Sheperd - Ercilla's Creative Conflicts

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



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



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.




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




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




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




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




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,




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)




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,




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




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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Sheperd - Ercilla's Creative Conflicts