Winner of the Fall 2016 StMU History Media Award for
Best Article in the Category of “People”
Best Article in the Category of “World History”
Largely due to the importation of disease and use of superior weapons, the Spaniards were able to conquer the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, kill the empire’s last emperor, Cuauhtémoc, and bring the Aztec empire to an end. Few know of La Malinche, the indigenous interpreter of Hernán Cortés, whose linguistic abilities were used to facilitate important conversations between the Spaniards and the indigenous leaders. Without the help of La Malinche, perhaps the Aztec empire would have survived.
Born between 1502 and 1505, La Malinche was named Malinalli Tenepal, the first part of her name being a Nahuatl term for the twelfth day of the month in correspondence to the Aztec calendar, and the second part of her name meaning “lively.” She was born of nobility in Paynala within the region of Veracruz. Her troubles started at a young age after the death of her father. La Malinche was ousted from her home to ensure her new half-brother received the inheritance of the family instead of her, since she was the eldest child. She was given to “some Indians of Xicalango.”1 Then the Indians gave her to a nobleman in Tobasco, a region in the Yucatan. When Cortés arrived to Tobasco, he was offered twenty slaves, one of them being La Malinche. Having lived in Veracruz, a Nahuatl-speaking region, and then being sold into a Maya-speaking region, La Malinche knew both languages and she was soon recognized for the linguistic talents that could benefit Cortés in his conquests.2
The few glimpses of La Malinche and how her presence as an interpreter accelerated the fall of the Aztec empire can be found in the writings of the Spanish explorers, specifically from Hernán Cortés, her “lord and master.”3 From the second letter Hernán Cortés wrote to Emperor Charles V, dated October 30, 1530, Cortés speaks of La Malinche as “a female interpreter that I had, who was a native of this country, and whom I obtained at Putunchún on the Rio Grande.”4 This confirms the vague aspects of her life that we already know. But most importantly, in this context, this letter goes on to tell of a scenario in which La Malinche saved the Spaniards from an ambush by the Cholulans. La Malinche was told by the wife of a native leader that they planned to attack the Spaniards and if La Malinche came with them, she would be protected. La Malinche delivered this message to Cortés, which ultimately led to the massacre of Cholula and provided a direct path to march towards Tenochitlan, the capital of the Aztec empire.5 This leads to the question of whether or not La Malinche was a traitor or a survivor. Did she explicitly want the Aztec empire to fall or did she just want to save herself from the carnage?
With no traces of primary sources from La Malinche herself, her story has been retold by various scholars without much consistency, nothing ever being certain. Up until the twentieth century, La Malinche was viewed as a traitor to her country Mexico. In 1861, on the celebration day of Mexico’s Independence, Ignacio “El Nigromante” Ramírez, a Mexican journalist, addressed the Mexican people by saying, “One of the mysteries of fate is that every Mexican owes his downfall and disgrace to a woman, and to another woman his salvation and glory; the myth of Eve and Mary is reproduced everywhere; we indignantly remember Cortés’s mistress and will never forget, in our gratitude to Doña María Josefa Ortiz.”6 La Malinche is seen as playing a key role in the subjugation of the Mexican peoples to Spain, while Doña María Josefa Ortiz did the contrary and liberated the country. However, many Chicana writers and modern scholars are trying to rewrite the tale of La Malinche to understand the complexities of her choices and to vindicate her. For example, Gloria Anzaldua promotes the idea that La Malinche had a “new consciousness,” that she voluntarily served as the interpreter of Cortés not only to save herself, but also because she knew that a new mestiza culture was going to be born (especially considering she had a son with Cortés in 1524).7 She made a conscious effort to exchange language and cultural aspects from each side in order to facilitate the emergence of the new mestiza society; however, with that came brutal consequences in the shape of warfare and mass death in the New World.
Whether or not La Malinche’s role as Cortés’s interpreter was traitorous, simply an effort to survive, or some other complex reason involving love for Cortés, hate for the Aztec empire for the cruelty she faced after being ousted from her home, or promotion of the new mestiza culture, no one will ever know the true story of the Indian, slave woman who traveled alongside Cortés towards the culmination of the Aztec empire.
