BETWEEN IDEALIZATION AND SUSPICION: DESIRE AND JEALOUSY IN SENILITY AND DOM CASMURRO

Abstract

This article proposes a comparative reading of As a Man Grows Older, by Italo Svevo, and Dom Casmurro, by Machado de Assis, considering the similarities in the representation of amorous desire, jealousy, and male subjective instability. The study is based on the problem of affective relationships mediated by rivalry and idealization, recurrent in both narratives. Its objective is to analyze how Emilio Brentani and Bento Santiago construct love relationships permeated by suspicion, imaginative projection, and the inability to recognize female alterity. To this end, a comparative bibliographic and interpretative analysis is carried out, mainly grounded in René Girard’s theory of mimetic desire, as well as critical studies concerning the novels analyzed. Thus, it is observed that the protagonists progressively replace real women with imaginary constructions produced by their own subjective anxieties, making jealousy a central element of identity destabilization. It is also observed that, in Dom Casmurro, jealousy surpasses the thematic level and comes to structure Bento Santiago’s memorialistic narrative itself. It is therefore concluded that both novels represent love as an experience marked by rivalry, imagination, and the fragility of modern subjectivities.