Dom Casmurro is the most famous novel of Machado de Assis. The possible love triangle between Bentinho, Capitu and Escobar has fascinated readers for over a century. Thus, the doubt about Capitu's betrayal persists and brings with it questions about love, family, friendship and the place of women in Brazilian society.
The story begins with the romantic involvement between two teenagers who cannot love each other because D. Gloria, Bentinho's mother, made a promise that obliges her son to become a priest. However, after overcoming the obstacle, Bentinho and Capitu got married, and the realism shows itself in its fullness, because the anti-romanticism and criticism of the bourgeois elite become evident.
Read too: The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas - the inaugural work of Realism in Brazil
work summary Dom Casmurro
Realistic novel from 1899.
Authored by Machado de Assis.
It has a memorialistic character.
Criticizes romanticism and the bourgeoisie.
Narrator-Character: Bentinho.
Narrative space: Rio de Janeiro.
Narrative time: 19th century.
Themes: adultery; game of interests; human corruption.
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Analysis of the work Dom Casmurro
Characters of the work Dom Casmurro
Bentinho: narrator.
Capitu: Bentinho's wife.
Capituzinha: daughter of Escobar and Sancha.
D. Fortunata: mother of Capitu.
D. Gloria: Bentinho's mother.
Escobar: Bentinho's friend.
Ezequiel: son of Bentinho and Capitu.
José Dias: Bentinho's family member.
Padua: father of Capitu.
Cousin Justina: cousin of D. Glory.
Sancha: Escobar's wife.
Uncle Cosimo: brother of D. Glory.
construction time Dom Casmurro
The narrative reports facts that occurred in the 19th century, without specifying the dates, with the exception of 1857, when Bentinho is 15 years old; 1865, when Bentinho and Capitu get married; and, finally, 1871, the year of Escobar's death. However, the report goes on, so that it is possible to conclude that the time of narration, that is, when the narrator tells the story, is set in the 1890s.
construction space Dom Casmurro
THE story takes place in the city of Rio de Janeiro, in specific addresses, such as Rua de Matacavalos, in the city center, where the house of D. Glory; the seminary of São José, in which Bentinho begins his formation as a priest; Tijuca district, place to which Capitu and Bentinho travel after their wedding; neighborhood of Glória, where the house of Bentinho and Capitu is located; neighborhood of Andaraí, where Escobar and his wife live; and, finally, Engenho Novo, a neighborhood where the protagonist lives in his old age.
plot of the work Dom Casmurro
At the beginning of the work, the narrator Bentinho explains how he chose the title for his book. So he says he met a poet on a train journey. The young man recited a few lines, but Bentinho, now old, closed his eyes a few times. The poet then thought he was dozing and, offended, called him Dom Casmurro.
Then the narrator starts the narrative of your memories, which starts when he is 15 years old. At that time, Capitu, a 14-year-old girl, is her neighbor. The teenagers have a strong friendship, which bothers the family member, the lover of superlatives José Dias.
Suspicious of the relationship between young people, he suggests to D. Gloria, Bentinho's mother, it's time to send the boy to seminary. That's because, when the boy was born, his mother made a promise that he would be a priest. In this way, it presents an obstacle to the young couple's love, which, deceptively, makes the book appear to be a romantic novel.
However, José Dias is far from being a bookish villain, he just doesn't like the family of the neighbor Padua, Capitu's father. In fact, the famous perception that the girl has eyes “of an oblique and dissimulated gypsy” is part of the aggregate. Thus, when noticing the involvement of young people, he tries to avoid upsetting D. Glory and himself.
Despite the couple trying to escape the separation imposed by the promise of D. Glory, Bentinho ends up going to seminary in São José, where he meets Ezequiel de Sousa Escobar. Soon the two boys start a strong friendship, and Bentinho talks about his love for Capitu. Escobar, then, has the idea that will allow Bentinho to leave the seminar.
To take Bentinho's place, D. Gloria must choose an orphan boy and make him a priest. Thus, she does not break the promise made and leaves the child free to, one day, marry. Thus, the protagonist leaves the seminary, studies law and, at the age of 22, is a bachelor. Then, he and Capitu get married and they can be happy forever.
could, if Dom Casmurro was a book romantic, but as it is a realistic work, the life of the young couple soon proves far from the ideal of happiness. The first problem to disturb their apparent joy is the absence of children. Bentinho wants to be a father; however, Capitu is unable to get pregnant.
They are great friends of the couple Escobar and Sancha, who have a daughter, whose name is also Capitolina, in honor of Bentinho's wife. To differentiate one from the other, the girl is affectionately called Capituzinha. When, finally, Capitu becomes pregnant and Bentinho's son is born, they return the tribute and christen the boy Ezequiel.
Now it looks like Bentinho and Capitu will be happy forever, but then, Escobar dies by drowning. During his friend's wake, Capitu's suffering makes Bentinho, for the first time, suspect that his wife was having an affair with his friend Escobar. From then on, the couple's life becomes hell, because the distrust of Bentinho ends any chance of happiness.
