The Catholic missionaries who first brought Christianity to New Spain (colonial Mexico) were often very creative and innovative in their teaching methods. They used various audiovisual devices and, often without realizing it, built on preconquest and pre-Christian concepts, a form of unconscious syncretism.Footnote 1 It is widely accepted that the missionary enterprise began in 1524 with the arrival of “The Twelve,” the first Franciscan missionaries. Their initial decision that evangelization would be carried on in the native languages, not Spanish, was crucial and had become Church policy by the eighteenth century. They were aided in this by the fact that Nahuatl, the Aztec language, served as a lingua franca, especially in commerce and diplomacy, throughout the central plateau and as far south as Guatemala. The Franciscans, and later the Jesuits, produced grammars (artes), dictionaries, sermonaries, catechisms, miracle stories, and even religious drama in Nahuatl. The adaptation of Nahuatl to the Latin alphabet was enthusiastically received by the native peoples who left us chronicles, town council records, censuses (with valuable information on baptisms and polygamy), lawsuits, and other documentation. With all this, we have been able to open a new window on colonial life.Footnote 2
One of the most creative approaches used by missionaries, especially the Franciscans, was religious drama. Plays of a didactic and moralizing nature were composed in the native languages, most frequently Nahuatl, and often employed elaborate sets and costumes, dramatic effects, and both native music and Latin hymns.Footnote 3 Most of these works were written and performed in the sixteenth century and thus truly merit recognition as the first American theater. In contrast to theater in many other countries, native-language plays in New Spain featured female actresses in major roles. Almost all the dramas were presented in the open air, something that the natives would have been accustomed to.Footnote 4 However, for reasons that are not clear, Nahuatl theater became less common in the seventeenth century.
The Guadalupe Narrative
The tradition of the appearances of the Virgin of Guadalupe to the indigenous neophyte Juan Diego at the hill of Tepeyac in 1531 is fundamental to the history of religion in Mexico. It is equally so to its civil history, and so a common assertion has been that “Mexico was born at Tepeyac.” The story has been told and retold manifold times. Juan Diego was a newly converted Indian who, en route to Tlatelolco for religious instruction, had a vision of the Virgin Mary in which she instructed him to go to the bishop-elect of Mexico, the Franciscan Juan de Zumárraga, with instructions that he should build a church at that site. When Juan Diego delivered these instructions to the bishop-elect, he was received with understandable skepticism. Returning to Tepeyac, the native told the Virgin of his lack of success and asked her to send other higher-born messengers, who would be believed. She, however, directed him to return to Zumárraga the following day.
On that day, a Sunday, Juan Diego returned to the bishop's residence. He informed the bishop-elect of his new commission. This time Zumárraga was more interested and asked him for a sign to prove the truth of the communication. When Juan Diego departed, Zumárraga sent two of his servants to follow him to see with whom he spoke, but they lost him at the hill. Angry, they returned to the bishop-elect to denounce the native as a sorcerer. On Monday Juan Diego did not return to Tepeyac. His uncle, Juan Bernardino, had fallen mortally ill and asked his nephew to bring some priests from Tlatelolco to hear his confession and prepare him for death. This time, Juan Diego tried to avoid the hill and the Virgin, but she found him and assured him that his uncle had already been cured. He asked her for a sign to give to the bishop-elect. She directed him to go to the top of the hill and collect the flowers that he would find, even though flowers did not grow there and it was out of season. He did as directed, then brought down the flowers and gave them to the Virgin. She placed them in his cloak (called tilmahtli in Nahuatl, now commonly known as the tilma) and told him to open it only in Zumárraga's presence.
At the bishop-elect's residence, the servants attempted to see what was in the tilma but could discern only painted pictures. When Juan Diego finally stood before Zumárraga, he told of his conversation with the Virgin. As he opened his cloak, the flowers fell to the floor, and on the cloak was imprinted the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Zumárraga, in tears, fell to his knees, as did his attendants. He placed the image in his chapel. Juan Diego returned home to find his uncle fully recovered after having had a vision of the Virgin Mary. A notable aspect of the traditional story is that it was to Juan Bernardino, not Juan Diego, that the Virgin revealed the name of Guadalupe. Zumárraga had a preliminary chapel built at Tepeyac, where a large procession brought the image for installation.
