Social realism in the works of Benito Pérez Galdós

This study aims to analyse the novels Marianela and Misericordia by Benito Pérez Galdós, one of the most prominent realist novelists of the Spanish Literature in the 19th century, from the perspective of social realism. In these novels, the author, having imaged the society of his period on a literary background, aims to analyse the problematic and conflicting human relations, surrounded by the cultural-political-religious and social values of humans, as individuals. The realist movement, having become popular in a later period in Spain, when compared to the rest of Europe, was merely able to produce its first works in the second half of the 19th century. Both works to be analysed within this study are "realist novels". The main focus of this study is the literary approach of Galdós and how the realist concepts and social conditions, to be analysed in the light of realist movement, were emphasized in both texts. The first chapter of the study focuses on the analysis of political, cultural, social, administrative and religious structures in order to better understand the conditions in Spain in the second half of the 19th century, and examines the emergence of "realism" in Spain, as a literary movement, and its receptions in the literature, in detail. The second chapter addresses the life and literary personality of Benito Péres Galdós, and his works, which he produced upon his encounter with the "realist" movement in the second half of his period and which can be considered as the first examples of realist novel. Following that the chapter focuses on how Galdós represented the themes of social realism he emphasized in his works and the roles of prominent factors in such representations, through the analysis of the both texts.