“Cobrindo-se em tons de ruína”: uma análise da figuração da masculinidade em os Maias, de Eça de Queirós

• Ano de defesa: 2025
• Autor(a) principal: Ramos, Bruna Silva
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: por
• Instituição de defesa: Universidade Federal de Santa Maria; Brasil; UFSM; Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras; Centro de Artes e Letras
• Palavras-chave em Português: Personagem; Os Maias; Eça de Queirós; Masculinidade; Gênero; Character; Masculinity; Gender; CNPQ::LINGUISTICA, LETRAS E ARTES::LETRAS
• Link de acesso: http://repositorio.ufsm.br/handle/1/36781

This dissertation investigates how Eça de Queirós constructs the male characters in his novel Os Maias and through which discursive resources these figures are shaped. Based mainly on the theoretical and methodological framework of contemporary character studies by Jens Eder (2014), the concept of gender performativity proposed by Judith Butler (1990), and Pierre Bourdieu’s (1995) notion of masculine domination, this research seeks to demonstrate that Eça de Queirós outlines an ideal of manhood that serves as a benchmark for all male characters in the novel. Accordingly, the central objective is to analyze how the Portuguese author develops this model of masculinity that permeates the narrative and how this ideal is represented and/or contested by the different generations of the Maia family. In this study, this model will be conceptually referred to as an ideal of masculinity, in line with previous historical models, projected onto a utopian horizon. The author reveals the inconsistencies and tensions inherent in this ideal, presenting it as an element of frustration, in which Carlos, the protagonist, emerges as its main exponent – his trajectory marked by the unrealized potential to achieve the expected perfection of manliness. The character analysis is deepened through the four categories proposed by Jens Eder (2014) in his analytical method known as the clock of character: represented beings, artifacts, symbols, and symptoms. These categories are explored through key questions that guide the investigation: What features do the characters possess? How are they discursively constructed? What connections do they establish with other textual elements? How can they be experienced by the audience? And what relationship do they maintain with the culture and society of their time? This analytical model also synthesizes elements from the concept of figuration as defined by Reis (2001). A fundamental concept for our analysis is the constellation of characters, also from Jens Eder (2014), as it underpins the examination of hierarchy, function, value, interaction, and communication among these fictional entities, revolving around the very ideal of masculinity. As argued here, the model of manhood functions as a reference point that defines the construction of characters and the generational dynamics within the novel, reflecting the complex relations between tradition and modernity in the context of nineteenth-century Portugal. This study contributes to understanding how Eça de Queirós employs the figuration of masculinity as a central element in the narrative construction and social critique of Os Maias, offering a profound reading of gender representation and its cultural and social implications.