Character Analysis
Like Mother, Like Son
The first time Meggie gets a glimpse of Mortola, she doesn't know anything about her other than that she's one of Capricorn's servants. And she's old: "She looked like an old magpie, with her gray hair scraped back and a pointed nose that didn't seem to fit her small, wrinkled face" (14.7), A magpie, in case you weren't sure, is a pretty bird with stark contrast between it's black, white, and inky blue feathers; it is a member of the crow family.
Fenoglio is the first character to tell Meggie who Mortola actually is: Capricorn's mom. Dun dun dun… He says:
This is really rather uncanny […]. That's exactly how I imagined Capricorn's mother—that nose, the eyes set close together, even the way she folds her arms and her chin juts forward. (32.31)
Along with the physical observation, Fenoglio warns Meggie to be careful of her (32.33). And while this it is sweet of Fenoglio to look out for Meggie, we're thinking our main girl is smart enough to assume that the person who gave birth to Capricorn might just be a bit on the evil side herself.
To say that Mortola is a little on the evil side is probably an understatement, though, and when Meggie lets it slip that she knows Mortola is Capricorn's mother, Mortola threatens to poison her if she tells anyone (48.32). Mortola also tells her to look around at all the photos clustered on her walls, saying:
Do you see all those faces? Every one of those people made an enemy of Capricorn, and none of them was ever heard from again […]. Think of those photos when you're reading, little witch. Should you stumble over the words, or get any silly notions about simply holding your tongue, then your face will soon be looking out of one of these pretty gold frames, too. (48.62)
Though Mortola calls Meggie a witch in this passage, we think it's pretty clear who the real meanie is.
Observant Old Lady
Mortola keeps a close watch over everything that happens around her. Like, a really close eye. Check it out:
She was in charge of all the maids, and nothing was safe from the Magpie's eyes and ears, not even the secrets the women whispered to each other in their bedrooms by night. (33.30)
Yikes, right? She sounds like one of the most terrible bosses of all time (second only, perhaps, to her son). Plus it seems like she never takes a day off. As Meggie observes at one point, "She looked unaccustomed to sitting down—like a constantly busy woman who resented having to stop, but whose body forced her to rest" (48.18). If we had to pick one word to describe Mortola, we're thinking it would be relentless.
Interestingly, though, Mortola does seem to have one soft spot: her son. Seeing Capricorn die breaks her heart, so that she stands there "with tears running down her sharp-boned face, over her small soft chin, and falling like rain onto her dress" (57.5). And yet she doesn't disappear like half his other associates do, and instead ends up running away, though we don't know where to.