Malinche:
The Identity of an Indian Woman in the Conquest
Of all the Indian women that have left a definite impression in the process of the conquest of the New World perhaps the most intriguing is "La Malinche" or "Doña Marina".
To study the references that appear about this woman, I have reviewed a first hand document, "The Broken Spears", and the information offered by some chroniclers. I wish to make clear that to a certain extent, one must ponder that this information is the product of casual encounters and in many cases presents a one sided version of particular interpretations of reality and construction of events. Translations are also critical in terms of the very difficult task of transposing to another language all the nuances of the text with their cultural linguistic weight. Taking this into consideration, I have offered comments based on the different texts offered by some chroniclers and some comparisons between Bernal Diaz’s original document and Cohen’s translation.
Malinche represents for many the perfect example of a total, immediate and successful assimilation to the powerful conqueror, and the rejection of one’s own culture over a foreign one. She represents the most despised crime of all: treason. In Mexico she is viewed as she who gives away her culture, religious beliefs and identity to the terrible oppressor who ended with Moctezuma’s powerful domain. She served as Cortés’s translator in the very violent process of the conquest of Mexico and her active participation as the interpreter of his commands played a crucial role in his subsequent success. Most of all, she became Cortés’s mistress and bore his son.
One extremely valuable account of the conquest of Mexico from the Indian’s point of view is the Nahua account of Cortés’s invasion, "the oldest surviving indigenous narrative account of the conquest of Mexico". The Broken Spears, edited by Miguel Leon-Portilla, offers first hand references of Malinche.
The first of them is given by Portilla himself in a footnote which clarifies how the messengers sent by Moctezuma were able to communicate with Cortés thanks to Malinche’s linguistic abilities and those of Jeronimo de Aguilar:
The Spaniards and the messengers could communicate
Because Cortés had brought with him La Malinche and Jeronimo de Aguilar. La Malinche was a native of the Gulf Coast who spoke both Nahuatl and Mayan. She joins the Spaniards (who called her Doña Marina) of her own free will and served them faithfully as interpreter throughout the Conquest. Aguilar was a Spaniard who had been shipwrecked in Yucatán in 1511 during a voyage from Darien to Hispaniola. By the time Cortés ransomed him from the natives eight years later, he spoke Mayan fluently. La Malinche translated the Nahuatl of the messengers into Mayan for Aguilar, who then translated it into Spanish for the conquistadors.
The first important thing that we learn according to this note is that Malinche spoke both Nahuatl and Mayan. This will indicate that she had access to both linguistic groups and an acquired ability to learn both languages. Another piece of information offered is that she joined Cortés of her free will.
Going back to the text by the Indians, in which they described Moctezuma’s anxiety in seeing his vulnerability as compared to Cortés and his men, the Indians saw some hope by the fact that they saw one of their own as part of Cortés’s group:
The chiefs said to Motecuhzoma, to fortify his heart: "The strangers are accompanied by a woman from this land, who speaks our Nahuatl tongue. She is called La Malinche and she is from Teticpac. They found her there on the coast..."
This account by the Indians does not mention anything about Malinche following Cortés of her own free will. The next reference we find tells of Aguilar and Malinche serving as interpreters for chief Ixtlilxochitl’s as he begged Cortés to accompany him to Tezcoco.
When Moctezuma and Cortés meet, we are presented with a Malinche that is now translating into Spanish. She translated Moctezuma’s address into Spanish so that Cortés could understand. Then Cortés answers, addressing Malinche first, telling her what he wanted Moctezuma to understand:
When Motecuhzoma had finished, La Malinche translated his address into Spanish so that the Captain could understand it. Cortés replied in his strange and savage tongue, speaking first to La Malinche: "Tell Motecuhzoma that we are his friends. There is nothing to fear. We have wanted to see him for a long time, and now we have seen his face and heard his words. Tell him that we love him well and that our hearts are contented." Then he said to Motecuhzoma: "We have come to your house in Mexico as friends. There is nothing to fear." La Malinche translated this speech and the Spaniards grasped Motecuhzoma’s hands and patted his back to show their affection for him.
