AZTEC ELEMENTS IN 20TH CENTURY MEXICAN DRAMA by L. Anne Spencer A.B,, University of Kansas, Lawrence, 1965 M.A., University of Kansas, Lawrence, 1967 Submitted to the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Kansas in par- tial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Disse~tation Committee: CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTION. I I I • I • I I . I I I I I I I I I 1 II. MOCTEZUMA II1 FREEDOM OF CHOICE, ...... 33 III. LA MALINCHE: A QUESTION OF RESPONSIBILITY, .. 62 IV. CORONA DE FUEGO: TRANSFORMATION OF A PEOPLE .. 90 V. CUAUHTEMOC: PERPETUAL REINCARNATION ... , .. 121 VI. LOS ARGONAUTAS: LINKS IN A CHAIN, . 147 VII. CONCLUSION, . 176 BIBLIOGRAPHY. , , I I I I I I I I I I I , . 188 APPENDIX .. 198 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Until recent years, colonial history inspired con- siderably more Mexican plays than did pre-Hispanic and Conquest history. Emphasis on the European aspects of Mexico's development relegated the latter themes to the background, where they were ·rarely noticed. Since the middle of the 20th century, however, that neglected area of history has become much more prominent in the theatre. This phenomenon reflects a preoccupation with indigenous origins shared by virtually all Mexican letters and by Latin American letters in general. Foremost among the writers who attempt to analyze the historical and spiritual past of the modern Mexican character is Octavio Paz. In El laberinto de la soledad (1950), he endeavors to define the bases of the Mexican temperament by an examination of Mexico's history from Cort~s to the present. He explains in Hegelian terms the duality which he considers to represent a fundamental dichotomy in that character. There are also anthropolo- gists and archaeologists, like Miguel Le6n-Portilla, who specialize in bringing to light additional data on the pre-Hispanic way of life and in presenting a coordinated and realistic picture of that life in order to understand 2 both the events of the Conquest and today's Mexican. Even researchers outside Mexico are fascinated by the Meso- American cultures and add their interpretations to those of Mexico's own writers. In The Aztec Image in Western Thought, Benjamin Keen states thats the paradoxes of the brilliant, tragic Aztec culture continue to intrigue Western man . Perhaps one reason is that their culture mir- rors our own contradictions and dilemmas, for the Aztec mixture of humanism and barbarism, and the introspective Aztec personality, haunted by doubts and fears, are not unfamiliar to us who live in the last third of the twentieth century,1 This observation, true of Western civilization as a whole, especially describes the contemporary Mexican. After re- jecting first his Indian forebears and later his Spanish inheritance, he now finds that he must accept both tra- ditions simultaneously in order to understand himself and his complex character today. Because the Spanish culture has long been the basis of his daily life, it is an impor- tant element in his sense of identity. But until recently his understanding of the other side of his cultural 1Benjamin Keen, The Aztec Image in Western Thought (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1971), p. 567, 3 inheritance was based largely on either positive or nega- tive idealization rather than on factual reality. The scholarly studies of the last two or three decades have helped the modern Mexican to achieve a broader comprehen- sion of what that previously idealized part actually was. He is now trying to understand his total identity as an integration of both parts. Contemporary theatre's interest in the Conquest is only one manifestation of that concern, The basic works of reference on the Aztec civiliza- tion were compiled in the 16th century, Although the Span- iards as a whole tried to destroy all traces of the pagan Aztec civilization, there was an interest among the mendi- cant religious orders in preserving in writing something of that civilization. These works were generally done either at the direction of the Spanish Crown or of the re- ligious orders and were compilations of history, legend, myth, and customs gathered by talking with the Indians themselves. 