O mundo interior em O Crime do Padre Amaro De Eça de Queiroz

Abstract

This paper analyses the interior world in Eça de Queiroz s novel O Crime do Padre Amaro through the voices of the protagonists Amaro and Amélia. This work uses Mikhail Bakhtin s studies on dialogue as a theoretical reference, especially his discourse on the notion of I and how it is constructed through the discourse of others- in this case the interior voices of the characters and how they are conditioned by the way they live. This paper also attempts to situate Bakhtin s theories within the work of other theorists in such a way as to support the arguments presented here. In this study I have looked at the historical, social, political and religious context in which the novel was written, moving through a broader view of nineteenth-century Europe, then Portugal and finally to the town of Leiria, where the novel is set. Following this, the dialogues of the characters are used to draw a picture of the society and way of life at that time and are compared to the internal voices of the protagonists, showing how the characters and their values are products of this society. Finally it is shown that the interior voices of these characters reproduce the discourse of the other. Their voices are never solitary voices, but carry in them what Bakhtin calls dialogism