The Ambiguity of the Beloved in Neruda ’ s

The figure of the “amada” in Neruda’s Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada has recently become the focus of numerous critical discussions. Although many critics point out the ambiguity inherent in Neruda’s beloved, few go as far as to suggest that her ambiguity is self-contained and exists independently of the figure of the poet. Detwiler, Perriam, and Ibsen all discuss a duality present in Neruda’s collection, but all three identify this duality as being present between the woman and the poet, and not so much within the woman herself, focusing on the gender-hierarchy created by such a duality (Detwiler 87, Perriam 102, Ibsen 258). Ellis discusses the presence of antithesis, paradox, and oxymoron in the work, but attributes them to the representation of the ambiguities of love and not so much of the loved one (17). Concha sees three distinct representations of the woman in Neruda’s poetry, “la interior, la amada juvenil o la hembra objeto de goce sexual” (139), which he notes are united only by “el vínculo concreto del deseo” (144). Carvalho, on the other hand, does make direct reference to the ambiguity inherent within the woman herself, but she discusses it only in terms of bird symbolism (154). Sharman, too, points out this inherent ambiguity, but then goes on to interpret it in relation to the poetry’s textuality in an attempt to avoid criticism of the sort he calls “imágenes de la mujer” (260). It is the purpose of this article to perform precisely such criticism by examining the ambiguous representations of the beloved in Neruda’s Veinte poemas in order to show that, far from establishing a male-dominated gender hierarchy, the woman’s ambiguity establishes her as an independent and complex figure, and that her intrinsic complexity becomes the very cause of the relationship’s termination, ultimately resulting in the “Canción desesperada.”