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Ercilla's Creative and Critical Conflicts: Balancing Oppositions in "La Araucana"Author(s): Gregory ShepherdReviewed work(s):Source: Latin American Literary Review, Vol. 26, No. 52, Colonial Latin America: AMultidisciplinary Approach (Jul. - Dec., 1998), pp. 120-133Published by: Latin American Literary ReviewStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20119787 .
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ERCILLA'S CREATIVE AND CRITICAL CONFLICTS: BALANCING OPPOSITIONS IN LA ARAUCANA
GREGORY SHEPHERD
In 1556 Alonso de Ercilla y Z??iga, the twenty-three year old page to
Prince Philip of the Spanish royal court, departed for the New World to take
part in a military campaign against the rebellious natives of Chile. His first
hand experiences with Araucanian society must have captivated the young Ercilla because when he returned to Spain seven years later in 1563, he
began to compile the copious notes that he had recorded during his sojourn
among the Araucanians into an epic poem, "escribiendo muchas veces en
cuero por falta de papel, y en pedazos de cartas, de algunos tan peque?os que
apenas cab?an seis versos" (69). According to the prologue, Ercilla con
structed an "historia verdadera" in order to save from perpetual silence the
valor and courage of these people as they defended their land and liberty. Ercilla's astonishment at their pride and bravery in self-defense led him to
impart heroic status upon the Araucanians in his epic poem. La Araucana as a text exhibits numerous conflicts that characterize
Ercilla's struggle with the different roles he assumes both within and outside
the poem. The poet's position as eyewitness to the events narrated, along with his status as a character within the epic itself, creates a dynamic that
allows him to manipulate his (lack of) complicity to certain acts of violence
while still maintaining historical authority. Another conflict, associated
with the first, appears in Ercilla's claim that La Araucana is an accurate
rendering of American reality and the events surrounding the Spanish
campaign against the Araucanians Indians. He emphasizes his authoritative
posture as a witness to support the truthful nature of his verses; however, he
also employs a host of rhetorical devices aimed at manipulating, distorting,
idealizing, and fabricating content. The paradox resulting from the combi
nation of idealized and stylized descriptions of the Araucanians and the
Chilean landscape?which reflected European aesthetic values?and the
more "realistic" renderings of American reality in verse has provoked harsh
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Ercilla's Conflicts: Balancing Oppositions in La Araucana 121
criticism from scholars and devaluated, somewhat, Ercilla's poetic enter
prise. And yet, another conflict has surfaced in the analysis of Ercilla's
supposed aggrandizement of Spanish imperialism in the poem. Though Ercilla was a member of the military force sent to "pacify" the Araucanians
and dedicated his poem to the King of Spain, many scholars have observed
criticism of Spanish imperialism in the Americas within the poem. Those
who have addressed this anomaly have tended to place Ercilla's allegiances
entirely with either the Spanish or the Araucanians. They cite his derisive
descriptions of the Araucans as barbaric and inhuman in support of the
former or else they explore the soliloquies against the licentious and violent
Spaniards to empower the latter. While evidence bolstering both arguments has been extracted from the text, a comprehensive resolution of this
incongruity becomes a much more complex issue. This paper will read
Ercilla's depiction of Spanish and Araucanian behavior and the reported
speeches of several historical and fictional characters in order to better grasp the dynamics of these ambiguities.
Witness/poet conflict
Ercilla's narration of the poem in the first person has been established
as an influence of Orlando furioso but the positioning of the poet inside his
work is a departure from European norms for the epic (Avalle-Arce 158). This technique was more common among the histories of the colonial period in Latin America and appears in several texts such as La verdadera historia
de la conquista de la Nueva Espa?a by Bernai D?az, Cartas de relaci?n by Hern?n Cort?s, and Naufragios by Alvar Nu?ez. These histories, however, stand in sharp contrast to Orlando furioso because they refused to admit their
fictionality. Though La Araucana also makes a claim to historicity, the
genre of the epic allows for idealization and exaggeration.1 Regardless of the
text's proclaimed historical intentions, its reliance on the perspective of a
single, self-interested witness inevitably taints the truthfulness of the
narrative. The placement of the poet/historian inside his own work creates
a tension between the poet/historian and the witness?in other words, the
tension springs from the reconciliation of what the witness felt, saw, and
heard?and what, how, and why the poet/historian records what he does.