Her participation in this important dialogue between the most powerful man of Mexico at the time and one of the most powerful Spanish conquistadors situates Malinche right in the middle of the two worlds. Both men are trusting that she will communicate effectively and that the message will be clear as they delivered it. At this point she has a tremendous power and responsibility which was placed upon her by both rulers.
When Cortés seized Moctezuma’s treasure house, the Spaniards’ greed was grossly evident when they tore apart the exquisitely made objects to extract the most valuable gold and jewels. When this happens, Malinche does not seem to understand the Mexican’s attitude towards the Spaniards:
La Malinche called the nobles together. She climbed up to the palace roof and cried: "Mexicanos, come forward! The Spaniards need your help! Bring them food and pure water. They are tired and hungry; they are almost fainting from exhaustion! Why do you not come forward? Are you angry with them?"
These statements seem to come from a person who separates the terrible events that occurred to her people from her particular reality as somebody who entered the world of the other. According to this text, Malinche is not moved by the loss of the Mexicans and does not see their grief. It appears as if we hear the voice of Doña Marina, a Christian woman calling out for help for her fellow citizens the Spaniards. On top of the vexation to the Aztec religious symbolism and culture, she asks them to feed and calm the thirst of the perpetrators of such act.
"Motecuhzoma said to La Malinche: Please ask the god to hear me." This phrase demonstrates how powerful she was in the eyes of the mighty Moctezuma. She transcends the space of a mere translator; she becomes a mediator between him and the "god" Hernán Cortés. Like the Virgin Mary of the Christian faith, Malinche became the balance within the two structures of power and the Virgil of this king in his transition to the world of the gods. Moctezuma’s statement is an affirmation of Malinche’s strength. Her power resides in her total adherence and faithfulness to that authority which is in control at that time.
In other interventions Malinche is presented translating for Cortés after an attack from the Aztecs, in his demands for gold, and in the conflict of the nobles and the priests dealing with the gold that had been lost in the canal of the Toltecs. She is also presented as the voice of Cortés, putting pressure on Cuauhtemoc to sign a treaty. Furthermore, she is presented not as Cortés’s loudspeaker, but as her own:
Xochitl said: "The ‘god’ and La Malinche send word to Cuauhtemoc and the other princess that there is no hope for them. Have they no pity on the little children, the old men, the old women? What more can they do? Everything is settled..."
Interestingly enough, this narrative presents a progression in Malinche from translator to mediator, to an actual participant in the conflict. In the following account, she is presented as contaminated by the greed for gold. The people of Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco abandoned the city. The leaders of Tlatelolco collected all objects of gold which they later sent to the captain:
When the captain and La Malinche saw the gold, they grew very angry and said: "Is this what you have been wasting your time on? You should have been looking for the treasure that fell into the canal of the Toltecs! Where is it? We must have it!"
Going back to Portilla’s footnote on the origins of Malinche, there is a contradiction when we compare his statement about her joining the Spaniards on her own free will. Andrés de Tapia says the following in his Chronicle:
Here some Indians of this region came to speak to him, but our Spanish interpreter did not understand them because the language is very different from that spoken were he had been. They gave us things to eat; fruits and maize bread such as they eat themselves. Of the twenty Indian women that had been given him, the marqués had divided some among certain gentlemen, and two of them were in the same company as I was. When certain of these Indians happened to pass, one of the women spoke to them, so we found she spoke two languages and our Spanish interpreter could understand her. We learned from her that as a child she had been stolen by some traders and taken to be sold in the land of Tabasco where she was brought up.
During the complex process of the conquest, the Spanish crown found itself with new problematic issues that represented serious ethical and political challenges. One of them was how to categorize Indians, which were not Christians. It was then made clear that all Indians would be considered vassals of the Spanish crown. Therefore, slavery was not permitted in the Indies.
By 1495, however, the crown conceded that natives captured in a "just war" could be enslaved, and Spaniards were allowed to purchase captives held as slaves by other native groups. A thriving slave trade in native Americans soon developed throughout the Caribbean and the adjacent mainland. In fact, the original plans for Cortés’s expedition to Mexico, as conceived by the governor of Cuba, who authorized it, was to seek gold and slaves, not conquest or settlement.
