# Second Master explained — The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes

> Chapter companion for The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes by Anonymous.

## What happens

Lazaro, fleeing Torrijos, takes service with a miserly clergyman in Maqueda. The priest is even more avaricious than the blind man, starving Lazaro while hoarding food in a locked chest. Lazaro's ingenuity leads him to steal bread by picking the lock, first with a key and then with an old knife, creating holes in the chest that he blames on rats. The priest, believing a snake is responsible, sets traps and eventually attacks what he thinks is the snake in Lazaro's straw bed, striking Lazaro on the head. The priest discovers the key in Lazaro's mouth, realizes the truth, and Lazaro is left senseless and bleeding.

## Themes in this chapter

### Poverty and Hunger

Lazaro's extreme hunger drives the entire chapter, as he is starved by the miserly priest and must resort to desperate measures to find food.

### Survival and Ingenuity

Lazaro's clever tricks to steal bread from the priest's chest, including using a key and an old knife, demonstrate his ingenuity in the face of starvation.

### Satire of Religious Hypocrisy

The priest's extreme avarice is contrasted with his religious role, as he hoards food while claiming priests must be frugal, yet eats gluttonously at others' expense.

## Character check-ins

### Lazarillo de Tormes

Lazaro takes service with a miserly clergyman and uses his wits to survive starvation, stealing bread from the priest's locked chest. He is eventually discovered and beaten.

### The Priest

A miserly clergyman who starves Lazaro while hoarding food. He is deceived by Lazaro's tricks but eventually discovers the truth and attacks him.

## Key lines

> I had escaped from the thunder to fall under the lightning.

Lazaro feels he has left a bad situation with the blind man only to enter a worse one with the priest.

_This metaphor emphasizes the priest's extreme cruelty compared to the blind man._

> Take! Eat! Triumph! for you is the world, and you live better than the Pope.

The priest sarcastically tells Lazaro to enjoy the bone he has given him, implying Lazaro is fortunate.

_This ironic statement highlights the priest's stinginess and mockery of Lazaro's suffering._

> It was like the weaving of Penelope, for all he did by day I undid by night.

Lazaro compares his nightly efforts to undo the priest's repairs to Penelope's weaving in the Odyssey.

_This classical allusion underscores the cyclical nature of their conflict and Lazaro's persistence._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_life_of_lazarillo_de_tormes_se/chapters/second-master
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_life_of_lazarillo_de_tormes_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_life_of_lazarillo_de_tormes_se/chapters