“Senor Montezuma, l do not understand how such a great Prince and wise man as you are has not come to the conclusion, in your mind, that these idols of yours are not gods, but evil things that are called devils, and so that you may know it and all your priests may see it clearly, do me the favour to approve of my placing a cross here on the top of this lower, and that in one part of these oratories where your Huichilobos and Tezcatepuca stand we may divide off a space where we can set up an image of Our lady and you will see by the fear in which these Idols hold it that they are deceiving you.” (222)
Based on this quote, we can tell how shocked and angry Cortés was when he found out that Montezuma and his people do not believe in God. Montezuma responded by saying: “Señor Malinche, if I had known that you would have said such defamatory things I would not have shown you my gods, we consider them to be very good, for they give us health and rains and good seed times and seasons and as many victories as we desire, and we are obliged to worship them and make sacrifices, and I pray you not to say another word to their dishonor.” Cortes angered Montezuma with what he said, and Montezuma did not have great words for him either. Montezuma was considered as the god of the Aztecs. He was a very powerful man, one who was very well respected. Bernal Diaz said of Montezuma: “I noticed another thing, that when other great chiefs came from distant lands about disputes or business, when they reached the apartments of the Great Montezuma, they had to come barefoot and with poor mantles, and they might not enter directly into the Palace, but had to loiter about a little on one side of the Palace door, for to enter hurriedly was considered to be disrespectful.” This quote shows us just how respected he was and how even the smallest things can be considered disrespectful. Why would Montezuma believe in Christianity when he had all the power to himself. This is very similar to the situation in which Christopher Columbus had when he explored the Native American land. One of Columbus’ goals was to convert the Native Americans to Christianity, which is exactly what Cortes is trying to do with the Aztec people.