It is Bernal Díaz Del Castillo who offers a more detailed description of the origins and life of Malinche. On March 15, 1519 many caciques or governors brought presents to Cortés in the village of Tabasco. He emphasizes on the present of 20 women, among them one "excellent woman" which will be known as Doña Marina after becoming a Christian. He points out that Cortés was very pleased. Later Cortés, the caciques and Fray Bartolomé de Olmedo preached to the 20 Indian women and baptized them in the Christian faith, with Aguilar acting as a translator. The name of Villa de Tabasco was changed to Santa María de la Victoria. Bernal spends time describing how these women were converted, pointing out that these were the first Christians in New Spain.
If we compare the original in Spanish with the translation by Cohen, some interesting points should be considered. The passage in Bernal’s account says the following:
... Y luego se bautizaron, y se puso por nombre Doña Marina [a] aquella india y señora que allí nos dieron y verdaderamente era gran cacica e hija de grandes caciques y señora de vasallos y bien se le parecía en su persona; lo cual diré adelante como y de que manera fué allí traida.
In the Penguin edition, the following translation is offered for that event:
...and immediately afterwards they were baptized. One of the indian ladies was christened Doña Marina. She was a truly great princess, the daughter of caciques and the mistress of vassals, as was very evident in her appearance. I will relate later how this was and in what manner she came to us.
In Cohen’s translation the word señora is translated as mistress. This word poses the problem that it means both lady and concubine:
A woman who has authority, command, or ownership, especially the female head of a family, household, estate, or school; a woman exercising supremacy over anything; as mistress of his money; a woman cohabiting unlawfully with a man, especially when the man supports her financially...
Such word then, may obscure the true content of Bernal’s information. Martin Alonso’s "Diccionario Medieval del Español" offers the following uses for the word "señora": From the XIIth to the XVth century, the owner of something, he or she who has domain over a property, a noble; that which has decorum, and proper of the "señor" or "señora", specially referring to manners, clothing and colors. It is also an expression of courtesy. Used before some names it praises and exaggerates the meaning of the name. The word "señora" also signifies the woman of the "señor", the one who was legally and most of all, married according to all Christian law. Another very important use for the word is that of the virgin. In old and modern Spanish it refers to the mother of Christ. Virgins all throughout the Christian world are also known as "Nuestra Señora". Other derivates are
Another interesting point about this translation is the omission of a very important phrase: "aquella india y señora que allí nos dieron" (that Indian and lady which was there given to us) by which Bernal clearly establishes first of all that Malinche was an Indian and a lady and that she did not come voluntarily to Cortés, but was in fact "given" to him as another present, just like the gold objects and cloaks brought by the caciques and important people from Tabasco.
In chapter XXXVII, Bernal gives detailed information about Malinche’s origins. Born of a family of caciques, she lost her father while still very young. Her mother remarried and had a son. They gave her away so that the son could inherit the caciqueship. "Por manera que los de Xicalango la dieron a los de Tabasco y los de Tabasco a Cortés." (The Indians of Xicalango gave her to the Indians of Tabasco and the Indians of Tabasco gave her to Cortés.) According to this, it is probable that Malinche was raped and had to learn to survive in a violent masculine domain.
As Doña Marina had proved such an excellent person and a good interpreter in all the wars of New Spain, Tlascala and Mexico – as I shall relate hereafter- Cortés always took her with him. During this expedition she married a gentleman called Juan Jaramillo at the town of Orizaba. Doña Marina was a person of great importance, and was obeyed without question by all the Indians of New Spain.
Going back to the text in Spanish, Bernal says the following: "Días había que me habia dicho la doña Marina que era de aquella provincia y señora de vasallos..." Cohen’s translation employs again the word mistress: "Dona Marina had told me some time before that she belonged to this province and that she was the mistress of vassals.