- Bernal Castillo del Díaz, The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico, 1517-1521 rev. American ed., trans. A.P. Maudsley (New York: The Noonday Press, 1965), chap. 22-23. ↵
- Pilar Godayol, “Malintzin/ La Malinche/ Doña Marina: re-reading the myth of the treacherous translator,” Journal of Iberian and Latin American Studies 18, no. 1 (April 2012): 61-68. ↵
- Castillo del Bernal, chap 23. ↵
- Hernan Cortes to Emperor Charles V, October 30, 1520, in Letters of Despatches of Hernando Cortes, to the Emperor Charles V., trans. (New York: Wiley and Putnam, 1843), letter II. ↵
- Hernan Cortes to Emperor Charles V, October 30, 1520, in Letters of Despatches of Hernando Cortes, to the Emperor Charles V, letter II. ↵
- Rosario Pérez-Lagunes, “The Myth of La Malinche: From the Chronicles to Modern Mexican Theater” (PhD dis., Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 2001), 24. Although she was of Spanish descent, Doña María Josefa Ortiz was born in Valladolid, Mexico in 1768 and identified herself as Mexican. She and her husband were both a part of the rebellion that ultimately led to Mexico’s independence from Spain in 1824. ↵
- Godayol, 68-70. ↵
230 comments
Sierra Salas
Growing up, I knew La Malinche as a traitor who betrayed her own people, I had never depicted her as someone who was trying to survive before this article. But it seems to me that her own people betrayed her by giving her up to other Indians to ensure her brother received the inheritance instead of her. I know we may never truly know why La Malinche told Cortes about the ambush but I think its important to think about all the possibilities as to why she told cortes. Who knows? Maybe she loved him, or was afraid to die, or got revenge because they betrayed her by giving her up.
Kristina Tijerina
I don’t think it matters whether people classify La Malinche as a traitor or a survivor. She was given to Indians to ensure that her half brother would receive wealth, and then was given to Cortes. It would be unfair to call her a traitor of her people, when she was given up so easily. I think that maybe Cortes took better care of her than her own family did in the sense that he never just handed her over to another group of people, and that’s why she voluntarily interpreted for him. Also, I think that her having a child with him played a part in who she helped. I think that if her motives were because she wanted to become a traitor, then she had every right to be, considering the way she was brought up.
Patricia Arechiga
I have never heard of La Malinche before! I find it weird as she seemed to have played a portion in regards to the downfall of the Aztec empire, something most people are able to recognize by the name. I personally can not tell whether or not she was a true traitor as there really isn’t a solid story from anyone , especially herself. I wouldn’t blame her if all she was trying to do was survive. After all, we are all just humans trying not to face death. I find it interesting seeing the different opinions and different versions of La Malinche’s life and her reasoning towards being a ‘traitor’ towards the Aztecs.
Edith Santos Sevilla
When I was young I learned about La Malinche, but it was a long time ago that I forgot about the story. While I was reading a was remembering some things, but overall the article taught me a lot about the story. I was a bit surprised how La Malinche was seen by the people but it was true, she betrayed them and the Aztecs fell because of her. The story is super interesting and I liked how it represent the part of two important women during these time. Congratulations to the author I really liked the story and it was well written.
Paul Garza
I have heard of la Malinche before and it has mostly been in a negative connotation that she was a traitor and was a big help in the downfall of the Aztecs. I like that this article challenges that view and explores the many other views that “La Malinche” could’ve had, maybe she want just a traitor to the Aztecs. This article shows that her choices were much more complicated because of her past of being sold, her status as a slave, her love with Hernan Cortes and maybe the mestizo culture that was to come. The story of la Malinche is a mysterious one because it allows you to interpret her choice however you want because no one knows the truth.
Kasandra Ramirez Ferrer
Her people consider her a traitor and for Cortes was a big help but I think the Malinche was trying to find a way to survive a world where she saw her leaders and gods die along with their believes and traditions. however, I think there’s a possibility that maybe she was trying to help her people working next to Cortes and maybe she did and we just don’t know it. I maybe would think different about her if I was in the position her people was but I do understand that all she did was to survive.
Kimberly Parker
I remember learning about the Aztecs and Tenochtitlan when I was younger, but I had never heard of La Malinche until I read this article. Everything that she went through at a young age, and she still found a way to cope with everything and try to survive was amazing. And the fact that her people called her a traitor when they betrayed her from the very beginning by ousting her from her home and passing her around from place to place as if she was just an object. When she was sold to Cortes, she was just trying to survive, and so why should she protect the people who basically turned their back on her?
Kathryn Martinez
Her people say that she was a traitor, however, how can she avoid this situation? She was sold numerous times to various people and was eventually sold to Cortes. With this being said she does not know the depths in which he runs or his resources. If she had refused to become a translator then he would have tortured her or kill her if he could find a new one. She was left with no options, all she would try to do is survive. The fact is that we will never know what her mindset was like since her point of view was never recorded.
Mitchell Yocham
Although it seems lile she is a traitor to her people, she chose to survive and live to share the “shared” culture with other civilizations. It was like Milinalli Tenepal knew that change was coming, so she figured that she was going to either die or comply. In this case she chose to comply. It’s hard when these situations pop up in history because if someone on like a sports team made you lose because they sided with the enemy team, even if the enemy team is really good, the team would see that person as a traitor while they saw themselves as a winner.
Briley Perkins
I have not heard of La Malinche before, so this article was very interesting. People say that she was a traitor, but in my opinion I do not believe that she was one. She was sold off to be a slave to Cortés, and was told that she needed to translate languages, be their voice, and to lookout for Cortés; if she was to not obey her “master” she would have most likely been killed on the spot because they could have captured someone else to do the job. Overall, it was interesting to see some of the different viewpoints.