Resumen
In Lo prohibido (The Forbidden), Benito Pérez Galdós dives deep into the psyche of José María, a wealthy bachelor recently returned from London to Madrid. With biting precision and subtle irony, Galdós chronicles José María's descent into obsession and self-destruction as he becomes entangled with not one, but two married cousins, both beautiful, both alluring, and both dangerously off-limits.
As he narrates his own story, José María lays bare the hypocrisy of high society, the tension between appearance and desire, and the seductive pull of “forbidden” pleasures.
Torn between passion and propriety, his relationships gradually unravel his control—and expose the emotional and moral contradictions of Spain’s bourgeois class.
Written as a first-person confessional, the novel stands out in Galdós's work for its intense psychological focus and its bold exploration of taboo themes, making it one of his most controversial and complex novels.