7 /10 1 Votes
Originally published 1878 Preceded by Gloria Adaptations Marianela (1955) | 3.5/5 Goodreads Followed by La familia de León Roch | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Similar Benito Pérez Galdós books, Classical Studies books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Marianela is a Spanish novel written by Benito Pérez Galdós in 1878.
Contents
Plot
The novel takes place in the fictional town of Socartes, Spain. The town's name refers to the philosopher Socrates and his ideas about internal and external beauty. It tells the story of Marianela (sometimes referred to as "Nela"), a poor orphan girl with an ugly face, and her love for Pablo, a blind boy, who has feelings for Nela as well. Marianela frequently sings to Pablo, and he believes she is beautiful because of her voice. Pablo's father asks a famous doctor, named Teodoro Golfin, to come and examine Pedro to see if his sight can be restored. Pablo, full of hope at the prospect, promises La Nela that he will marry her after the operation if it is successful. He is convinced that La Nela is beautiful, even when she tells him otherwise. In the meantime, Pablo's father plans for Pablo to marry his beautiful cousin, Florentina, but tells neither of them about it. Florentina comes to Socartes and when Marianela first sees her, she mistakes her for the Virgin Mary because of her beauty. When Florentina is out walking with Pablo and Marianela, she expresses her pity for La Nela because she is poor, abandoned and nobody loves her. She vows to take charge of Nela and clothe, educate her, and have La Nela live with her like a sister.
Pablo eventually gets the operation that gives him his sight. Before seeing Nela, he sees Florentina and proposes to her instead. Because of this, Nela attempts suicide but is saved by Teodoro Golfín, the eye doctor who cured Pedro. He and Florentina take Nela to Pablo's villa and take care of her while she is hiding away from Pablo because of her looks. Then, due to Pablo's desire to see her, Pablo finds his way to La Nela's room and serenades Florentina. He then sees La Nela in bed and confuses her for "just a poor girl who Don Teodoro took in from the street." La Nela then admits it as she and kisses his hand three times. Upon the third kiss, she dies of a broken heart and leaves Pablo distraught.
Characters
Adaptations on film
In 1940, 1955, and 1972, the novel was made into film adaptations. A Mexican TV series based on the novel was filmed in 1961. In 1988 there was a second Mexican adaptation of Marianela as soap opera Flor y Canela starring Edith Gonzalez (Florentina), Ernesto Laguardia (Pablo) and Daniela Leites (Marianela). There is also a teleteatro of Marianela starring Fernando Colunga as Pablo.