The Alienist And Other Stories Of Nineteenth-Century Brazil - Plot & Excerpts
Machado published two excellent stories in which women are central characters. “Capítulo dos chapeus,” which takes its title from a play by Moliere, is told as a mock epic: “Sing, Muse!” Rather than epic heroism, however, the story involves a domestic spat. Though he often wrote for women, Machado de Assis wasn’t a feminist, and we are invited to laugh here at the expense of the story’s female protagonists, Mariana and Sophia. But even Machado’s flawed characters, which includes about all of them, usually manage to be sympathetic to some degree. This story is lighthearted satire rather than deadly irony. In it, we see the world of women of the elite class whom a gentleman might invite to drop by the Chamber of Deputies. Like Gonçalves and his student friends, they go to see and be seen on Ouvidor Street, but only during the day. As respectable ladies, they could never be out at night without a male escort. They rule over homes in comfortable residential neighborhoods (served by streetcars) and over domestic slaves, who appear in this story hardly at all.
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