Technique and Ambiguity in "Dom Casmurro"

Abstract

Since its publication in 1900, Machado de Assis' Dom Casmurrol has occupied a prominent place in Brazilian literature. There has been, nevertheless, a very wide divergence of views expressed concerning this work. The purpose of this study is to examine the most significant criticism made of the novel, and to suggest the possibility of a further interpretation. For more than forty years the critical approach to Dom Casmurro has been based upon the judgment that Capitfl betrayed her husband, Bentinho, with his best friend, Escobar. In 1961, Jose Verissimo established the position in his Histdria da Literatura Brasileira2 that Dom Casmurro