Padrão de Resposta

In The Brazilian Othello of Machado de Assis, Helen Caldwell praises the work of Machado de Assis. The Brazilian writer, for Caldwell, is so influenced by Shakespeare that the English-speaking world should be proud. Both Machado’s first novel and his masterpiece, Dom Casmurro, portray the consequences of jealously, a subject that appears in a large number of his books. Indeed, the author generally approaches it in a sarcastic, comic tone.
Shakespeare’s models and characters can be seen in many of Machado’s texts, but Caldwell sticks to the analysis of the similarities between Othello and Dom Casmurro. The latter focuses on the perspective of Bento Santiago, a recluse man who lives in Rio de Janeiro. Even though the character calls himself an “Othello”, his personality is closer to that of “honest Iago”. Santiago’s words must be weighed carefully by the reader, as he tells his version, in which his Desdemona is guilty. Moreover, there are other differences, such as the fact that the story begins with a young, immature Santiago and the cowardice of the main character’s personality.
According to Caldwell, Capitú, a young and beautiful neighbor, is Santiago’s Desdemona. But, unlike the original version, the Brazilian author presents a poor girl, who has the habit of admiring herself in a cheap mirror. In his turn, Machado’s Michael Cassio Ezequiel Escobar, a handsome friend that is responsible for Santiago’s suffering. José Dias can be seen as the Brazilian Iago, a man used to giving people his advice, perceived by others as a troublemaker.
In fact, José Dias is the one who sows love and suspicion; his “informing” make Santiago fall in love with Capitú at first, but then he talks about her “gypsy eyes” and raises the question of infidelity. When the main character is away and lonesome, Capitú is joyful and flirting with other men. This idea makes Santiago jealous and, from this moment on, he also acts like Iago, manipulating his handkerchief as a way to express his jealous love.
Bentinho and Capitú end up getting married, but infidelity remains a constant suspicion. The couple has a son, but the main character this he has Escobar’s features, so he sends his wife and the boy away to Switzerland. Nevertheless, Capitú, like Desdemona, spends the rest of her life praising her husband to their child. Capitú and Escobar’s alleged love affair, for Santiago, transformed his personality – he became the cynical Dom Casmurro.
He argues that in his version of Othello, Capitú is guilty. But Helen Caldwell stresses another difference — in Dom Casmurro, the resemblance to Escobar that Bentinho sees in his son works as the “accessory” — “the handkerchief of Desdemona”. It was not José Dias who brought it up, but Santiago himself, who manipulates his own handkerchief.
Machado de Assis was influenced by Shakespeare’s story of jealously, perfidy and guilt (or innocence). The plot unfolds not because of the resemblance between the child and the friend, but because of the characteristics and the passions of Othello-Santiago, Iago-Santiago and Desdemona-Capitú.