La Malinche

Bordering between religious studies and history, this thesis devotes to la Malinche, who was a Native Mexican woman who lived during the conquest of America. She was a translator of Cortés's troops and as such participated in the subjugation of the Aztec empire. In present day Mexico, the figure of la Malinche became a powerful symbol with clear religious connotations. This paper explores the beginnings of her legend, critically reviewing available primary sources with regards to their historical accuracy and thoroughly searching them for deeper mythological meanings and structures. These comprise of two main categories: European and Aztec. As for the European sources, the thesis thoroughly explores the development of la Malinche's story and its re-telling as an independent myth in the works of European chroniclers. Subsequently, the story is shown as closely resembling Joseph Campbell's hero monomyth. Regarding la Malinche's image in Aztec sources, her different appearances intertwine with certain motifs from the original Aztec religion. These primary versions of her story strongly influenced the current version of la Malinche's personality and image. The paper concludes that la Malinche was never purely a historic figure. In her case, it is impossible to separate clearly myth from fact, as her..