Resplendor de pureza e abismo de perdição: as mulheres de Lucíola, de José de Alencar, e Coração, cabeça e estômago, de Camilo Castelo Branco

Abstract

The main objective of this work is to analyze the works Coração, Cabeça e estômago, by the Portuguese writer Camilo Castelo Branco, and Lucíola, by the Brazilian author José de Alencar, observing comparatively the representation of female characters. For this, we will discussissues related to romanticism in literature and the 18th century female class in Portuguese and Brazilian societies. The base of this work is the need of thinking about the condition of the female figure and its representation in the romantic movement, since the idealization of the female body and behavior typical of this literary style and its historical moment continues to define the lives of women in contemporary times. We seek to understand how representations in these literary works on one hand reinforces and on the other hand breaks with the paradigm of the ideal woman.