# Doña María — The Bridge of San Luis Rey character guide

> Doña María in The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** the Marquesa de Montemayor, Marquesa de Montemayor, the Marquesa

**First appearance:** 0001-the-bridge-of-san-luis-rey

## Snapshot

The ugly, stammering Marquesa de Montemayor, whose idolatrous letters to her cold daughter became a monument of Spanish literature.

## Who they are

Mocked at court and neglected by Doña Clara, who fled to Spain to escape her fatiguing love, the Marquesa pours her whole existence into letters that posterity will treasure and her daughter will barely read. She lives alone, talks to herself, dresses negligently, and stages endless imaginary reconciliations in the burning center of her mind. Her pilgrimage to the shrine at Cluxambuqua, attended by the orphan Pepita, places her on the road to the bridge and makes her the novel's most piercing study of lonely, unrequited devotion.

## In the story

### [Part One: Perhaps an Accident](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_bridge_of_san_luis_rey_se/chapters/part-one-perhaps-an-accident)

One of the five victims; Brother Juniper's research fails to uncover the central passion of her life.

### [Part Two: The Marquesa de Montemayor; Pepita](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_bridge_of_san_luis_rey_se/chapters/part-two-the-marquesa-de-montemayor-pepita)

The Marquesa de Montemayor, a wealthy but lonely woman, is consumed by her love for her daughter and struggles with alcoholism and social ridicule.

### [Part Four: Uncle Pio; Don Jaime](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_bridge_of_san_luis_rey_se/chapters/part-four-uncle-pio-don-jaime)

The Marquesa de Montemayor; her letters provide a vivid description of Uncle Pio.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_bridge_of_san_luis_rey_se/characters/dona_maria
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_bridge_of_san_luis_rey_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_bridge_of_san_luis_rey_se/characters