The Role of Maria
Maria is the woman with whom, in a moment of weakness and partly under the influence of liquor, the priest indulged in a sexual act begetting a daughter whose name is Brigitta and who is now about six years old. When the priest appears at Maria's village, Maria receives him well, though we cannot say that she is very glad to see him.
She is solicitous about his safety and takes every possible precaution against his being detected by the police. She has even kept a little brandy for him because she is aware of his craving for it.
Although Maria tries to make the priest comfortable on his visit to her village, she gives no evidence that she is in love with him. In fact, there is no love on either side. It was just a passing impulse on both sides which made them enter into a brief sexual relationship resulting in the birth of a child.
Although Maria does feel somewhat proud that she had a priest as her lover, she is practical enough to attach no importance to that relationship now, and even though she does look after him, she does not want him to stay on in the village, as much because his staying there would be risky for himself as because it would be risky for the villagers sheltering him. The priest can see that Maria's attitude towards him is by no means sentimental.
When the police suddenly appear in the village, Maria quickly tries to hide the priest in her hut and gives him an onion to bite at to drown the smell of brandy which he has been drinking. When the priest is being interrogated by the lieutenant, she comes to his rescue by saying that he is her husband. For all this, Maria is quite blunt with the priest and wants him to leave the village soon afterwards.
far Maria certainly plays an important role in the novel in so as she saves the priest from being captured by the police at a crucial moment. She is also important in so far as it was she with whom the priest committed fornication, thus becoming guilty of mortal sin, a sin which he has never been able to forget.
Maria has been so portrayed that she wins our sympathy and regard, and does not appear to us to be an odious or contemptible person. She is a person towards whom we really feel attracted because of her sturdy common sense and her sound heart.
