Masculinity and Matrimonial Secrets in Dom Casmurro

Abstract

This chapter further problematizes the love triangle of Dom Casmurro by centering on the nascent institution of marriage in Brazilian society. The issues of masculinity and homoerotic desire that haunt Bento cannot be divorced from the intersecting discourses of republicanism, national whiteness, “civilizing” Rio, and eugenics. As Miskolci argues, at the turn of the century, marriage aimed at exercising control over desire, reinforcing rigid gender binaries, and placing strict limits on relationships between people of the same sex. Miskolci, thus, interrogates Bento’s impossible attempt to reconcile transgressive sexual desire with the desire to consolidate his social standing as an elite white male through marriage. At another analytic level, Miskolci also explores how homoerotics intermingles with patriarchal power over women in post-abolition Brazilian society.

Translated by Daniel F. Silva and Lamonte Aidoo