Dom Casmurro

“Don’t consult your dictionaries. Casmurro is not used here in the meaning they give for it, but in the sense in which the man in the street uses it, of a morose, tightlipped man withdrawn within himself.”

Bento’s insistence on his own interpretation of his nickname, “casmurro,” introduces the theme of Perception and the Nature of Truth. Bento presents his perspective as definitive and unquestionable, making clear his inclination to shape the narrative to fit his own understanding and to paint himself in the best possible light. Bento does not acknowledge the fact that “casmurro” contains other, less-flattering connotations—stubbornness, suspicion—but such connotations give insight into his flaws.

“One day, a number of years ago, I decided to reproduce in Engenho Novo, the house in which I grew up on old Rua de Matacavallos. It was to have the same appearance and plan as the other house, which had disappeared.”

Bento’s meticulous recreation of his childhood home symbolizes his attempt to reconcile with the past and recapture a sense of lost grandeur (See: Symbols & Motifs). The house represents the stark contrast between past and present, embodying the gulf between Bento’s happy youth and his isolated old age.

“It was then that the busts painted on the walls spoke to me and said that since they had failed to bring back the days gone by, I should take my pen and tell over those times. Perhaps the act of narration would summon the illusion for me, and the shades would come treading lightly, as with the poet, not the one of the train but Faust’s: Ah there, are you come again, restless shades?”

Bento’s desire to summon the illusion of the past through storytelling underscores his desire to reconcile with the events in his life that still torment him. Much like Faust’s shades, Capitú’s supposed infidelity still looms over Bento in his later years. Thus, narrating his account becomes a means for Bento to affirm his perspective on events. The quote also aligns with the motif of