In his eagerness to faithfully reflect the world in which he lives, Galdós creates magnificent portraits of women. The author bears witness to the condition of women in his time, which he understands much better than most of his contemporaries. The fate of women, according to Galdós, is discouraging. The nineteenth-century society did not grant women more than an ornamental role. Women did not study, they could not exercise worthy professions to be able to live from their work and they were condemned to depend economically on men, which took away their freedom. The most audacious and advanced of the heroines resigns herself to lead the same submissive and humiliating life that women had led throughout the centuries.