The central theme of … Buero Vallejo's Aventura en lo gris … deals with the question of the relative value of truth [and its relationship to compassion]….

In Buero's play, the pragmatic doer, Alejandro, is contrasted with Professor Silvano, a thinker and idealist who sets high value on the pursuit of truth. Silvano is also a compassionate man, capable of sacrifice in the name of his convictions. (p. 217)

Buero takes the position of condemning the use of truth solely as a means for attaining personal goals of aggrandizement. Alejandro embodies this concept and commits numerous crimes motivated by his insatiable passion and lust for power. For him the concept of truth is meaningless. He twists and distorts it to satisfy his hunger for power. (p. 218)

In his fearless pursuit of truth, Professor Silvano, Buero's idealistic protagonist, had denounced Goldman [, a dictator] whose dishonest manipulation of national interests endangered the well-being of his native land. (pp. 218-19)

At every point, Silvano was thinking and weighing the moral impact of his actions. While deciding to sacrifice himself for [an orphaned] baby, he said, "salvemos el mañana," indicating his deep awareness of the existence of a transcendental moral order and relating it to his immediate actions. (pp. 219-20)

[Compassion] was a dominant trait in Silvano's character…. [He] sacrificed his life because of it…. [This] compassion did not come as the result of a violent break with the past, but rather, it grew in an ascending sequence of incidents until reaching the point of supreme negation. (p. 223)

Professor Silvano is predominantly a thinker. He neither engaged in a struggle for power nor in any political activity which would stop Goldman. The only weapon he used was his word, a typical weapon of a thinker who is dedicated to the pursuit of truth. Under the most adverse circumstances, at the climax of the play, he acts decisively and courageously. Characteristically, he thinks and justifies his actions by logical arguments. He is clearly aware of why and for what purpose he gives his life. In contrast to his previous behavior, at the most dramatic moment of the play, Silvano accomplishes a perfect merging of act and thought. (p. 224)

On the surface, Professor Silvano seems to place supreme value on the truth, but in the ultimate analysis his pursuit of truth was really in the name of the well-being of society which cannot exist without compassion. At the moment of his supreme sacrifice, truth and pieté seem to merge into a sublime act of negation. (pp. 224-25)