Although these events have been dated to 1531, the story was unknown in Mexico until 1648. In that year a criollo priest, Miguel Sánchez, first made it known in a book called Imagen de la Virgen Maria.Footnote 5 The book caused a great deal of wonder in Mexico because the story of the apparitions was unknown until that time. Six months later, another criollo priest, Luis Laso de la Vega, published a Nahuatl version of the story.Footnote 6 His account, known by its opening words, “Nican mopohua” (“here is recounted”), has become the textus receptus of the Guadalupe tradition.
It is a story that begged for dramatization. The Nican mopohua contains extensive dialogues, picturesque descriptions, and articulate protagonists. Further, the account is easily divided into acts. These facts led the great Mexican historian, Joaquín García Icazbalceta, to conclude that the Nican mopohua was in fact originally a play, produced at the Franciscan school of Santa Cruz in Tlatelolco in the sixteenth century: “The history of the Apparition has a dramatic make-up that is noticeable at first sight. The dialogues between the Virgin and Juan Diego; the missions to the bishop; his rejections; the episode of Juan Bernardino's illness; the flight of Juan Diego by a different road; the flowers born miraculously on the hill, and finally, the unfolding with the apparition of the miraculous painting before the Lord Bishop, form a dramatic action.”Footnote 7
In light of all this, it is surprising that there were so few dramatic renderings of the tradition, at least before the advent of modern media. Two plays in Nahuatl were written in the eighteenth century, but it is not known if they were ever produced. They have recently been published by the University of Oklahoma Press in both the original Nahuatl and an English translation.Footnote 8 Both have Spanish titles, Coloquios de la Virgen María, and El portento mexicano, and both have Spanish stage directions. They also incorporated native dances and Catholic Latin hymns, such as the Ave Maris Stella. The last act of the Coloquios is very surprising in its vulgarity and scatology. There is no evidence that either one of these was ever examined or approved by the Mexican Inquisition or any other ecclesiastical authority. On the other hand, they exist only in manuscript form and were never published.
Guadalupe in Drama
This article will deal with a Spanish dramatization of the Guadalupe story written in the early nineteenth century by a criollo priest named Mariano González de Ávila y Uribe. The full title is Poéma cómico-historial: el indio mas venturoso y milagro de Milagros la Aparicion de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (“Comic-historical poem: the most fortunate Indian and the miracle of miracles, the Apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe).” Comic" in this sense probably has the classical meaning of having a happy ending.
The work was published in book form in Mexico City in 1828 by the printer Alejandro Valdés, and a copy is in the Benson Library at the University of Texas.Footnote 9 This version was based, with many alterations, on an earlier manuscript that belonged to the library of the Mexican scholar José María Andrade. When the library was sold at public auction in Paris and Leipzig in 1869, a large part of it was purchased by Hubert Howe Bancroft but the manuscript is not in the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley. It is presumed lost. A copy was made in 1858 by the indefatigable preserver of historic papers, José Fernando Ramírez. In all probability this means that the hands that made the copy were those of the nahuatlato Faustino Galicia Chimalpopoca. This copy is in the Manuscript Division of the New York Public Library. At the end of the copy, Ramírez noted: “It is a faithful copy of that possessed by D.[on] José María Andrade and carefully compared with it. Mexico, November, 18, 1858.”Footnote 10
The book published in Mexico City in 1828 evidences many changes and corrections; the manuscript seems to be more authentic and more correct than the book. This article, then, is based on the manuscript, with references to the book when necessary. Because the manuscript is unpaginated, quotations from the play are cited from the published book. There are no introductory letters, laudatory introductions, or any signs of ecclesiastical approval in the published book, and its orthography is rather erratic, especially in the use of accent marks and the tilde. At times these reflect a difference in meaning, as in differentiating the future tense from the past subjunctive. At other times there seems to be no specific reason for the variations. Sometimes the usage corresponds to modern Spanish. An interesting example of the development of a usage is the term “Useñoría” for addressing the bishop. Usted was in the making but not yet universal. The manuscript uses crencia instead of creencia throughout. Also, the familiar form of the second person, tu, is used regularly, even when Juan Diego addresses the bishop.