2 The latter eagerly helped both because of pride in the achievements of their late civilization and as a means of proving their adherence to Christianity by 2see Keen, The Aztec Image, for an excellent study of Mexican and European historians and anthropologists until the present. Among the chroniclers to whose works both scholars and dramatists most often refer are Gonz~•lo Fer- nandez de Oviedo (Historia general x natural de las Indias, 1535 and 1537), Bartolom~' de las Casas ( Apolo~tica hist6- rica, 1527-1550, ·published in 1909), Bernardino de Sahagtm THistoria de las cosas de la Nueva Espana, 1576), and Diego Dur~n (Historia de las Indias de la Nueva Espana e islas de tierra firme, 1581). - - - 4 denouncing the "evil" aspects of their culture. Fernando Alvarado Tezoz5moc, a pure Indian, even wrote his own Cr6nica mexicana at the end of the century (not published until 1876) in an effort to explain the customs and beliefs of his people 'and to relate them with those of Christianity. In the 17th century, another valuable work (Historia chi- chimeca, published in 1891), which traced the development of the Aztec civilization from its origins, was produced by a mestizo, Fernando de Alva Ixtlix5-chitl. The dramas of the 16th century were autos composed and presented by the Franciscan friars to educate the Indian in Christianity, In these (e.g., Las Cortes de la Muerte, 1557), the Aztec or elements of his civilization often ap- peared as an example of the type of living to be rejected, In the drama of the 17th century, only Sor Juana In~s de la Cruz gave the Indians any attention. She also used the subject for the purpose of instructing in the right way to Christian living. In the prologue to El divine Narciso (1689), the allegorical figures of Occident, America, Re- _ligion, and Zeal carry on a discussion which points out analogies between Christian and Aztec communion rites. Sor Juana suggests that the Aztec ritual consumption of their idol, made from a paste of corn meal and human blood, was a forerunner of the Eucharist, and with these arguments, America is "converted" to Christianity, 5 By the 18th century, the creole began to show a keen interest in indigenous Mexico. He tried to awaken a new sense of pride in American themes to combat his position of social inferiority to the Peninsular Spaniards. The discovery in 1790 of both the statue of the earth goddess Coatlicue and the Calendar Stone stimulated a new anthro- pological interest, especially in Europe, in unearthing and evaluating the Mexican past. But it did not awaken a similar interest in literature. In the War of Independence (1810-1821), nationalist fervor was fanned by revolution- ary leaders who wished to establish an identification be- tween revolutionary Mexico and ancient Mexico which would justify wresting Mexico's independence from Spain. Carlos Marfa Bustamante was especially active in this effort, pub- lishing several sketches of ancient Mexican life and edit- ing a number of important manuscripts from the 16th century. At this time, European and North American historians and writers, influenced by Romanticism, were interested in anything far enough removed from the present to be consid- .ered exotic. Thus they too became immensely interested in Mexico's past. The foremost among those writers was William H. Prescott, whose monumental The History of the Conquest of Mexico (1843) has been influential in the layman's view of the Conquest since that time. Although Prescott did exhaustive research on the subject, his presentation of the Aztecs and their conflict with the Spaniards followed the conventional romantic ideas of the period. While he 6 extolled the notable political and scientific achievements of the Aztecs and praised their economic and educational systems, he condemned their religious practices and judged them to be an inferior race, morally unfit for the modern world. Keen presents the following evaluation of Prescott's work: For the modern critic, the major weakness of Pres- cott's account of Aztec civilization is not the excusable factual error but its gross historical and psychological distortions, the absence of any serious effort to enter into the Aztec mind and society, the shallowness of its interpretation.3 Prescott's romantic evaluations found their way into the drama of the late 19th century. Although conservatism held sway for a short period after independence was achieved, interest in ancient Mexico reappeared with the Reform in 1855. The Emperor Maximilian established several scientific commissions to study aspects of Aztec civilization, such as the pyramids of Teotihuacan. Benito Ju~Tez saw to it that the Museo Nacional received government support. Later, Porfirio Dlaz also encouraged archaeological research on the Aztecs, increased support for the Museo Nacional, and had a statue of Cuauht~moc erected on the Paseo de la Reforma. During the Dlaz 3Keen, The Aztec Image, p. 363. 7 regime, mostly pro-Indian works were published, 4 including several plays inspired in ancient Mexico. Alfredo Chavero wrote two indigenous tragedies in the romantic style (Xc'5chitl, 1877, and Quetzalcc'5atl, 1878), while Jos~ Rosas Moreno produced El bardo de Acolhuac~n (1876), a romantic treatise about Netzahualc6yotl. In spite of these few examples, dramatic interest continued to focus on colonial history rather than on Conquest times. However, the Mexican Revolution effected some changes in perspective, although most of them did not show up in the drama until later in the century.