Bernal tells an episode in Malinche’s life in which her virtues as daughter and sister are exalted: when she is reunited with her mother and brother, they both feared Malinche would seek revenge. Instead she forgives them and gives them presents. The most interesting aspect is the reasoning following this forgiveness:
...Y como así los vio llorar la doña Marina, les consoló y dijo que no hubiesen miedo, que cuando la traspusieron con los de Xicalango que no supieron lo que hacían, y se los perdonaba, y les dio muchas joyas de oro y ropa,y que se volviesen a su pueblo; y que Dios la había hecho mucha merced en quitarla de adorar ídolos ahora y ser cristiana, y tener un hijo de su amo y señor Cortés, y ser casada con un caballero como era su marido Juan Jaramillo; que aunque la hicieran cacica de todas cuantas provincias había en la Nueva España, no lo sería, que en mas tenía servir a su marido y a Cortés que cuanto en el mundo hay. Y de todo esto que digo sélo yo muy certificadamente...
Cohen’s translation says the following:
When Doña Marina saw her mother and half brother in tears, she comforted them, saying that they need have no fear. She told her mother that when they had handed her over to the men from Xicalango, they had not known what they were doing. She pardoned the old woman, and gave them many golden jewels and some clothes. Then she sent them back to their town, saying that God had been very gracious to her in freeing her from the worship of idols and making her a Christian, and giving her a son by her lord and master Cortés, also in marrying her to such a gentleman as her husband Juan Jaramillo. Even if they were to make her mistress of all of the provinces of New Spain, she said, she would refuse the honor, for she would rather serve her husband and Cortés than anything else in the world. What I have related here I know for certain and swear to.
Malinche’s gesture towards those who abandoned her to her own fate at such a tender age, shows a very compassionate woman full of love for her family. Here she recognizes and accepts family bonds. She had the power to have them killed, yet she forgives them. Nevertheless there is a dichotomy in her character: she sends them back to their town and re-affirms her bond with the Spaniards. She had already renounced to her religion and felt grateful to them for that. She thanks God for giving her a son with Cortés and at the same time marrying her to Jaramillo. If we were to comment on this double moral standard, one has to think about Bernal’s reasons to "embellish" this relationship. At all times Bernal praises her virtues as translator, woman of diplomacy and good nature. Coming from a moral and religious background in which extramarital relationships were absolutely forbidden, and being part of a time in which the sub-culture of the cuckold in Renaissance Spain, France and Ita
This is one of the passages that gives us information about her beliefs and her nature. Bernal wants the reader to believe it and that is why he originally wrote and I swear, "y lo juro". It is extremely interesting that in the original manuscript such phrase is crossed out and in the text we read "Y todo esto que digo selo yo muy certificadamente" (and everything I hereby say I can certify). Cohen’s translation adds "...and swear to", which was taken out of the original text by Bernal. Why would a Catholic man like him eliminate the word "swear" and substitute it for "certify"? The matter is opened for speculations.
The discovery of America was among many things, a reciprocal encounter with "the other". What we may perceive in Malinche as a crisis of identity may have well been the only means possible for a woman that at the time was a slave and who was probably raped to survive the hostile environment of internal Mexican tribal power struggles and Spanish conquest. Which were Malinche’s options? Born of power and nobility, she found herself abandoned to her fate by her own flesh and blood. Seeing all the violence generated by her own people, she "cuts" all connections with her culture and values herself in terms of the "other". She may represent the total suppression of the voice of the Indian woman, but as an Indian woman she was powerful in both spaces.
It is important to remember that the Aztecs controlled other tribes by force, cruelty and brutality. Many Mexican tribes saw the Spaniards not only as gods, but as liberators of their oppression and decided to join forces with him to battle their common enemies. Malinche probably saw herself not as a traitor to her race but as a revolutionary and a liberator of her people. Her position with the Spaniards gave her the status of authority that she had lost to her brother and by having a child with Cortés, she cemented this newly found power for her and her future generations thus recuperating what was taken from her. Malinche’s active participation in Hernán Cortés’s conquest of Mexico as a critical instrument in his success may be interpreted as the ultimate proclamation of her new acquired self. Did she love Cortés or was he an instrument she used to construct this new and empowered identity?
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