Except for the Virgin's comforting speech on the mountain, there seems to be little direct borrowing from the Nican mopohua. The play is written in verse, but it is often difficult to discern what form is being used. At times it falls into rhyme, at other times it does not. The individual speeches, no matter by whom delivered, are repetitious, rather tedious, and pedantic. This is particularly true in the speeches delivered when Juan Diego opens his cloak to display the picture of the Virgin. There appears to be a certain carelessness in the composition and a lack of dramatic continuity. Thus, when the Virgin Mary sends Juan Diego to the summit of the hill of Tepeyac to gather roses, the figure of Juan's uncle, Juan Bernardino, intrudes and breaks up the scene. There is also evidence that the entire work may have been written in haste, including occasions when the text seems to be grammatically confused or unclear, and the precise meaning obscure. On the other hand, the text is often elaborate and rather gongoristic in style. In sum, El yndio is not a major contribution to nineteenth-century Mexican literature but rather an interesting reflection in the development of the Guadalupe devotion.
Cast of Characters
The dramatis personae of El yndio is in part the standard one for Guadalupan dramas, including the Virgin, Juan Diego, his uncle Juan Bernardino, his wife María Lucía, Bishop Juan de Zumárraga, a page, and angels. In addition there is a young Indian named Fernando, who is very much like the indigenous servant Totopochtli in El portento. He follows the stereotype of the Indian at the time, that is, he is lazy, a smart-aleck, an indifferent Christian, and principally concerned about where his next meal will come from. Juan Diego claims to be a simple man but some of his long soliloquies suggest otherwise: it is doubtful that a simple peasant would have spoken about the Antipodes. It is significant that for all the native elements in this play, Juan Diego is never called by the native name, Cuauhtlahtoatzin, that has been attributed to him and was even used in the process of his canonization. No Nahuatl sources give a native name for Juan Diego. It appears for the first time in 1689 in a work by Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora and was probably his own hypothesis.Footnote 11
María Lucía is a not the active and intelligent woman of El portento. She is relatively faceless and has real dialogue principally when arguing with the young Indian Fernando. The uncle Juan Bernardino plays a more active and prominent role than in the traditional accounts. His many long speeches often border on the sermonic: he is the voice of piety and orthodoxy. The play is in agreement with tradition when it says that it was to him, not Juan Diego, that the name Guadalupe was revealed. The opening scene is not a dialogue between Juan Diego and María Lucía, as in the Nahuatl dramas, but one between Juan Diego and Juan Bernardino.
Bishop-elect Zumárraga is a more problematical person here than in the Nahuatl plays. He is not so initially skeptical of Juan Diego's account; rather, he seems genuinely perplexed. One of the more startling innovations is the introduction of the Franciscan missionary and historian Toribio de Benavente (usually known by his adoptive name of Motolinía) as a character.Footnote 12 He plays no role whatever in the Nahuatl plays nor in the Guadalupan tradition, except for a reference to a sermon of his that supposedly caused Juan Diego and María Lucía to embrace celibacy in their marriage. In this play Zumárraga relies on Motolinía very much for advice and counsel. Motolinía's speeches are especially long and pedantic, with frequent references to classical and biblical texts. He even talks about the gods of ancient Egypt. At times he seems to be giving a lecture on comparative religions. The page, on the other hand, seems to represent rational skepticism more than does Zumárraga. He is totally unlike the clownish figures in El coloquio. Hence his conversion is significant, and he gets the last lines in the play, the traditional plea for pardon and acceptance from the audience. Especially important is his statement that the apparitions have caused him to love and respect the Indians: “I look on all Indians with more respect and love.”Footnote 13
Prologue
Although there is no prologue addressed to the reader (al lector) in the published book, there is one in the Ramírez manuscript. The play itself starts on page 3 of the book, so it is possible that a page 2 containing the prologue was removed from the volume, perhaps during typesetting. The prologue in the manuscript begins by admonishing the reader that the person who has never read the works of the grammarian Antonio de Nebrija will never accomplish anything noteworthy.Footnote 14 He also asks the reader's pardon for tampering with history. Specifically, he mentions that he has Juan Bernardino coming to see the bishop rather than the bishop going to see the sick man.
