# Doctor Sangrado — Gil Blas character guide

> Doctor Sangrado in Gil Blas by Alain-René Lesage.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Sangrado, Señor Sangrado

**First appearance:** 0011-viii

## Snapshot

A pompous Valladolid physician who hires Gil Blas as his assistant and treats every ailment with bleeding and pails of water.

## Who they are

Doctor Sangrado has built a thriving practice on professional jargon, a solemn face, and a few lucky cures, and he takes Gil Blas on as his young apprentice in the healing art. His method is simple: bleed the patient and drown him in water, on the theory that health consists in the pliability and moisture of the parts. His register becomes a bill of mortality, and his household lives on peas, beans, and boiled apples, making him one of the novel's funniest and most merciless satires of medical quackery.

## In the story

### [Book I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/gil_blas_se/chapters/book-i)

Quack doctor who employs Gil Blas; his treatments of bleeding and hot water cause many deaths.

### [Book II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/gil_blas_se/chapters/book-ii)

Quack doctor who employs Gil Blas; known for his absurd medical practices.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/gil_blas_se/chapters/ii)

The physician called to treat the canon; advocates bleeding and warm water as universal remedies.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/gil_blas_se/chapters/iii)

Hires Gil Blas, teaches his medical philosophy of bleeding and water, and promotes him to deputy.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/gil_blas_se/chapters/iv)

Gil Blas's master, who takes a share of his earnings and advocates bleeding and warm water as universal cures.

### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/gil_blas_se/chapters/v)

Gil Blas's master; receives him back after his release and encourages him to continue their medical practice, but is reluctant to change their methods.

### [Book III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/gil_blas_se/chapters/book-iii)

Quack physician whom Gil Blas serves; known for his absurd medical theories.

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/gil_blas_se/chapters/i)

Gil Blas's former master in medicine; an old-school physician who rails against modern chemistry and the use of kermes; caught drinking diluted wine, which Gil Blas uses to mock his principles.

### [XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/gil_blas_se/chapters/xi)

Referenced as the school of practice followed by the physicians who treated the Duke of Lerma.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/gil_blas_se/characters/doctor_sangrado
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/gil_blas_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/gil_blas_se/characters