Avalle-Arce discusses this point and concludes that the poet eventually dominates the witness, "[t]odas sus actitudes sirven para revelar el supremo se?or?o que el poeta tiene sobre la obra de arte, y esta relaci?n entre Poeta
y poema, creador y creaci?n, es una analog?a entre Poeta y Dios y entre
poema y cosmos" (168). The experiences of the witness, in spite of his
claims to historicity, are eventually subordinated to the poetic process. Several examples of the poet's manipulation of his position within the
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122 Latin American Literary Review
poem show how Ercilla creates distance between his fictionalized persona and narrated events. Pastor mentions the poet's use of a variety of subject pronouns to narrate events. She claims that Ercilla reserved "yo" for actions
that were of unquestionable decency while the progressively more distant
"nosotros", "nuestros hombres", and "ellos" were reserved for actions of
disputable propriety: "As the events involving the poet become increasingly
problematical, the first person singular gradually vanishes, and other pro nouns are used to represent the subject of the action" (Pastor 1992a, 265). This is one way the poet controls the participation of the witness. However, Albarracin-Sarmiento draws a distinction between the character-narrator
and the witness-narrator as to their functions within the poem, "el personaje de Ercilla resulta, predominantemente, protagonista de sucesos ficticios
(caballerescos y maravillosos) y el personaje secundario y testigo de
sucesos hist?ricos" (13). In addition to the two functions mentioned above, the consistent use of "yo" throughout the poem served several other
functions, including the moralist "yo" and the metapoetic "yo". These two
were not unusual identities assumed by poets; frequent comments on virtue
and the poetic process were expected. Ercilla's narration of historical events
and management of the witness's complicity with certain events show the
ultimate supremacy of the poet over the witness. The problematic conflict
between the poet and the witness becomes more complex upon consideration
of the various roles assumed by Ercilla's autobiographical representation. While it seems that the protagonist, who tends to interact with
fictionalized characters, and the witness, who usually engages historical
figures, oppose one another, both ultimately are subordinated to the creative
process wielded by the poet. Ercilla exemplifies the poet's control as he
laments the narrowness of the subject, "que busco anchura y campo descubierto / donde con libertad, sin fatigarme, / os pueda recrear y recrearme" (XXXII-50, 855). Speaking to the Spanish military forces,
Ercilla reveals the poet's consciousness of the duality of his persona within
the poem. While it appears that the witness becomes an object of the poet's
creative efforts and his first-hand observations of the Araucan campaign are
subordinated to the tradition of heroic verse, the witness's accumulation of
experiences slowly alters the demeanor of Ercilla's poetic persona, resulting in disillusionment and crisis. The witness, rather than associating a series of
images that confirms the dominance of honor and ethical conduct within the
Conquest, is faced with the cowardliness, greed, and cruelty of the Spanish soldiers. This d?mythification in the eyes of the witness contributes to the
disillusionment of the poet as he sees the breakdown of Spanish honor and
Stoic ideals. While the poet cleverly manipulates the witness's complicity with cruel acts so as not to taint his own honor, the witness subtly clouds the
poet's consciousness with disappointment.
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Ercilla's Conflicts: Balancing Oppositions in La Araucana 123
Historicity and Fiction
Though the witness purports to relate the facts, while the poet idealizes
the human and physical landscape, the conflict between the poet and the
witness is more than the rivalry between esthetics and truth. Aristotle
asserted in the Po?tica that the "poet ...must necessarily in all instances
represent things in one or other of three aspects, either as they were or are, or as they are said or thought to be or to have been, or as they ought to be"
(661-62). The idealization of reality can be compatible with a purportedly truthful narration. The struggle arises from a dilemma in the process by
which the poet reduces greatness into language. Ercilla refers to this
quandary in the first octave of Canto XVIII:
?Cu?l ser? el atrevido que presuma reducir el valor vuestro y grandeza a t?rmino peque?o y breve suma
y a tan humilde estilo tanta alteza?