Synopsis, Act I
Act I is situated in a native hovel and begins with a dialogue between Juan Diego and Juan Bernardino. The former is dressed as for a journey. When Juan Bernardino mentions the early hour, Juan Diego responds that he is going to Mexico City for mass and instruction, and after receiving his uncle's blessing he departs. Juan Bernardino then delivers a somewhat lengthy soliloquy in the form of a prayer, declaring that the god of providence is no longer the pagan deity Tezcatlipoca, but the Christian god. He concludes by praying that peoples would know his name, “so that those who until now have not known it may go on knowing his name, in order that from this day onward, they may not attribute divinity to a substance that ignorance formed from appearances.”Footnote 15
As Juan Bernardino finishes his prayer, Lucía, Juan Diego's wife, and the native servant boy Fernando enter. When Lucía reprimands Fernando for his lax religious observance, he replies impudently that he will give thanks to God when he has something to eat. When she threatens to withhold his food, he accuses her of being as cruel as the pagan deity Yalahau.Footnote 16 Overhearing this, Juan Bernardino indignantly declares that the deity “should be banished from our memory and. . . his language should not be remembered.” Lucía upbraids Fernando, “You don't think about anything except eating!”Footnote 17 After some repartee all three exit.
The scene now shifts to a hill adorned with a white cloud and a rainbow. Angels descend from the summit and sing a hymn of praise to the Virgin Mary, “who comes down to proclaim her compassion to the pagan peoples.”Footnote 18 Juan Diego enters, entranced by the sight, he expresses his wonder in a soliloquy: “Am I dreaming or can reality be what I am seeing today?”Footnote 19 The Virgin calls to him, inviting him to come up the hill. The angels sing, “Approach, go, because today is a day of wonders for this land.”Footnote 20 The Virgin identifies herself and directs that a church be built for her on that site. “In it, as your mother, your loving mother, I promise you and all like you and all those who offer their prayers to me to look on them as my tender children because those who come to me will have sure consolation.”Footnote 21 She concludes by directing him to go to the bishop in Mexico City to relate everything he has seen and charges him with building the church.
The scene changes to a room where Bishop Juan de Zumárraga and Fray Toribio de Motolinía are seated. The bishop thanks the friar for what he and his fellow Franciscans have done for the Christianization of the natives, and Motolinía responds with a long, pedantic speech in which he praises the histories and recordkeeping of the native peoples, saying that they parallel those of the Bible. He also recognizes briefly some of the principal Nahua deities, as well as those of the Greeks, Egyptians, and Romans. Zumárraga, in turn, promises to defend the Indians at the Spanish royal court.
The bishop's page enters and informs him that a poor Indian is waiting to see him. Zumárraga has him admit Juan Diego. In a lengthy speech the Indian describes his experience at the hill, identified for the first time as Tepeyac.Footnote 22 He concludes by relating the Virgin's command to build a church for her on the site. In asides the bishop declares his uncertainty about a tale that he finds wondrous but unbelievable. The page seems to accept it, while Motolinía is skeptical. Later, however, the friar seems to accept “that in no way has he been deceived.”Footnote 23 When Zumárraga asks him, “What shall I say to this blessed messenger?” Motolinía replies, “Sir, I do not know how to respond. The event is marvelous.”Footnote 24 The page cautions against too ready an acceptance of the Indian's account.
The bishop asks Juan Diego's name and where he is from. Juan Diego gives his name, then replies, “According to what I have been informed, I was born in Cuahtitlan, but from there I moved to Tolpetlac, because my uncle arranged it in this way.”Footnote 25 When the bishop and Juan Diego exit, the page and Motolinía discuss the possibility that the native is a sorcerer or trickster.
Back at the hill Juan Diego ponders what has happened and expresses his fears that the Lady may be angry because he did not accomplish his mission. When the Virgin appears, he seeks her forgiveness, telling her all that happened at the bishop's residence. He then adds “A[nd] so I implore you, lady, since there will be no lack of someone better than I to negotiate it, that you give this task to someone else of greater credit than I, because now you see that I am poor and humble from my birth, not rich or powerful like so many others, who with their person will give credit to what they go to propose.”Footnote 26 In response, the Virgin commands him to return to the bishop the next day, with the same request. She disappears, and the act ends with a soliloquy by Juan Diego.
Synopsis, Act II
We return to the humble dwelling of Act I. Juan Bernardino reprimands Fernando for his irreverence and inattention at Mass at Tlatelolco. As punishment the young man is to go without food. After a series of repartees Lucía serves tamales and atole. Fernando, however, shares in the meal. The act concludes with lengthy banter between Bernardino, Lucía, and Fernando.
