health by a local healer and the neighbors. They begin to repeat the story the priest had told them, and, while they are filled with laughter, Lazaro begins to cry. He...
(full context)
