Maria e Lúcia: a busca da honra

Abstract

In Lucíola, by José de Alencar, the main story of the plot is that of Lúcia, the most beautiful and rich courtesan of Rio de Janeiro, who had many lovers. In the development of the plot, due to his involvement with Paul (which leads him to regenerate), he reveals information from his past. We learned that before being Lucia, she was Maria Da Gloria, the 14-year-old girl who had her life destroyed after an outbreak of yellow fever. Candido (1997) says that: "With Lucíola, where one can see the mark of the theatrical experience in the firmness of dialogue, the sense of real situations and the taste for psychological conflict make this the most incredible work written by Alencar." The novel of Alencar has as protagonist a courtesan, in a narrative realized in first person, by the personage Paulo. The book works on the relationship of physical love and spiritual love, because when Lucy falls in love with Paul, she begins to move away from her whore's life, and, in addition, initiates an abstention in relation to sex. In this way, the present work, in the discussion of its lines, seeks to explain the trajectory that transformed Maria da Gloria into Lucia, a woman seductive and full of secrets, as well as demonstrate how the human mind is able to transform itself according to the pains and regrets that each individual, throughout life, will suffer. Through a bibliographical revision, in the first moment, this instrument will be based on the theoretical foundation of the work of Alencar, then will be raised the characteristics of the characters, as well as the reasons that lead them to be the way they are, is presented the conclusion of the work with a critical argument when the end of Lucia.