VI explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Honor and Duty

  Don Alonso defends Malespina's duty to serve his country, calling the soldier 'the slave of duty' and emphasizing glory in the impending struggle.

• The Romance and Reality of War

  Malespina's romantic farewell contrasts with the grim reality of the fleet's inferiority, raw recruits, and the inevitability of battle.

• Family and Loyalty

  Doña Francisca's fierce protectiveness of her family clashes with Don Alonso's patriotic loyalty; Rosita's grief highlights the personal cost of war.

• Deception and Self-Delusion

  Don Alonso and Marcial plan to secretly leave the house, deceiving Doña Francisca, while Don Alonso clings to illusions of glory despite the fleet's weaknesses.

Characters to notice

• Don Alonso Gutierrez de Cisniega

  Plans to secretly join the fleet; tries to mollify his wife with gifts and amiability; studies a mariner's chart and defends the call to duty.

• Señor Marcial

  Accompanies Don Alonso on his walk; fuels enthusiasm for the secret departure; quarrels with Doña Francisca.

• Doña Francisca

  Cross and peevish; quarrels with Marcial and her husband; vehemently opposes the war and Bonaparte; tries to prevent Malespina's embarkation.

• Don José Malespina

  Visits to take leave; announces he must serve on board ship as an artillery officer; takes tender leave of Rosita.

• Rosita

  Melancholy over Malespina's absence; deeply distressed by his departure; remains silent and agitated during the farewell.

• Unknown

  Observes the household; recalls the events; feels grief for the lovers and loses rancor toward Malespina.

Key passages

• “King of Spain, to pacify him, agreed to pay him a subsidy of a hundred millions of reales—it was purchasing our neutrality with gold. But even so we did not get what we had paid for; in spite of this enormous sacrifice we were dragged into war.”

  Spain paid a huge subsidy to Napoleon to stay neutral, but was still forced into war by England's seizure of Spanish frigates.

  Historical context for Spain's entry into the war.

• “The enemy's sailors are the best in the world—all old and experienced seamen, while only too many of the Spanish vessels are manned by raw recruits, indifferent to their work and hardly knowing how to serve a gun”

  Malespina points out that English sailors are highly experienced, whereas Spanish ships are crewed by untrained recruits.

  Malespina's realistic assessment of the fleet's inferiority.

• “I shall come to burning all that paper trash! A plague on voyages and on the wandering dog of a Jew who invented them.”

  Doña Francisca threatens to burn Don Alonso's maps and curses the inventor of voyages.

  Doña Francisca's anger at her husband's nautical enthusiasm.