Que aunque por campo pr?spero la pluma corra con f?rtil vena y ligereza tanto el sujeto y la materia arguye
que todo lo deshace y disminuye.(517)
According to Ercilla, the quest to represent the majesty of the battles
between the Spaniards and the Araucanians could only result in the dimin
ishing of valor and courage. So the reality of the Araucanian campaigns, whether expressed in poetic or historical voice, degenerates in spite of the
life-giving properties at work in the metaphors of the flourishing field and
the fertile vein. These verses could be part of a captatio benevolentia?a
rhetorical device articulating the humility of the poet?or else Ercilla may be calling attention to the fallibility of the poem as historical representation.
Although he struggles to reproduce a historical reality accurately and
thoroughly, Ercilla blames his technique, claiming it inadequate to hold the
multifaceted and simultaneous nature of his experiences. Ercilla summa
rizes this concern in canto XV: "Qu?selo aqu? dejar, considerado / ser
escritura larga y trabajosa, / por ir a la verdad tan arrimado / y haber de tratar
siempre de una cosa" (430).
Above, Ercilla calls attention to the linearity of history, which lends
itself poorly to the reproduction of a multi-dimentional reality. His com
ments throughout the poem lamenting the difficulty of the historical project demonstrate the poet's consciousness of the process by which he attempts to relate history. Ercilla was aware of the disparity between the dynamic
reality and the univocal, linear relation of history. In the first octets of the
poem Ercilla describes his work to the King: "Es relaci?n sin corromper
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124 Latin American Literary Review
sacada / de la verdad, cortada a su medida; / no despreci?is el don, aunque tan pobre, / para que autoridad mi verso cobre" (78). Truth, in this case
historical truth, was supposed to be discriminantly extracted from a fuller, more complete, reality.
The recognition that historical writing involved the emplotment of a
"verdad cortada" empowered the creative process as the principal organizer of content. A justification for the imposition of the poetic "yo" over the
witness "yo" emerges from Ercilla's selection of the epic as the literary vehicle to carry his observations of American reality. Ercilla acknowledged his inability to narrate reality without selectively shortening the truth he
hoped to convey, even though he sought to, as Avalle-Arce states, "entroncar
[su poema] con la rica tradici?n de las cartas de relaci?n de la Conquista" ( 160).
Though many verista critics have viewed this conflict as detrimental
to the esthetic value of the poem, this same inconsistency exists in all
histories, despite the empirical intentions of historians. The same critics
usually cite the exaggeration of Araucanian nature as a departure from
"realistic" narrative but Ercilla never defends or calls attention to his use of
idealized descriptions of the Araucanians and their deeds. He narrates their
feats with emotion employing classical models departing from European
literary tradition. Ercilla describes the Araucanian warrior: "Son de gestos robustos, desbarbados, / bien formados los cuerpos y crecidos, / espaldas
grandes, pechos levantados, / recios miembros, de niervos bien fornidos;"
(1-46, 93). The perfection described shows the influence of sixteenth
century Neo-Platonism which had revived the paragons of classical beauty.
Despite the harsh realities of the Chilean environment, Ercilla also portrayed that world in terms of a paradisical garden reminiscent of the Greek
mythological model, the Elysian fields.
