Zoraida

Also known as: Maria / the Moorish lady / the fair Moor / the fair Zoraida / the fair and lovely Zoraida · Family: Moorish · Role: Moorish lady · First appears: Part 1, Ch. 37.3

In Part 1, Ch. 37.3, Zoraida removes her veil before the company, revealing a lovely face, and rejects her Moorish name in favor of Maria: “No, not Zoraida; Maria, Maria!” Dorothea takes her by the hand and seats her beside herself, while Luscinda embraces her affectionately and calls her Maria.

In Ch. 40.2, Zoraida begins communicating with the captive through a reed at the window, sending him an Arabic letter, forty Spanish crowns, and later further funds for the escape. She asks him to arrange their flight and offers to marry him, saying, “See if thou canst contrive how we may go, and if thou wilt thou shalt be my husband there.” The renegade helps convey their letters, and Zoraida is discovered to be the only daughter and wealthy heiress of Hadji Morato; she continues to send money and warns the captive of her departure for her father’s garden.

At the garden in Ch. 41, Zoraida joins the captive and the Christians in their escape, though she begs for Hadji Morato and the other bound Moors to be released. When her father learns that she has converted and aided the escape, she tells him, “A Christian I am, but it is not I who have placed thee in this position,” and asks for his rescue when he attempts to drown himself. After the Moors are set ashore, she separates from her father and continues with the captive, receiving protection from the captain and shelter from a Christian family at Velez Malaga. In Ch. 42.2, the curate presents her to Juan Perez de Viedma as the captive’s wife; Juan Perez de Viedma embraces her and places all he possesses at her disposal, while Doña Clara de Viedma welcomes her into the family.