O mito das Erínias na tragédia Pedreira das Almas, de Jorge Andrade

Abstract

Of the three versions of Pedreira das Almas (1958, 1960, 1970), by the Brazilian playwright Jorge Andrade (1922-1984), the third version, which integrates the volume Marta, the Tree and the Clock, is the best known, read and studied by the researchers. But, in order to make a study about the reception of the myth of classical antiquity in the Andradian work, it is necessary to return to the first version, since it is the first and the only time that the dramatist quotes a Greco-Roman myth in his play – it is a description of the Choir of women as “enraged Erinias”, which arises to demand justice for the death and the unburied body of Martiniano. After the staging of Quarry of Souls, at the Brazilian Theater of Comedy, the critic identified the women's choir as “unnecessary” and that “compromised” the gradual development of the dramatic tension that a tragedy demands. Critics went so far as to claim that Jorge Andrade did not know how to use the choir's resource and, consequently, Quarry of Souls presents a “construction error”. The objective of this study was to resume the critic's notes to verify that there is no “construction error” in the Andradian work, because the description and configuration of the Choir as “enraged Erínias” – and that was not taken into consideration at the time – appears in line with the purposes of the Brazilian playwright.