The Crime of Father Amaro is a thesis novel by Portuguese writer Eça de Queirós (1845-1900). The work was published in 1875, marking the beginning of Portuguese realism.
It is worth remembering that Eça is considered one of the greatest writers in the country and also the greatest representative of realist and naturalist prose in the Portuguese language.
Characters of the Work
The main characters in the plot are:
- Amaro scallop: priest and protagonist of the story.
- Amelia: young lover of Amaro.
- John Edward: Amelia's fiance.
- Mrs Joaneira: mother of Amélia and lover of Cônego Dias.
- Canon Days: seminary teacher and mistress of Dona Joaneira.
- brown: created in Dona Joaneira's house.
- Josefa: Sister of Canon Dias.
- Dionysia: Maid of Father Amaro.
- Libaninho: effeminate, gossipy and fun character.
- Doctor Gouveia: city doctor.
- Doctor Godinho: owner of the city's newspaper.
- Uncle Skewers: bell ringer and father of Totó.
- (Antonia) Toto: paralyzed woman, in love with Father Amaro.
Work Summary
The work takes place in the city of Leiria, in Portugal. José Miguéis, the city's parish priest, passed away. With the arrival of a new parish priest, Amaro is welcomed by one of the town's families.
In the pension of D. Joaneira, he gets involved with her daughter, the 24-year-old pious woman: Amelia. However, Amelia's fiance, João Eduardo, begins to feel jealous, because in the meetings they had at the house, the young woman and the priest began to exchange glances.
Therefore, João publishes in the city's newspaper a statement entitled “the modern Pharisees”. He writes about the pretensions of Father Amaro de Cônego Dias in relation to breaking celibacy.
Finally, the jealous groom punches her. Unemployed, João Eduardo decides to go to Brazil.
Realizing the passion that grew more each day, the lovers decided to meet in secret. Afraid of people discovering the relationship, Amaro moves home.
However, his feeling for Amelia was so great that it makes him rethink his vocation.
With their carnal involvement, Amelia becomes pregnant with Father Amaro. Dona Josefa, sister of the Canon, accompanies the young woman to the interior. The central idea was to escape society while waiting for the baby to be born.
When the child is born, Amaro gives the child to a family that was reputed to kill babies. In the meantime, the couple's son disappears and they suspect he's dead.
Saddened and unable to stay away from her son, Amelia dies. After what happened, Amaro decides to leave Leiria, but he doesn't abandon his profession.
Check the entire work by downloading the PDF here: The Crime of Father Amaro.
Work Analysis
The Crime of Father Amaro is a controversial work that shocked the Catholic Church and society in Portugal and Brazil at the time it was published.
The narrator is omniscient and the work is narrated in third person. It is organized into 25 untitled chapters.
With a strong social and political content, the work is embedded in realistic and naturalist prose. Contains several descriptions and thoughts of the characters.
With regard to naturalism, determinism is predominant so that man is the result of the environment in which he lives.
This makes the social environment in which it is inserted to shape the character, personality and behavior of man.
The novel received several reviews for its content related to passion, sexuality, sensuality, selfishness, celibacy, ecclesiastical power, etc.
The writer's idea was to show the hypocrisy and corruption of the members of the Church clergy and also of the provincial and bourgeois society of the time.
In addition, Eça intended to clarify issues related to social conventions and strong religiosity.
Thus, the writer places Amaro as the central character who entered the seminary at the age of 15, even against his will. This is because in the context of the time Christian precepts were above all.
Therefore, Amaro gives himself to this vocation, even though he showed carnal desires for women, including those associated with religious images.
It is worth noting that after the publication of the work, Eça was persecuted by the Catholic Church.
Excerpts from the Work
To better understand the language used by Eça, check out some excerpts from the work below:
Chapter I
“It was on Easter Sunday that it was learned in Leiria that the parish priest of the Cathedral, José Miguéis, had died at dawn with an apoplexy. The parish priest was a sanguine and well-fed man, who passed among the diocesan clergy through the glutton of the gluttons. Unique stories were told of his voracity. Carlos da Botica — who hated him — used to say, whenever he saw him go out after a siesta, with his face flushed with blood, with a heavy heart attack:
— There goes the boa constrictor. One day it pops!
In fact, she broke out after a fish supper — at the time in front of her, in Dr. Godinho's house, who had been there for years, it was all over the place. Nobody regretted him, and few people attended his funeral. He was generally not liked. He was a villager; he had the manners and pulses of a digger, the hoarse voice, hair in his ears, very rude words.”
Chapter XVI
“They met every week, now and then twice, so that their charitable visits to the paralytic at the end of the month the symbolic number of seven, which should correspond, in the devotees' idea, to the Seven Lessons From Maria. The day before, Padre Amaro had warned Uncle Esguelhas, who was leaving the street door barely closed, after sweeping the entire house and preparing the room for the practice of the parish priest. Amelia these days rose early; she always had a white skirt to iron, a bow to compose; her mother thought she was strange about those flurries, the waste of eau de cologne she was soaking in; but Amelia explained that "it was to inspire Toto's ideas of cleanliness and freshness". And after he was dressed, he would sit, waiting for eleven o'clock, very serious, absently answering his mother's conversations, with a color in his cheeks, his eyes dug into the hands of the clock: finally the old rattle moaned hollowly at eleven o'clock, and she, after a glance in the mirror, left, giving a kiss to the mom.”
Chapter XXIV
“Amaro, on leaving the palace, went straight to the Cathedral. She closed herself in the sacristy, at this desert hour: and after thinking for a long time with her head in her fists, she wrote to Canon Dias:
"My dear Father Master. — My hand shakes as I write these lines. The unfortunate one died. I can't, you see, and I'm leaving, because if I stayed here, my heart would crack. His most excellent sister will be there taking care of the funeral... I, as you understand, cannot. Thank you very much for everything... Until one day, if God wants us to see each other. For my part, I count on going far away to some poor parish of pastors, ending my days in tears, meditation and penance. Comfort the disgraced mother in any way you can. I will never forget what I owe you as long as I have a breath of life. And goodbye, I don't even know where my head is. — Your friend from C. — Amaro Vieira."
''PS — The child died too, she's already buried''.”
Films
The work of Eça de Queirós was transformed into films and miniseries. In 2002, it was released in Spanish “The Crimen of Father Amaro”, directed by Carlos Carrera and written by Vicente Leñero.
In 2005, Portuguese director Carlos Coelho da Silva released The Crime of Father Amaro, based on the work of Eça. Both films received positive reviews and set box office records.
In addition, the Portuguese channel SIC presented a miniseries based on the story of the novel.
- Eça de Queirós
- realism in Portugal
- Naturalism in Portugal
- Realistic Prose
- realism and naturalism
