Don Quijote Part V

“Lela Zoraida / Maria the woman presented in these chapters. How do you interpret her multiple identities (Arabic / Muslim / Christian / "Spanish")”
I think that this woman directly imitates the culture of the time. As we remember Spain, especially southern Spain had a heavy influence of Los Moros for quite some time. The idea that this woman is a combination of the Moros and the Spaniards in a way combines “everyone” living in Spain at the time. There were Spanish Catholics and Arabic Muslims (if I remember correctly mostly from northern Africa) and their cultures coexisted to some extent for 500 years. This idea that the this woman has multiple identities is somewhat misleading. She does not exactly have multiple identities but rather the identity of Spain as a whole (given the time period of course). She is a representation of Spain as a whole but at the same time a representation of all the parts/peoples that make up Spain. In some ways she may in fact represent the unity of Spain. Spain was divided into north and south, with Christian rulers in the north and Muslim in the south. In this woman we have this unity of northern and southern Spain and all that Spain is, and interestingly enough, once again we have a woman (not a man).