ABSTRACT
The choice of the name of Lázaro for the protagonist of the Lazarillo de Tormes is regularly associated with two separate references from the Bible: the man Christ resurrected from the dead, and the beggar at a rich man’s table. This chapter identifies an extensive parody of the Biblical passage and then considers the pragmatics of that parody’s reception within a contemporaneous socio-political and religious context. It shows that the parodie linkage of the literal and pragmatic aspects of Luke 16: 19-31 reveals in the Lazarillo an unmistakable critical response to the changing status of poverty and the controversial issues associated with it. The Lazarillo ’s parody of the Biblical Lazarus acts as a consciousness-raising device, foregrounding differences and interacting with satire to reveal the concerns and failings of the society with regard to poverty and homelessness.
