Rhetorical Conquests

This study examines Hernn Corts, first as the author of Cartas de relacin (1519-1526), and then as the protagonist of Francisco Lpez de Gmara's Historia de la conquista de Mxico (1552). It analyzes how these accounts represent his speech acts, including some of his key speeches; how they allow him to define the conquest in different ways to different audiences; and how they represent him as controlling the speech acts of others, most notably those of Moctezuma.