Um diabo narrado pelas tintas machadianas

Abstract

This dissertation aims to study one of the most important entities of the Western imagination, the Devil, such as it is presented in the works of the writer Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis. For this purpose, we set to perform a reading of the following stories: “Adão e Eva”, “A igreja do Diabo” and “O sermão do Diabo”, in which the Devil appears explicitly as a character, and thus we shall make clear the way in which it has been appropriated by Machadian literature. In “Adão e Eva” we shall demonstrate how Machado de Assis has reinterpreted the Devil’s role in the creation of humankind. In the story “A igreja do Diabo” we shall delineate how the author, through the Devil as a character, criticizes religious institutions. Finally, in the story “O sermão do Diabo”, our purpose is to demonstrate that Machado de Assis, through the Devil as a character, proposes an ironical criticism of nineteenth century society, which had sold its soul to diabolic capital.