Along with the imagery of classical antiquity, Ercilla also infuses his
work with the ethical ideals of Stoicism. Gerli states: "La Araucana belongs to the Renaissance: it was conceived in a milieu of reverence and emulation
of the classical past, and hence it incorporated not only the artistic but the
moral values of antiquity as well" (86). The preoccupation for aesthetic
ideals sprang from the resurgence of classical learning during the Renais
sance, particularly Neoplatonism, as is evidenced by the prevalent use of
classical models and themes in the Amadis series and the pastoral novel
(Jones 57). However, attention to moral ideals emanated from a Renaissance
rethinking of classical Stoicism. Terms such as order, harmony, and virtue
accompanied the rebirth of Stoicism during the late sixteenth century. The
dominance of moral philosophy was connected to "certain virtues?notably distinction between right and wrong, self-control over the passions, courage as opposed to recklessness?which could be intellectually explained and
developed through education" (Hale 209). This code of ethics associated
with the Stoics was meant to create stability and consistency in the ever
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Ercilla's Conflicts: Balancing Oppositions in La Araucana 125
changing and hostile environment of sixteenth-century Europe. The belief
was that the application of this collective morality would allow all to live in
peace and harmony. In addition to idealizing the Araucanians and their world, Ercilla
represents their courageous defense of land and liberty in terms of Stoic
ideals. The execution of the Araucanian chief, Caupolic?n is portrayed with
reference to these Stoic ideals as he finally accepts Christianity and refuses
to show emotion during his torture.
No el agudazo palo penetrante
por m?s que las entra?as le rompiese bar?ndole el cuerpo, fue bastante
a que al dolor intenso se rindiese:
que con sereno t?rmino y semblante, sin que labrio ni ceja retorciese
sosegado qued? de la manera
que si asentado en t?lamo estuviera.(XXXIV-28, 903)
Ercilla goes on to generally describe Araucanian leadership, war tactics, romantic love, and valor in terms of Stoic virtues. With few exceptions, these idealized portrayals reflect the revival of classical Stoicism during the
Renaissance. In spite of a connection to the discourse of the virtus associated
with Stoicism, several critics have interpreted this idealization, exaggera tion or fantastic departure as the activation of chivalric discourse. Like Stoic
ideals, chivalric values were expressed as a code of ethics; though the word
code is misleading because there were many different codes of chivalric
conduct. Addressing Ercilla's use of idealization, Adorno writes: "He
resorted to the chivalric formulation not because he saw the Araucanians as
chivalric heroes but because he needed a language of common reference
with his readers to communicate his admiration of the Araucanian cultural
values of liberty, courage, and the refusal to be conquered" (17). But the
discourse of virtue based on Stoic ideals also provides a stable and consistent
system of reference by which the European reader could relate to Araucanian
reality. The values associated with Stoicism, which constituted the under
pinnings of Spanish societal honor, were used to frame the idealized
behavior of the Araucanians.
If La Araucana had introduced chivalric and historical discourses as
its two major discursive projects, a treacherous problem for Ercilla's epic poem would have arisen?not because of its claim to truthfulness?since
most chivalric novels made similar claims. Rather, because these overtly fictional texts attempted to assert historicity, there was a long-standing resentment of these "lying histories" by the historians of colonial Latin
America. The earnest juxtaposition of overtly historical and fictional
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126 Latin American Literary Review
elements would have made a battleground of Ercilla's poem, had the
idealization of the Araucanian been considered chivalric writing. Relatively few elements in La Araucana emerge purely from chivalric discourse.?
The magician/sorcerer Fit?n who transported the poet magically to distant
places clearly emerges from chivalric novels. However, Ercilla's idealiza
tion of the Araucanians and their heroic deeds, in spite of occasional
techniques extracted from chivalric writing, relies more on the activation of
Stoic values which, in contrast to chivalric discourse, did not suffer from a
negative association with historical discourse during the colonial period.
Considering the idealized American landscape and humanity as the product of Neoplatonic and Stoic values breaks down one facet of the conflict
between the "lying histories" of chivalric writing and the empirical histories.
