One of the protagonists in Thornton Wilder’s The Bridge of San Luis Rey is Doña Maria- The Marquesa de Montemayor. Doña Maria was born in Lima to a mother, lacking in love. This loveless childhood shaped Doña Maria’s personality and her outlook on love. In contrast to her mother who showed no love, when Doña Maria’s daughter was born, she loved her with a passionate and selfish love, always trying to prove herself to her daughter. At the end and climax of her life, she begins to change her passionate love to a compassionate love, the unselfish love. The Marquesa’s early life and the birth of her daughter begin her passionate and obsessive love. The Marquesa’s childhood was lonely and pitiful, “Her childhood was unhappy: she was ugly… her mother persecuted her with sarcasms… she lived alone and she thought alone.” The Marquesa has a bad example on how to be a mother, thus when her daughter was born, she obsessively loved her. She “fastened upon her an idolatrous love.” However, this “love” drover her daughter away, as she chose a husband who would take her away from Lima, and her frightened mother. Consequently, this only sparks a more obsessive love from the Marquesa.
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After her daughter left, Marquesa became a shut-in not wanting to be around anyone. She began writing eloquent letters to her daughter, still wanting to earn her daughter’s love. During this time she wrote 56 letters, each with a different spiritual or intellectual influence. In addition to the letters, the Marquesa resorted to drinking. But now wanting company, she adopted a girl name
After her daughter left, Marquesa became a shut-in not wanting to be around anyone. She began writing eloquent letters to her daughter, still wanting to earn her daughter’s love. During this time she wrote 56 letters, each with a different spiritual or intellectual influence. In addition to the letters, the Marquesa resorted to drinking. But now wanting company, she adopted a girl name