Luísa, d'O Primo Basílio, à luz d'As Farpas

Abstract

One of the principal authors of Realism in the Portuguese Literature, Eça de Queiroz, published, besides romances and tales, some texts for the newspaper As Farpas, published with Ramalho Urtigão, between June 1871 and October 1872. Through these publications, the author has depicted the customs of Portuguese society in the late 19th century. Some of these articles dealt exclusively about the role of the woman in society. Three of these made us interested about: O primitivo prólogo das Farpas- estudo social de Portugal (1871); As meninas da Geração Nova em Lisboa e a Educação contemporânea (1872); and O problema do adultério (1872). When analyzing designed characteristics of the woman proposed by Eça, we could say that in As Farpas we find revealed the traits of the female characters of the novel O Primo Basílio, especially regarding the construction of the character Luísa. Intending to find the human reasons and the key factor of this caracther’s personality, those articles became the supporting for the analysis, to demonstrate that the female characters are the mirror image of woman of Portuguese bourgeoisie in the late nineteenth century. To support this view, we make use of the Berrini, Cortesão, Da Cal, Miné and Moog’s theories.