The presence of Othello in Dom Casmurro: the problem of the tragic in Machado de Assis

Abstract

This research project aims at studying the presence of the tragedy Othello, by William Shakespeare, in the novel Dom Casmurro (1900), by Machado de Assis, by means of the problem that involves the tragic. The tragedy as a genre appeared, as we know, in specific moments of the history of mankind, moments punctuated by crisis, transformation and replacement of values in the world order. These moments, the 5th century b.C. in Greece and the Renascence in Europe as a whole, had important representatives, among them, William Shakespeare. Machado de Assis, chronologically situated in the 19th century / beginning of the 20th century, frequently dialogs in his work with Shakespearean tragedies and does it in an ingenious way in the referred novel. The recuperation of the English dramatist's tragedy is not merely a thematic one but deals with a conflict reconstruction, whose structure counts on elements that differ a lot from the original Shakespearean text. The divergent aspects make us think that there is in Machado's novel a subvention of the tragic feeling by the author's manipulation of some elements that characterize the conflict. The aim of this research project is to study the presence of Othello in Dom Casmurro, from this subvention that, among many facts, seems to point to a characterization of an aesthetic and social-cultural very singular context.