If there is one villainess in Mexican history, she is Malintzin. She was to become the ethnic traitress supreme."[1] Such is one version of the popular view of Malintzin or Dofia Marina, as she was christened by Cort6s' padres, or La Malinche, as she came to be known among the Aztecs. Indeed, in the current reevaluation of pre-Columbian culture among many Chicanos, La Malinche remains one of the few indigenous figures in the Conquest of Mexico to be viewed with contempt. [La Malinche] was to become infamous in the history of Mexico. Not only did she turn her back on her own people, she joined the white men and became assimilated, serving as their guide and interpreter and generally assisting in the conquest. She was the first Mexican-American. [2] Fortunately, Chicana writers and scholars have begun to correct such distortions. Nevertheless, even Moctezuma-the Aztec ruler most directly responsible for the ease of Spanish takeover-receives generally sympathetic understanding from American historians, past and present,[3] although he capitulated to the Spaniards prematurely.[4] Over the years La Malinche has been the subject of biographical, fictional, and symbolic interpretation written in many different languages. Biographical accounts include Mariano Somonte's Dohia Marina, "La Malinche," and Bernal Diaz del Castillo's "Malintzin Ten6pal: A Preliminary Look into a New Perspective." Fictional treatments include Margaret Shedd's Malinche and Cortis; Octavio Paz's chapter, "The Sons of La Malinche" in Labyrinth of Solitude
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.