MULHERES MACHADIANAS EM “MEMÓRIAS PÓSTUMAS DE BRÁS CUBAS”: ENTRE O MATRIMÔNIO E A PROSTITUIÇÃO NO SÉCULO XIX

The present work seeks to analyze the work “Posthumous Memories of Brás Cubas” by Machado de Assis, in order to demonstrate the criticisms present in the narrative to the habits of women and a bourgeois society of the nineteenth century. This monograph focused on the study of the Machadian figures Virgília and Marcela in order to observe how they become representative characters of women who contradict a patriarchal system. In this sense, it is sought to understand the relevance of the female figure in the novel, approaching ambitious Machado characters. Thus, this project will develop a comparative analysis between the Machadian figure and the woman of the nineteenth century, based on the construction of the characters Virgília and Marcela. This will be based on studies by Antônio Candido (2001), José Aderaldo Castello (1969), Afrânio Coutinho (2004), Stuart Hall (2000), Simone de Beauvoir (2009), João Décio (1986)) Roberto Schwarz (1999) Ribeiro (2008). Regarding methodological aspects, a bibliographical and qualitative research was carried out, approaching the subject in an explanatory and descriptive way. Thus, this work makes use of a subject that although it was portrayed in works of the nineteenth century, has great repercussion in the current context, for enabling new researchers new knowledge on the subject, sharpening a reflection about the woman acting in the male scenario, that even though it is recognized for its failures, it has the capacity to achieve its place in society even if it is through a marriage or even if it requires sacrificing itself in some way. It is believed that this study will provide students in high school and university students with a problem regarding prostitution and adulteries portrayed in literary works.