Mysterious Malinche: A Case of Mistaken Identity

Abstract

In Shakespeare’s play, Pericles, the leading character interrogates a woman whom he does not know is actually his daughter, Marina. In his excitement, King Pericles asks: Where were you bred?/ And how achieved you these endowments, which/ You make more rich to owe? Whereupon Marina replies: If I/ Should tell my history, it would seem like lies/ Disdained in the reporting. How ironic that Shakespeare’s Marina bears a resemblance to the well-known Aztec princess, Malinche, also known as Marina. For the researcher engaged in telling the history of Malinche, there exists an inherent case of mistaken identity in particular indices and annotations to documents that are relevant to her history—a mistake as perplexing and deceptive as if to “seem like lies disdained in the reporting,”