Though Ercilla employed elements made popular in the chivalric romances, the artistic value o? La Araucana is not diminished by its claim to historicize
reality. The earliest epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey, made similar assertions
while incorporating fantastic episodes and idealized descriptions. The last component of the conflict lies not in whether classical treatises
allowed idealized or fantastic elements; it goes to the heart of epic poetry in
Spain, where poets were inclined to praise their homeland and insist on
truthful narration. Since the composition of national epics retelling the
events of the Reconquest?primarily the Cantar del M?o Cid?Spanish heroic poetry assimilated a "verista" character. The religious fervor of a holy war infused itself into the nature of the epic in Spain. This religious project also incorporated elements of contemporary political interest, bringing the
poet closer to the material poeticized. "El calor de lo inmediato que vivific?
el Cantar de M?o Cid alienta con el mismo vigor en las octavas de La
Araucana" (Avalle-Arce 155). Ercilla, however problematically, emerged from two equally dominant poetic traditions?the Italian "verosimilistas"
and the Spanish "veristas." The ultimate unresolvable and sometimes
contradictory conflict within La Araucana resides in the paradox of a
simultaneous commitment to empirical truth and the creative process?the former was admittedly unreachable so the latter took precedence. But
perhaps the truth Ercilla sought involved not simply the telling of what
happened but how those events unfolded.
Critical consciousness or dominant ideology
As shown above, the idealization of the Araucanian was not part of an
ideology-based effort to deify or even elevate them above the European. Ercilla employed models of classical beauty and described episodes where
the Araucanians acted upon Stoic ideals to insert the American reality into
the consciousness of his readers in a language and cultural setting that would
be understandable and meaningful. Although critics have interpreted the
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Ercilla's Conflicts: Balancing Oppositions in La Araucana 127
poet's bestowal of heroic status upon certain Araucanian warriors as an
ideological shift from imperialism to anti-colonialism, Ercilla's allegiances, as clearly attested to both in the prologue to La Araucana and by his life of
service, belonged to the Spanish Crown. Not only was this the message transmitted by Ercilla but it was the one received by readers, colleagues and
countrymen of the time. Ercilla's idealization of the Araucanians, their
values, and their society were part of a recognized literary construct that
composed part of the intrinsic form of the epic.
Efectivamente, la obra de Ercilla aparece, en m?ltiples
aspectos, firmemente atenta a la preceptiva del g?nero... se
trata de una narraci?n interrumpida, en que se introducen
diversos episodios; cuyos personajes act?an en funci?n de
las situaciones respectivas; que presenta un grado de
complicaci?n apreciable; cuyos contenidos provocan en
ocasiones efectos pat?ticos; y que no es, en sentido estricto,
verdadera, sino s?lo veros?mil, como prueban
(parad?jicamente) la presencia en ella de lo maravilloso, lo
il?gico, lo absurdo, etc.: caracter?siticas todas acordes con
la preceptiva cl?sica. (I?igo Madrigal 199)
By employing European literary devices and forms and activating
philosophical trends and literary traditions dominant at the time the poem was composed, Ercilla appropriated Araucanian reality and introduced it
into Western consciousness. But Ercilla, in many instances, also marginalizes Araucanian culture, particularly in his characterization of their religion, social and political structures, and military technology. An example sur
faces in the portrayal of the Araucanian God, Eponam?n, as a demonic
dragon in the ninth Canto. In the prologue Ercilla initiates a discourse of
"otherness" through his representation of the Araucans, as a culture "sin tener en todo ?l pueblo formado, ni muro, ni casa fuerte para su reparo, ni armas a lo menos defensivas" (70). References to witchcraft and anthro
pophagy further marginalize the Araucanians. Jara and Spadaccini confirm:
Despite Ercilla's attempt at balancing, one sees a subtle
tilting toward the discourse of the Empire. In his descrip tive moments the author observes in the aborigines an
attitude that the reader can interpret as religious Titanism....
