IV explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• The Romance and Reality of War

  Don Alonso and Marcial's enthusiastic war games contrast sharply with Doña Francisca's horror and the grim realities of Marcial's past battles, highlighting the tension between idealized glory and actual suffering.

• Old Age and Obsolescence

  The two old veterans, Don Alonso and Marcial, are portrayed as childish in their enthusiasm for war, while Doña Francisca dismisses their plans as foolish, underscoring their obsolescence in a changing world.

• Deception and Self-Delusion

  Don Alonso and Marcial deceive Doña Francisca by hiding their naval plans, and they delude themselves about the glory of war, ignoring the catastrophic outcomes Marcial himself has experienced.

Characters to notice

• Doña Francisca

  Argues with Don Alonso about joining the fleet, criticizes Godoy, and listens to Marcial's war stories with horror.

• Don Alonso Gutierrez de Cisniega

  Eagerly discusses naval plans with Marcial, tries to interest his wife in the battle, and recounts the disaster of the San Hermenegildo.

• Señor Marcial

  Fuels Don Alonso's enthusiasm, uses vivid gestures to simulate a naval battle, and narrates his past experiences including the friendly fire incident and the loss of his leg.

• Unknown

  Recalls the childhood scene of Don Alonso and Marcial's war games, and joins in the noise-making with youthful enthusiasm.

• José Débora

  Mentioned as having survived the San Hermenegildo disaster by clinging to a plank and reaching Morocco.

Key passages

• “Doña Francisca, “what I say is that the Prince of Peace is interfering in things he does not understand. There you see what a man without learning is! My brother the archdeacon, who is on Prince Ferdinand’s side, says that Godoy is a thoroughly commonplace soul, that he has studied neither Latin nor theology and that all he knows is how to play the guitar and twenty ways of dancing a gavotte. They made him prime minister for his good looks, as it would seem. That is the way we do things in Spain! And then we hear of starvation and want⁠—everything is so dear⁠—yellow fever breaking out in Andalusia.⁠—This is a pretty state of things, sir⁠—yes, and the fault is yours; yours,” she went on, raising her voice and turning purple. “Yes, señor, yours, who offend God by killing so many people⁠—and if you would go to church and tell your beads instead of wanting to go in those diabolical ships of war, the devil would not find time to trot round Spain nimbly, playing the mischief with us all.””

  Doña Francisca blames Godoy's incompetence for Spain's problems, criticizes Don Alonso for going to war, and insists that prayer is better than fighting.

  Doña Francisca expresses her political and religious opposition to the war and Godoy's leadership.

• “Marcial, by means of energetic gymnastics with his arm and a half, imitated the advance of the squadron and the explosion of the broadsides; with his head he indicated the alternate action of the hostile vessels; with his body the heavy lurch of each ship as it went to the bottom; with his hand the hauling up and down of the signal flags; he represented the boatswain’s whistle by a sharp sibilation; the rattle of the cannon by thumping his wooden leg on the floor; he smacked his tongue to imitate the swearing and confusion of noises in the fight”

  Marcial uses his body and sounds to act out an entire naval battle, showing his intense enthusiasm.

  Marcial's physical reenactment illustrates his childish excitement and the romanticized view of war.

• “He would say in speaking of the loss of his eye that his larboard porthole was closed, and explained the amputation of his arm by saying that he had been left minus his starboard cat-head. His heart he called his courage-hold and his stomach his breadbasket.”

  Marcial uses nautical terms to describe his body, calling his eye a porthole and his arm a cat-head.

  Marcial's unique sailor slang reflects his identity and the blending of man and ship.

• ““The cause of that disaster,” said Don Alonso, who delighted in getting his wife to listen to these dramatic narratives, “was this: The English emboldened by the darkness arranged that the Superb , the lightest of their vessels, should extinguish her lights and slip through between our two finest ships. Having done this, she fired both her broadsides and then put about as quickly as possible to escape the struggle that ensued. The two men-of-war, finding themselves unexpectedly attacked, returned fire and thus went on battering each other till dawn, when, just as they were about to board, they recognized each other and the end came as Marcial has told you in detail.””

  Don Alonso explains how the English ship Superb caused two Spanish ships to accidentally fight each other in the dark.

  Don Alonso recounts the tragic friendly fire incident, highlighting the chaos and deception of war.