Good Faith and Truthful Ignorance: The Good Wife

By several different standards, Francisco Noguerol de Ulloa was a prize idiot. Not only in political matters - like writing to the king to nitpick him about his policies in Peru - but in personal matters as well. Specifically his marriages - though if he were not an idiot, history probably wouldn't know his name. Now, by the standards of the time in which he lived, he was a fool for marrying his mistress before 100% knowing that his wife was dead. By modern standards, he was not only a fool for marrying where he did not love in the first place, but he was a fool for not divorcing his first wife before going off to sea.  

As with most of the other books, we got a good peek inside the legal system. Though this was different because, for Noguerol at least, this was a kinder legal system than the ones that have been used to judge the peasants that we've read about. This was the system that the nobles were used to, and a wonderful job was done within the text to create the role of the court in his life, and by extension, how the government affected the noble's lives and their standards of decency. 

One thing that I did find disappointing was how supremely the author was on Noguerol's side. To be fair, if one is writing a book about a subject, any subject, there is no doubt there will be an attachment there. But the treatment of Beatriz within the constraints of the text is extremely unforgiving. She is depicted as (how no doubt) Noguerol saw her - a vindictive shrew who, despite not hearing for her husband in 22 years except to finally hear that he is to be married to another woman - is a completely unforgivable road bump to his and Catalina's love. I'm aware that the author is intrinsically biased and the story is, for all intents and purposes, Noguerol's, but wouldn't it be interesting (at least from a historical perspective, if not for fairness' sake) to show how Beatriz must have been treated societally when the news breaks? 

Especially in light of the portrayal of Catalina, who is, again, seen as Noguerol would have seen her - an almost Venus-like savior, lighting his way out of his crappy marriage. This dichotomy reads like a terrible romantic comedy in parts, the way that the women are shepherded into tropes based on what one deeply selfish and extremely biased man thinks.