Don Carlos Prideaux is Lolita’s fifty year-old father, and a rich landowner like Don Alejandro De la Vega, Diego’s father. He is ambitious, but not openly bad or arrogant. In order to consolidate his family’s prosperity, he is not above making cheap, underhand agreements with the Governor to keep his books in good shape. He does many things that he knows are not only unjust, but sometimes outright unlawful (like when he helps the smugglers and takes a share of their loot). Although he is not a bad person or a criminal, he continues to blithely behave almost like one.