El Ángel Del Hogar: Galdós and the Ideology of Domesticity in Spain by Bridget A. Aldaraca (review)

Book Reviews67 BRIDGET A. ALDARACA. El Ángel Del Hogar: Galdós and the Ideology of Domesticity in Spain. North Carolina Studies in the Romance Languages and Literature, No. 239. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1991. 259 p. JDridget Aldaraca's exposure of roots that bind the Spanish feminine ideal in El Angel Del Hogar culminates her exploration of "the evolution of attitudes towards women and family life in Spain" (22). Her work carefully defines historical, political, and social influences that perpetuate the ideology of domesticity, the primary justification for the "angel in the house." Aldaraca analyzes five novels by Benito Pérez Galdós (1845-1920), texts that reflect the "genre of domestic realism" and clarify the ideology of domesticity because of Galdós' "own critical posture toward 19th century Spanish society (21). The work's timeliness is reflected in the contemporary feminist challenge to the limited perspectives and tragic, stifling implications inspired by the ideology of domesticity. Aldaraca's prologue explains the origins of the concept of "ideology," linking the bourgeois ideology to the ideology of domesticity through its perpetuation of a classless society—a society that threatens the concept of gender. In the introduction, Aldaraca defines nineteenth-century women territorially , their space limited by structural and psychological barriers. Chapter 1 provides an important framework through a 300-year history that begins with Fray Luis de Leon's (1583) "La Perfecta Casada" (the perfect wife). This thorough historical overview provides clues to the dichotomy between male (physical strength and intellect) and female (emotional sensitivity) that creates the male/female principle of the nineteenth century. Aldaraca's search for medical insights to explain hysteria in the nineteenth -century woman is the focus of chapter 2. Aldaraca defines the contrast between virtues of the home and the reality of the outside world: the ideology of domesticity gains firm ground when the male's corrupt public space is contrasted to the spiritual haven of his private space, his home. Further, "the ideological significance of the ángel del hogar is greatly clarified by underlining the fact that it is the family which is on the pedestal, high up and out of the mire. . . . The image of the Angel is never presented in isolation, but always with the necessary accoutrements that bring her into existence" (64). Tragically we understand her role, defined exclusively in relation to the idea of family. A woman's existence is bound by motherhood —"The uterus makes the woman what she is" (76), proclaimed Pedro Felipe Monlau, nineteenth-century Spanish hygienist. Such notions resulted from the seriously misunderstood medical protocols responsible for the justification that women are, indeed, a single genre—"morally and physically defective" (82). Chapter 3 is devoted to exploration of woman's "fatal passion for luxury" (104); public display (fashion) is important to the outside world, but it is not essential to the spiritualized home. Aldaraca's insightful overview of ideological roots serves as appropriate preparation for the remainder ofher text. With the ideology of domesticity defined and the ángel del hogar in her place (in every sense), Aldaraca traces the essential elements in Galdós' 68Rocky Mountain Review novels. Aldaraca's thoughtful analysis of Galdós' purposes reveals the depth of his commitment to honestly portray complicated and often misdirected relationships. In La Familia de León Roch (1878), the range of characters reflects domestic disarray. Patristic León is ineffectual, Maria is well trained to devote her life to idealized others, and Pepa is the feminine ideal whose generosity of spirit and spontaneity offer an inkling of hope. Tormento (1884) provides an image of an ángel del hogar through the creation of Amparo, the feminine ideal of beauty, vulnerability, humility, and sexual purity and defined by "economic dependency and consequent precarious social status" (148). The domestic saga, La De Bringas (1884), reflects "the social unit of the middle-class family and its moral and economic ties to society" (160). Abandoning the ideal of domesticity, Rosalia, denied sexual satisfaction in marriage, becomes the over-excessive wife who seeks satisfaction through the thrill of acquisitiveness—on the road to becoming a truly fallen angel. Galdós' Lo Prohibido (1885) provides the character of Guzman, a...