Jealous Bentinho soon begins to realize that your son Ezequiel looks a lot like the late Escobar. So, he acquires the certainty that the boy is not his son, but the deceased. And his despair is so great that, on one occasion, he is about to kill himself with a poisoned coffee, when his son enters his office:
If I didn't look at Ezekiel, I probably wouldn't be here writing this book, because my first impulse was to run to the cafe and drink it. I reached the point of reaching for the cup, but the little one was kissing my hand, as usual, and the sight of him, like the gesture, gave me another impulse that I find it difficult to say here; but come on, tell yourself everything. Call me a murderer though; I will not be the one to disprove or contradict them; my second impulse was criminal. I leaned over and asked Ezekiel if he'd had breakfast yet.
However, the narrator ends up giving up on suicide and murder. Finally, he decides to speak openly to his wife. Faced with the accusations, she denies it. However, there is no longer any way to save that marriage. So, Bentinho decides to send Capitu and Ezequiel to Europe, in order to keep up appearances.
Read too: The Athenaeum — analysis of this naturalist novel by Raul Pompeia
Characteristics of the work Dom Casmurro
Dom Casmurro, published in 1899, is a monophonic and psychological novel, since the narrative is centered on the intimate perception of the narrator-character Bentinho, who reports his memories from an analytical perspective. Despite this, the chronological time stands out in the story, since the narrator, after introducing himself at the beginning of the work, tells the facts gradually.
The book, divided into 148 chapters, is one of the main works of the realism in Brazil. Therefore, it presents an anti-romantic character, resorts to the stream of consciousness and carries out the psychological analysis of the characters. Furthermore, it presents social criticism when, in an ironic way, it deconstructs the false heroic image of the bourgeois class.
Topics covered in Dom Casmurro
The work includes the following themes:
romantic love;
friendship;
jealousy;
adultery;
hypocrisy;
human corruption;
game of interests;
bourgeois lifestyle.
Capitu “betrayed” Bentinho?
It is not possible to say if Capitu betrayed or not betrayed Bentinho. That's because the book was built in such a way as to keep the doubts in the readers. It is, therefore, an open novel, as the narrator cannot prove that he was betrayed, as Capitu denies adultery.
But Bentinho is sure of his wife's betrayal. In fact, it is possible to say that the work is an attempt by this husband to convince us that his wife was unfaithful. However, can we trust a jealous man? Wouldn't Capitu be the victim of a sexist society that denies women the right to defend themselves?
Video lesson: Did Capitu betray Bentinho? Controversies of Dom Casmurro
Adaptations of Dom Casmurro
capitu (1968) — film by Paulo César Saraceni (1932-2012).
Dom Casmurro (1992) — opera by Orlando Codá (1949-1996) and Ronaldo Miranda.
capitu — song by Luiz Tatit.
Capitu's love (1998) — novel by Fernando Sabino (1923-2004).
capitu (1999) — theatrical play by Marcus Vinícius Faustini.
Creator and creature: the encounter of Machado and Capitu (2002) — play by Flávio Aguiar and Ariclê Perez (1943-2006).
Sun (2003) — film by Moacyr Góes.
capitu (2008) — miniseries by Luiz Fernando Carvalho.
Dom Casmurro (2012) — Comics by Felipe Greco and Mario Cau.
The shadows of Dom Casmurro (2016) — play by Toni Brandão.
Read too:Anguish: novel by Graciliano Ramos
Machado de Assis, the author of Dom Casmurro
Machado de Assis (Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis) born on June 21, 1839, in Rio de Janeiro. Of poor origin, he was the son of a Brazilian and an Azorean, who lived as members of Quinta do Livramento, a farm that belonged to the writer's wealthy godmother.
Later, the author worked as an apprentice typographer, proofreader, translator and civil servant. In addition, he wrote poems, short stories, chronicles and Affairs. In this way, he published his first book of poetry — Chrysalis — in 1864 and his first novel — Resurrection — in 1872.
the author of Dom Casmurro he was one of the founders, in 1896, of the Academia Brasileira de Letras, in addition to being its first president. At this point, it was a established novelist, despite all the prejudices he had to face, as he was black, stuttered and sometimes had epileptic fits.
His writing career is divided into two phases, as Machado de Assis was initially affiliated with Romanticism. However, in 1881, with the publication of his work The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas, he introduced Realism in Brazil, a literary style that consecrated him, before his death, on September 29, 1908, in Rio de Janeiro.
Historical context of Dom Casmurro
THE approval of Lhey Eusébio de Queirós, in 1850, which prohibited the slave trade, displeased the conservative landowners. They offered resistance to the changes that were announced with the inevitable loss of slave labor, which would definitely occur in 1888, with the abolition of slavery.
In addition Paraguay War, which took place between 1864 and 1870, was responsible for the country's great indebtedness. In this way, the Brazilian monarchy was increasingly weakened and gave way to republican ideas. So, in 1889, the Proclamation of the Republic.
In this context, the escape from reality undertaken by the romantics no longer had a place in the country. The realist aesthetic, therefore, emerged with the task of showing, without retouching, the Brazilian reality. And in this way the boastful nationalism of the romantics was replaced by the critical nationalism of the realists.
Image credit
[1] FTD Publisher (reproduction)
by Warley Souza
Literature teacher