The narrator rejects the beliefs of the aborigines qualifying them as a satanical attitude directed like that of Lucifer
against the Creator. (24)
Ercilla displays a definite complicity with the dominant ideology,
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128 Latin American Literary Review
which favored Western culture and traditions while subjecting the percep tions of "others" to the taboos and collective fears of Europe. For Ercilla, it
would have been difficult, first, to subvert the discourse of the Empire from
within the perspective and form of the European epic, and second, to publish a poem dedicated to the King of Spain, which undermined the Spanish colonial project. Pastor states: "Su estructura particular, sus modos de
caracterizaci?n, su transgresi?n de los principios de composici?n de la
epopeya renacentista expresan la imposibilidad misma del cuestionamiento
radical de un orden colonial desde ese mismo orden" (1992b, 160). The idealization of Araucanian values and the criticism of specific acts
perpetuated by certain conquerors have tempted some critics to perceive an
anti-Spanish or anti-imperialist attitude on the part of Ercilla. One should
remember that these elements are literary codes and their use was not
perceived as subversive to the Crown by writers or censors from that era.
While it would have been possible for the poet to displace these codes and
redefine them through irony, thus subverting their explicit function, I
believe Ercilla sought to construct the argument of imperialism first, to later
analyze and comment upon its results.
Consequently, an almost contradictory duality between idealism and
skepticism exists in the poem; in the first canto Ercilla praises the Empire and states his intention to exalt the Spanish soldier and in the third he
describes greed as the downfall of the Spanish captain, Pedro de Valdivia.
"Praise of the empire has been converted into exposing the truth hidden
beneath the lordly splendor of the conquest and the desire to honor the
conquistadors is, with significant frequency, interrupted by humanist criti
cism of the unjust and cruel behavior" (Promis 57). Another example, which
attempts to differentiate between acceptable and detestable uses of violence, is found in the third and fourth octaves of Canto XXXII:
y el correr del cuchillo riguroso mientras dura la furia es disculpable, mas pasado, despu?s, a sangre fr?a, es venganza, crueldad y tiran?a.
La mucha sangre derramada ha sido
(si mi juicio y parecer no yerra) la que de todo en todo ha destruido
el esperado fruto desta tierra;
pues con modo inhumano han excedido
de las leyes y t?rminos de guerra, haciendo en las entradas y conquistas crueldades inormes nunca vistas. (840)
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Ercilla's Conflicts: Balancing Oppositions in La Araucana 129
The criticism leveled here reacts strongly against the "crueldad" perpetuated
by the Spanish soldiers, even as the discourse of the Conquest continues to
strongly justify violence while under anger's influence. Ercilla's allusion to
the destruction of the "esperado fruto desta tierra" reveals his opinion that
the objective of usurping lands was not flawed; it was the method, however, that was not only illegal but also immoral, as emphasized by the powerful
adjective "inhumano." At this point, there is not a breakdown of the
imperialist ideology. The disillusionment expressed by the poet is not the
product of his questioning the theoretical aim of the colonial enterprise.
Though Ercilla cannot justify the cruelty and heartlessness he had wit
nessed, and challenges the legality of the soldiers' actions, the goal of
pacifying and christianizing the Araucanians is not controverted here.
So if the Spanish colonial enterprise as theoretically constituted is not
philosophically damaged, according to Ercilla, to what do we owe his
disillusionment and cynicism? Pastor calls this process the "emergence of
a critical consciousness" on the part of Ercilla. "The ideological view
expressed in the poem, however, seems to present these negative qualities not as anything necessarily intrinsic to the violence and repression that are
central to the function of any conquistador, but as a temporary state that is
the result of a historical process perceived as decadence" (1992a, 252).
Despite his belief that virtue should be the chief characteristic of the Spanish soldier, he calls attention to the breakdown of ethics involved in carrying out
the colonial project in Chile. This becomes most apparent in the speech
given by the wounded Araucanian captain, Galbarino, to his troops:
Y es un color, es apariencia vana
querer mostrar que el principal intento
fue el estender la religi?n cristiana, siendo el puro inter?s su fundamento; su pretenci?n de la codicia mana,
que todo lo dem?s es fingimiento,
pues los vemos que son m?s que otras gentes ad?lteros, ladrones, insolentes.(629)
This reported speech goes beyond the criticism of specific instances of
immoral behavior. Galvarino interprets Spanish behavior emphasizing the
hypocrisy of greed shrouded in Christian expansion. Pastor cites this
episode as a turning point in the development of Ercilla's ideological
position, moving from criticism of specific acts of cruelty to the breakdown
of the dominant ideology, "it encompasses all aspects, questions all con
quests, challenges imperialism itself as an ideological model rather than a
particular application" ( 1992a, 262). Notwithstanding a shift from reproach for specific acts of cruelty to the denunciation of general licentiousness,
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130 Latin American Literary Review
Ercilla does not engage in resistance to imperialism itself. Instead, he
disavows the greed and avarice of the conquerors because they opposed the
ideals of honor and virtue that customarily accompany military conflict and
evangelization.