Next we are in Zumárraga's room. The bishop and his page enter. The latter has informed Zumárraga that Juan Diego returned punctually and “since this morning he has been waiting, so immoveable and constant that he is like a lifeless statue made of marble.”Footnote 27 The bishop directs that the Indian be admitted. After formalities Juan Diego relates his second meeting with the Virgin. The bishop seems uncertain what to think. The page is undecided and still somewhat skeptical. When the bishop accuses Juan Diego of lying, the Indian becomes indignant and points out that among the native peoples a person caught lying would have his lower lip cut off. The page comments, “If this iron were inflicted on liars in the kingdoms of Castile, no one would have a lower lip because over there a lie is daily fare.”Footnote 28
Zumárraga asks Juan Diego to bring him some sign to confirm his mission. He also instructs the page to go with some companions to follow the Indian and see where he goes and to whom he speaks. After Juan Diego departs, the bishop prays to the Virgin to help him in the matter.
The scene reverts to the hill of Tepeyac. Juan Diego and the page enter, and the former goes up the hill. The page then complains about having lost his quarry and climbs the hill himself. At the summit the Virgin reveals herself to Juan Diego, and he tells her of the need for a sign. The Virgin tells him to return the next day. The page is now convinced that he is a sorcerer.
The scene returns to Juan Diego's hovel, where Lucía is making tortillas. Fernando gives a speech on the benefits of maize to the native peoples. In repartee with Lucía he reverts to his impudent self. Juan Diego arrives and finds his uncle very ill. When he and Lucía express their sorrow, Juan Bernardino gives a homily on the inevitability of death: “I was born to die like everyone, this is clear. . . . Do not weep, beloved children, since I am not dead yet, and when it comes, conform yourselves to what heaven disposes.”Footnote 29
The next scene finds Zumárraga and Motolinía in a religious cell. The bishop asks the friar his opinion on Juan Diego's eluding the page. Motolinía gives a long and meandering speech in which, among other things, he asserts that Tepeyac was the site of a cult to a pagan goddess, Teotenantzin, the “mother of their gods in times past.”Footnote 30 His verdict is that Juan Diego is not a sorcerer. The act concludes with their agreeing to meet at the bishop's palace.
Synopsis, Act III
We are at the foot of the hill. In a soliloquy Juan Diego explains why he is avoiding the hill; he wishes to go on, to help his uncle. Nevertheless, the Virgin finds him. He explains that he is going to Tlatelolco to find a priest to administer the sacraments to his uncle. She assures him of her protection in words vaguely similar to those in the Nican mopohua and tells him that his uncle will not die. She then directs him to go to the top of the hill and cut the roses he will find there and bring them to her. In a startling departure from the traditional account, Juan Bernardino appears between the Virgin and Juan Diego. He thanks the Virgin for his recovery and promises to make known her name as Guadalupe. Perhaps in performance this was intended to be an aside.
Juan Diego brings the roses to the Virgin, who takes them in her hands and arranges them in his cloak. She instructs him to go immediately to the bishop but not to show them to anyone else on his journey.
Back at the bishop's residence, Zumárraga and Motolinía discuss recent events. The bishop rejoices because a report that he sent to the king of Spain denouncing the enslavement of the Indians has received a favorable response. The page enters hurriedly, explaining that Juan Diego has arrived with a package that contained only painted roses. Juan Diego enters and in a lengthy speech describes the events at Tepeyac. He unfolds his cloak, and when the roses wrapped inside it fall to the floor, the image of the Virgin appears. All express their wonder at the miracle, and the bishop recites a lengthy prayer of praise and thanksgiving. He takes the cloak from Juan Diego, and the three—Zumárraga, Motolinía, and Juan Diego—depart.
The scene changes to a street. Bernardino, Fernando, and Lucía enter. The latter two express their wonder at Bernardino's recovery, but as they walk together he reassures them that he is well. When they arrive at the bishop's residence, Lucía is surprised because her uncle had given her no reason for going there. The page enters and exchanges pleasantries with Bernardino, who asks to see the bishop.
