In his play, Todos los gatos son pardos, Carlos Fuentes interprets the Spanish Conquest of the Aztec Empire as the acting out of two opposite mentalities. The archetypes, Hernán Cortés and Moctezuma, represent not only two historical cultures but also the origins of the present-day, mestizo trauma of the Mexican mind. Fuentes clearly intends a political and psychological relevance to contemporary México….

Two levels of introspection are supposed to operate during the play—that of the actors of history contemplating their dilemmas or thinking out their decisions, and that of the spectators (preferably Mexican) relating their own problems to those of the archetypes. Fuentes closely associates his work to the whole school of Mexican introspection—and especially to Octavio Paz. (p. 25)

Thus, in the driving willpower of Cortés, we can see the individual ultimately frustrated by the hierarchy of an empire. Moctezuma's doubts about...