OVERALL ANALYSIS

CHARACTER ANALYSIS

The Marquesa De Montemayor (also known as Dona Maria)

The Marquesa is a kind, generous, religious, and eccentric woman. She may walk out of the theatre in the middle of a play, escape out of the back door of the church during a service, mutter dialogues to no one, and dress like a clown, but her heart is large. She showers love and attention on her daughter, forgives Camila for her rudeness, and helps those who are less fortunate than she. Towards the end of the novel, she rescues Pepita from the orphanage and even promises to give her love.

As one of the protagonists of the novel, Dona Maria has many important roles. First, she introduces many of the key characters, including Dona Clara, Camila, Uncle Pio, the Abbess, and Pepita. She is also the first to establish the theme of the importance of love. Having never received love from her parents or her husband, she smothers her daughter, Dona Clara, with too much love, attention, and possessiveness. As a result, Dona Clara resents and rejects her mother. As soon as she is old enough to marry, she escapes Dona Maria's overbearing ways by marrying a Spanish Lord and going to his country to live with him.

Devastated by the departure of her daughter, the Marquesa brings Pepita to live with her as a companion. She also begins to pour out all of her emotions in letters to Dona Clara, who is embarrassed by her mother's sentimentality. She largely ignores the letters and seldom writes to her mother. Even when she finds out she is pregnant, Dona Clara only writes the Marquesa a short note. Terribly worried about her daughter, Dona Maria begins to constantly pray for her well-being. She even takes Pepita with her to a shrine at Cluxambuqua, so that she can offer prayers for Dona Clara there.

While on the journey, the Marquesa discovers that Pepita really loves her, as expressed in a letter written to the Abbess. It is the first time that anyone has truly and freely given Dona Maria love. She is moved with emotion and promises to return to Lima with a new attitude about life and love. Unfortunately, her plans are thwarted when she is killed on the Bridge at San Luis Rey, as she travels home with Pepita. After her death, Dona Clara realizes how much her mother has loved her. She gathers the letters written by the Marquesa and has them published. They are often studied in the classroom as wonderful examples of Peruvian literature; therefore, the love of Dona Maria lives on long after her untimely death.

Uncle Pio

Uncle Pio, one of the protagonists of the novel, is an interesting character and a bundle of contradictions. He has a pleasing personality, a generous nature, a keen wit, and a persuasive tongue, but he is also crafty and cunning. His life has not been easy, for he was forced to leave home and fend for himself at the age of ten. Intelligent and resourceful, he pursues many different and varied vocations, but nothing can hold his interest for long. Still he is successful and talented enough to become a part of the upper crust of society, trusted by many aristocrats; he is even sought after by the government whenever they want some underhanded favor accomplished.

Enjoying the theater more than anything else, Uncle Pio wants to make a career in it. When he recognizes the underlying talent of Camila, an uncouth teenage singer in a café, he sees a golden opportunity for himself. He takes her home to mold her into a refined and successful actress. Becoming her teacher and coach, he polishes her performance, demanding perfection. In the process he falls in love with her. At first Camila is devoted to Pio and appreciative of all he has done for her. Later she tires of his demanding, overbearing ways and abandons him when she becomes the mistress of the Viceroy.

The Marquesa points out Pio's contradictory nature. At first she describes his charming ways: Uncle Pio is the most delightful man in the world . . . His conversation is enchanting . . . what divine Spanish he speaks, and what exquisite things he says in it! Later she rightly compares Uncle Pio to an ant. Like the tiny scurrying insect, Pio follows the object of his desire until he gets it and then sticks to it until he gets whatever he wants from it. Long after Camila has abandoned him, he still loves her and is determined to have a link to his beloved. As a result, he tricks her into seeing him and then threatens her until she relinquishes her sickly son, Don Jamie, into his care. He is traveling back to Lima with Jamie when he crosses the bridge at the moment it breaks. Both he and the child are killed in the accident.