History of a ladder: main and minor CHARACTERS

History of a ladder by Antonio Buero Vallejo It is one of the most relevant works of all Spanish theater. Presented for the first time in 1949, in it we see reflected a costumbrista history of postwar Spain. All the events that happen in its staging are led by a community of neighbors of a staircase and the relationships that are born between them.

All in all, and as we said, we consider this work as a benchmark culmination of Spanish theater and, therefore, in a Professor we are going to present a list of characters of History of a ladder by Buero Vallejo divided into main characters and minor characters. Also, if you haven't read it yet, we encourage you to take a look at our summary of the work. Let's go there!

The main characters of History of a ladder vary depending on the act in which they are. And there are three generations of characters related to the three acts that make up the work. Thus, some characters are leaving and others are entering as the plot unfolds.

• Mrs. Asuncion: Also known as Doña Bondadosa, she is a good poor woman but tries to appear more than she really has. In this first act, Doña Asunción feels ashamed of not being able to pay for electricity for another month. She is the mother of Fernando, to whom she wants to give the best life possible. Doña Asunción dies before the second act, so she is only seen in the first act and she would be considered the main character of the first act.
  instagram story viewer
• Fernando: Son of Doña Asunción. He comes from a humble family that appears to be rich but has no money. Fernando works in a stationery store, in which he does not earn much money, so he dreams of getting out of that situation and working as a draftsman. The boy is in love with Carmina, to whom he ends up proposing, although he ends up marrying Elvira before the second act out of financial interest. Already in the second act Fernando has ended up marrying Elvira, moved in part by economic interests, since she comes from a rich family. He has become a somewhat lazy man over time. In the third, Fernando is the first character to interpose himself in the love between his son and Carmina's daughter.
• Don Manuel: Elvira's father. Don Manuel is a good rich man who cares about the welfare of his family and his neighbors. He always tries to help everyone, even when Doña Asunción can't pay her electricity bill. He is very close to her daughter Elvira to whom he grants everything she asks of him. As with Doña Asunción, Don Manuel dies before the second act.
• Elvira: She is the daughter of Don Manuel, who is in love with Fernando and asks her father to help the boy and his family with economic and labor issues. She is a capricious and spoiled girl who has not known life beyond the consent of her father. In the second and third acts, Elvira, married to Fernando, is not very happy with her marriage. She misses the life she had with her father, where everything seemed easier. In addition, she envies what Carmina has with Urbano.
• Carmine: Daughter of Gregorio and Generosa. Despite being in love with Fernando and the promises he makes to her, she ends up marrying Urbano. She is a very embarrassing girl who likes to go unnoticed.
• Fernando (son): Son of Elvira and Fernando, he ends up making the same mistakes as his father in matters of love. Like her father, she is a man who always thinks ahead and likes to make promises. He is handsome but very lazy. He belongs to the third generation of characters, like his brother Manolín and Carmina daughter, since the greatest weight of his plot happens in the third and last act.
• Carmina (daughter): Daughter of Carmina and Urbano, she falls in love with Fernando son. He also looks a lot like his mother both physically and in his way of being.
• Manolin: Son of Fernando and Elvira. He is the dearest in his family and takes advantage of that situation with his brother.

Image: Language classes

To finish this lesson on the characters of Story of a ladder, we are going to discover those secondary characters that, although they have a minor importance in the plot, they are equally relevant.

• Bale: Mother of Urbano (Fernando's friend) and Trini and Rosa. Paca is a woman who likes to show her authority over her children and Juan, her husband.
• Urban: Friend of Fernando. He always seeks to be right in each of the conversations he has with his friend. He has his feet on the ground and is a hard worker.
• Gregory: Father of Carmina and Pepe and husband of Generosa. She dies early in the work, which causes great sadness among her relatives.
• Generous: Generosa, mother of Pepe and Carmina, she is a woman marked by the death of her husband, Gregorio, which keeps her sad for a long time.
• Pepe: Carmina's brother, he ends up marrying Rosa, who is the sister of Urbano, Fernando's friend. He is a womanizing man and not very good.
• Pink: Urbano's sister and married to Pepe, she is an unhappy woman in her life as a married woman and she is consuming more and more.