La Malinche

The site that I took this picture from is <concienciafeminista.wordpress.com>. The actual image is part of a mural from Hector Quintana's Historia de Tabasco. In this painting, Malintzin is the tall, big figure in a yellow smock standing behind what looks to be like Cortes. She is standing tall, looking up at the sky, with her hands extended out in front of her. I believe that Townsend would render this depiction of Malintzin as fairly accurate. Whether or not we believe that she was a conniving seductress or a simple girl forced into her occupation is beside the point. Her role was simple: she was a translator and crucial to Cortes' success in Mexico. Without her, the Spanish may never have been able to communicate with the Aztecs/other indigenous groups.  Aguilar only spoke Spanish and Yucatec Maya, therefore, he would not have been able to fully translate for Cortes or Moctezuma. In this picture, her body is far larger than Cortes', suggesting that she had a far more important role and was overall more important than Cortes himself. The author may render this aspect a bit over the top, simply because as she was important, Cortes and his men were as well in the conquest.