Qui?rome declarar, que alg?n curioso
dir? que aqu? y all? me contradigo: virtud es castigar cuando es forzoso
y necesario el p?blico castigo; virtud es perdonar el poderoso la ofensa del ingrato y enemigo cuando es particular, o que se entienda
que puede sin castigo haber enmienda.(958-59)
La Araucana represents a breakdown in the ideal ethical models presumed to be in place, and documents a transition to corruption and laziness in the
Spanish colonies. The process by which Ercilla attempts to reveal the truth
involves the d?mythification of the presumably honorable and virtuous
conduct of conquistador and colonist in the project to christianize their
American counterparts. While using classical models such as Stoicism to
describe the Araucanians was part of the epic's technical repertoire, the
practice also reinforced the general lack of heroism displayed by Spanish soldiers. However, this critique of their conduct does not extend over
imperialism generally nor the philosophy supporting it.
Ercilla's melancholy at the end of the poem is produced both by the betrayal of the spiritual project of the Conquest of America and by the fact that he has been unfairly treated, not by the imperialistic positing of such a spiritual project.
As we now know, the positing of such a project implies,
among other things, the danger of the emergence of a
privileged self with the fantasy of possessing a truth that
due to its universality, should be valid for everybody else.
However, though La Araucana does not go or cannot go this far in critiquing the discourse of colonialism, it does
acknowledge the painful realities of Spanish domination in
the New World. (D?az Balsera 29)
The breakdown of the myth of the noble and virtuous soldier precipitated Ercilla's crisis. His general disillusionment was part of a national context of
disappointment attributable to economic, military, and moral failures. In
addition, personal tragedies furthered the poet's lack of fulfillment. He was
imprisoned unjustly during the campaign to Chile, and he lost his only child
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Ercilla's Conflicts: Balancing Oppositions in La Araucana 131
and natural son in the sinking of the Armada in the year preceding the
publication of the third and final part of his epic poem.
Questions regarding Ercilla's disillusionment can be ascribed to
individual as well as collective failures. However, his eyewitness experi ences afforded him an inside view of the conquest?a vision that did not
correspond to either his presupposed ethical ideals or divine and civil law.
The right to conquer, wage war, and subjugate peoples is never explicitly
challenged in La Araucana. The disillusionment of the poet emerges from
his perception of a breakdown of the ethical and moral values of those who
participated in the Conquest. Though he manipulated the Araucanians as a
part of the creative process to fabricate an archetype for the immoral, he also
witnessed and recorded the laudable attributes he lavished upon them.
La sincera bondad y la caricia
de la sencilla gente destas tierras
daban bien a entender que la cudicia
a?n no hab?a pentrado aquellas sierras; ni la maldad, el robo y la injusticia
(alimento ordinario de las guerras).(937-38)
In La Araucana, the poet/witness conflict ultimately favors the poet who uses his control to further his creative agenda. But the eyes and memory of both personas are one: the poet could not extract or expunge from his
consciousness the abuses he saw during his sojourn through Chile. He
created a separate persona to carry those experiences to the end of his epic. When faced with personal and national crises, the barrier between the two
dissolves, leaving the poet disillusioned and broken as the myth of an
honorable and ethical world dissipates and the hope for a prosperous and
powerful Spain dies.
ST JOSEPH'S UNIVERSITY
NOTES
'Cf. Aristotle's Po?tica, c.25
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132 Latin American Literary Review
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