Second Quarter
The Bridge of San Luis Rey Interpretive Essay 1
Kendra Salmeron
1022429.03
March 5, 2013
The Bridge of San Luis Rey, by Thornton Wilder, takes place in colonial Peru in the early eighteenth century. One of the main characters is the Marquesa de Montemayor. The Marquesa is the eccentric daughter of a wealthy cloth merchant and an aristocrat by marriage. The Marquesa has an obsessive love for her daughter, Dona Clara. She decides to abandon her selfish love for her daughter and begin a new life. After living a life of self-destructive, passionate obsession, the Marquesa discovers selfless love through her own action and the example of another and changes to selfless love. The Marquesa obsesses over Dona Clara, loving her passionately, first by over-attentiveness to Dona Clara and, then, by a self-destructive had a selfish love because her past was full of loneliness and rejection. Her mother was unhappy with her and did not love her because she was ugly so she was sarcastic and mean to her own daughter. Suitors would always appear but she stayed single for some years. When she was twenty-six she was forced to marry to an arrogant man, who did not love her either. She, soon after, had a daughter who was exactly like her father, cold hearted and showed no love to her mother. Clara, the Marquesa's daughter teased her about her speech and depleting love. Clara got married and moved to Spain with her husband, because she wanted to move away from her mother. Since Dona Maria desperately wanted love and affection she started writing letters to her daughter. Since she did not know how to write well she went out and taught herself to write and speak like a noble. The Marquesa was determined to send well written letters to her daughter to attract her attention. This is where her selfish love is noticed. She wrote these letters just to get some type of affection from her daughter; everything she did was just so her daughter could say she was proud to have her as a mother or to say she loved her. "She wanted her daughter for herself; she wanted to hear her say: You are the best of all mothers; she longed to hear her whisper: Forgive me" (Thornton, 18)1. All the Marquesa wanted was to not feel rejected by someone, but she would do it in a selfishly way. Since Dona Maria always felt alone she adopted a girl from the orphanage to accompany her, she was called Pepita. The Marquesa made Pepita go with her everywhere. Considering Dona Clara paid poor attention to the letters her mother wrote and rarely replied and when she would it would be in few words, her mother would go out and get drunk and did not take care of herself or health, due to the fact that her own daughter ignored her. In her mind she thought that nobody knew how to love, that she was the only one who knew what love is. "She secretly refused to believe that anyone (herself excepted) loved anyone" (p.17). In reality she did not know how to love or know what love is; she thought the overabundance of love she showed was love. But she was just trying to gain what she did not have. When Dona Clara gets pregnant, she tells her mother but not because she cared, just to criticize her. Knowing that her daughter is pregnant Dona Maria went to visit the shrine of Santa Maria de Cluxambuqua. During that time Pepita went into the inn and decided to write a letter to the Abbess, she says she wishes to be released of the Marquesa but if she wants her to stay then she is willing to. Through the Marquesa's own retuen to faith and the example of Pepita the Marquesa discovers selfless love right before she dies. When Dona Maria gets back to the inn she sees the letter Pepita has written and is touched by the love that she has for the Abbess. The Marquesa realizes through this letter that by Pepita willing to stay does love her. Just after, she mentions of mailing the letter but Pepita says she has burned it because sending it is not brave. Understanding that someone knows how to love her and care for she decides to let go of the life she has been living and begin a new life showing real love, an unselfish love. "She had never brought courage to either life or love" (p.37). She wrote a letter telling her daughter of her new feelings and ways how she wanted to start a new life. "Let me live now, she whispered. Let me begin again" (p.38). Two days later when she is on her way home with Pepita, while crossing the bridge both of them fall to their deaths. In this novel, Thornton presents how The Marquesa de Montemayor starts off describing her life lived in ruins. Only wanting love for herself; she has a greedy love for her daughter. Dona Maria soughts for love throughout her life. She sees the bravery of Pepita in selfless love for the Abbess. 1 Thornton Wilder, The Bridge of San Luis Rey (New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 1927), p. 18. All subsequent references will be noted in the text.
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