Two Cinderellas in Corazon Salvaje

For my telenovela, I’m watching Corazon Salvaje. What I’ve come to realize the most are the dynamics of Monica and Juan (main couple of the telenovela) and how the both seem to play the protagonist and Cinderella role to a certain extent. Starting with Juan, he is definitely Cinderella figure of the telenovela because he was shunned from the family as a young boy because he was a reminder of the husband’s infidelity and the wife of the man that got his mom pregnant couldn’t stand the sight of him. So from the beginning he was robbed of land and business that should have been his because his father was wealthy and wanted him to be part of the family. He also falls in love with a woman who marries another man, which is devastating because he traveled overseas to earn money to properly propose to her. However he isn’t the typical Cinderella figure because he isn’t a girl, he isn’t naïve by any means; he also isn’t pure because he has a way with the ladies. However, because of his circumstances and the “poor” spot he comes from and how unfair his life is he seems to fit the role. Monica, the woman he actually falls in love with for the remainder of the telenovela, fits the Cinderella profile as well in the sense that she is a virgin, naïve, fragile, and fair skinned. I just thought it was interesting that there seemed to be two Cinderella characters in a sense, but each of the exhibit different aspects of the typical “Cinderella”, Monica being the idea we all think of when we think of Cinderella, Juan being a Cinderella almost based on the audience’s emotion and reaction when we see who he is, what he lost out on, and all the hardships he has to go through even when things aren’t his fault, and are unjust. 

I have fallen in love with this telenovela, and I admit, I have cried over it. In my defense I do cry easily, but the romance between Monica and Juan, and how their love seems to be the only thing that gets them through all of the craziness and unfair horrible things that happen to them… does leave me in tears. I just find it so interesting that the two protagonists mirror a similar character, but are so physically opposite because he is so rough and she is so fragile, yet when it comes to their hearts I can’t help but see how soft his is for her, and how strong hers is to fight for him.