“Ele não é o único! há outros!” A sensualidade e a infidelidade no conto “a dama da lotação”

Abstract

This work analyzes female characters from literature with emphasis on Solange, protagonist of Nelson Rodrigues short story "A dama do lotação," originally published between 1951 and 1961, in the column A vida como ela é..., from the newspaper Última Hora. This work has become unique in showing a woman lost in the voluptuousness of her being. She does not follow social conventions and defies all the mechanisms established by a patriarchal society by shamelessly engaging with various men daily. In this tale there is a strong and shrewd question about the hypocrisy that exists in the "good morals", leading the reader to a deep reflection on what society expects from women and marriage, breaking the clichés and revealing a direct story about family, sensuality and betrayal. For a more dense analysis, other characters will be presented in their own contexts, namely: Ana Karênina (from the work of the same name by Leo Tolstoy), Emma Bovary (from the work “Madame Bovary”, by Gustave Flaubert) and Lenita (from the work “A carne”, by Júlio Ribeiro). And, before that, this paper presents a historical overview of women in the literature, highlighting their role and their changes over the centuries, which occurred gradually, because, as will be seen, the woman went through numerous phases. She ceased to be the protagonist of the "original sin", the consequence of which was the expulsion of man from paradise, and was sacralized, worshiped.Over time, however, the female characters gained more humanity, and became strong women, capable of everything to achieve happiness. This work features works of fiction by authors such as Rodrigues (1993), Tolstoy (2001), Flaubert (2003) and Ribeiro (1999) and nonfiction such as Foucault (1989), Sarmento (2010) and Johnson (2011), which, among others, contributed profoundly to the subjects discussed here, making them more relevant and dense.