Viridiana's Struggle with Staying Sacred Amongst a Sea of Profanity

From the beginning of the film to the end, Viridiana is in a constant battle of attempting to remain sacred amongst the profane. We immediately see how extremely innocent she is as the scene opens in the convent. We also observe from this scene that she is completely against leaving the convent, as if she knows that doing so means absolute trouble for her. Viridiana most definitely held a right to be concerned because even before she left , there was a motive to keep her out of the convent- her uncle wanted her for marriage. As soon as she steps foot off of the convent, a series of events occur that foreshadow her transition from sacred to profane.

 Knowing the negative history and the lack of affection between Viridiana and her uncle, the visit is immediately awkward for her.  Upon her arrival to her uncle's house, Viridiana is in direct contrast with her surroundings. She reunites with her uncle who appears to be a dark, shabby character. She then comes in contact with the undisciplined little girl. Soon after, she enters the huge, lonely house that exhibits little to no religion whatsoever. In the midst of these first events, we see her attempting to remain sacred by doing her ritual prayer, sleeping on the floor, and wearing her uncomfortable nightgown. As the days progress, Viridiana and her uncle speak of the son he did not raise which foreshadows his presence later in the film. This is a profane subject and I believe that Viridiana brought it up to scold him for it and reemphasize that his actions are not "saintly". The day before Viridiana is scheduled to leave, her uncle reveals that he wants her to be his wife. Her innocence still prevails as she becomes upset and declines. After she is informed that her uncle almost raped her, she becomes extremely distressed and leaves as quickly as she can.

As an audience member, is it at this part of the film when I felt relieved she would return to the convent still a sacred being. That relief soon ended because in actuality, this is the part of the film when things took a turn for the worse. The authorities brought Viridiana back to her uncle's house and revealed to her that he had hung himself. This is when we start to see a change in Viridiana as she acts out of guilt. She goes out to gather beggars and moves them into the house. To her this is a sacred act because she provides a safe haven to those who  have nothing. What she does not realize is that she is surrounding herself with a great deal of profane subjects which is pushing her further away from her sacredness. This reinforces Plate's statement from Blasphemy: Art That Offends, "....the profane is not inherently negative. It is only the everyday, the ordinary." The separation is first observed when she denies help from Mother Superior who gave her the order to go to the house in the first place.  She still carries on with sacred actions as she continues to sleep on a hard bed, wear her hair covered, pray, pray with the beggars, and somewhat ignores the highly profane Jorge. She still carries sacred beliefs as she assumes Jorge's girlfriend is his wife because they are living together, and she tells the pregnant beggar that she feels sorry for her.

This all comes to end as she comes extremely close to being raped by one of the beggars. An act she thought was sacred had turned against her. The profane Jorge saved her "purity".  Viridiana takes a look in the mirror and decides that she is no longer worthy of being a sacred being. She becomes a member of the profane and the sacred crown is literally burned. Her overwhelmingly profane environment influenced her thoughts and actions-a representation of a realistic persona.