When the page announces the arrival of the three natives, the bishop has them enter the room where Zumárraga, Motolinía, and Juan Diego are assembled. Juan Diego is surprised to see his uncle in good health. In a long and elaborate speech Bernardino describes his cure at the hands of the Virgin and her wish that a church be built for her and named Guadalupe.Footnote 31 Everyone pays reverence to the image of the Virgin. The play ends with a brief epilogue in which the page addresses the audience: “And with that there is an end, most discrete senate [that is, the audience], if you forgive the faults of the Mexican genius [the author], the most fortunate Indian and miracle of miracles.”Footnote 32
Dramatic License and the Apparition Story
This early nineteenth-century play illustrates the dramatic license used by playwrights with regard to the story of the apparitions. The traditional story, as given in the Nican mopohua, was not regarded as sacred or untouchable, but as a framework for variations, frequently extravagant ones. In contrast to the Nahuatl dramas, the play just described contains no homilies against drunkenness or immorality, but there are many exhortations to the audience to be good Christians. This play emphasizes very strongly the idea of syncretism, or, perhaps better, the replacement of the ancient gods and sites by new ones. Several of the speeches discuss preconquest beliefs and use Nahuatl terms. In this regard the Nahuatl terms in Chimalpopoca's copy seem more accurate than those in the printed book. The two Nahuatl plays used traditional Latin hymns for the music that accompanied the scenes, but this work has its own lyrics. There is no indication of what music was used; one longs to know what it sounded like.
Carlos María de Bustamante, the Mexican savant, politician, and guadalupanista, has the following interesting account of a presentation of the play:
Yesterday, by order of the government, the poster on which it was announced that the comedy of the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe would be presented was removed. In its design, were painted representations of the Lord Archbishop Zumárraga dancing the jarabe in praise of the miracle. This is the way of ridiculing an event that has inspired the greatest confidence in the protection of Mary the Most Holy, and by such means to go on attacking Mexican piety.Footnote 33
Does this criticism suggest any connection with El yndio? It is impossible to say: Bustamante is talking about the posters promoting the drama, not the drama itself. None of the Guadalupan dramas, whether in Nahuatl or Spanish, depict Zumárraga as dancing. On the other hand, Bustamante may simply have been repeating a popular rumor. There is no other evidence of the play's having engendered such outrage.
Unlike the two Nahuatl plays, this one does not begin with a conversation between Juan Diego and María Lucía about celibacy in marriage. In fact, this is never mentioned. Also it lacks the tender dialogues between the two that are found in the Nahuatl plays.
Nahuatl Terms
The play makes use of a number of Nahuatl terms, sometimes with eccentric spellings. For the most part these are dealt with in footnotes when they first appear in the text. Some, however, that offer special challenges. One such is Macuilxochiquetzalle, she who possesses the five quetzal flowers, “whom they considered to be the chaste Venus, to whom they gave their god Tlaloc as a companion.” She may have been the goddess of water, more often called Chalchiuhcueye, “she who possesses the emerald skirt.” Her companion in the book is named Halve; whereas in the manuscript he is called Tlaloc. Yalahau is described by the Indian boy Fernando as “a god that today they fear as cruel.” That name appears both in the published book and manuscript but cannot be found in the standard sources. It is possibly a variant of yaotl, or warrior, another name for Tezcatlipoca. Teule is a term that appears frequently in colonial-era documents, though it is in none of the standard Spanish or Nahuatl dictionaries. It may be a hispanized form of teotl, or deity, which was used as a sign of social respect rather than to indicate a deity. It also appears to have been applied only to Spaniards.
Conclusion
It is clear from the Guadalupan dramas, in both Nahuatl and Spanish, that the Nican mopohua did not have the status that it has today. The playwrights in both languages felt free to change the order of events, invent characters and situations, and in general play fast and loose with the traditional account. One explanation for this may be the many inconsistencies to be found in the Nican mopohua itself, such as Juan Diego's age at the time of the apparitions, whether he was a lifelong celibate, and whether his wife was alive or dead at the time of the apparitions. In recent times the claim has been made that the Nican mopohua was almost contemporary with the apparitions.
El yndio was written and published in the early days of Mexican independence shortly before the expulsion of all Spaniards from Mexico in 1829. Still, there are favorable references to the king of Spain and the royal court. This is surprising so soon after independence and may indicate a lingering nostalgia for a more stable time. By 1828 when the play was published, Mexico was already riven by political factions and the threat of instability. It was also a time when the language was in a state of flux. The style is uneven and elaborate, and tends toward overwrought speeches. Some of this may be due to the playwright's affectations and desire to display his learning. The characters themselves are stereotypes, lacking any realism.
This play, then, is not a milestone of Mexican literature. It does, however, shed light on the development of the Guadalupan tradition and how it was manipulated and interpreted by later generations.
