Machado de Assis, the Brazilian Pyrrhonian

Chapter Three: Problematic Characters: The Skeptic's Ancestors

Chapter Three Problematic Characters The Skeptic's Ancestors The homens de espfrito are the earliest ancestors of the skeptics in Machado's fiction. Four major features distinguish them from the tolos: (1) they are removed from women, i.e., social life; (2) their precarious condition is a result of the first feature; (3) their uniqueness is in contrast with the homogeneity of the tolos, i.e., they are individuals instead of social persona; and (4) they will not or cannot act strategically. The skeptical lifeview is the solution to the problematic situation of the homem de espfrito. Once he adopts this attitude, the character's uniqueness and divorce from social life are intensified. At the same time, his condition as outsider ceases to be problematic to the extent that spectating and reflection are consolidated. The character moves from a situation in which he is alienated from sociallife to another in which he becomes an inquirer about and observer of its nature. In these ancestors from the early part of Machado's fi~st phase we find only a problematic uniqueness and, in a few cases, a slight interest in reflection, though not reflection itself. The problematic characters can be divided into two groups. We begin with those who, having gone through the bitter experience of separation (which usually occurs as sentimental failures and deceptions), find a way out oftheir precarious condition by finally finding a domestic peace that is an alternative to and remote from sochillife. These homens de espfrito find women who belong to the realm of truth and morality. Three short stories with characters falling into this group of homens de espfrito who experience a happy resolution have already been mentioned. Machado calls F. S., the narrator of "Happiness through marriage," and Menezes, of "Woman in black," "skeptics" and "misanthropes." F. S. is so called 55 Chapter Three because he was despised by a girl for his introverted and reflective personality. Menezes thought he was a victim of human hypocrisy, expressed in the alleged unfaithfulness of his former wife. F. S.'s disappointment leads him to Pascal and Ecclesiastes. Menezes is described by an acquaintance as a "misantropo, e urn cetico [que] nao cre em nada, nem estima ninguem. Na polftica como na sociedade faz urn papel puramente negativo" (OC 2: 61) ("misanthrope, a skeptic who does not believe in anything, nor care for anybody. In politics as in society, he plays only a negative role"). The allusion to his "negative role" reveals his condition well: condemning social life and inwardly exiled from it. Fernando, of "Fernando and Fernanda," also suffers a disillusionment when he sees that his beloved is well adjusted to the social life he despises. The problematic situation of the three characters is resolved, however, by their finding women who do not prefer the tolos. Before this happy outcome, while still in'their problematic state, F. S. and Menezes show signs of having a reflective inclination that, however, does not translate into elaborated thought. All we know concerning this reflection is that they read and devote their lives to study and reflection. In F. S.'s case we find a speech in which his own pain and resentment overshadow the bit of philosophy one might find in it; as for Me,nezes, his qualification as a "skeptic" reveals that Machado holds at this point a still crude and embryonic notion of skepticism. Other problematic characters of this group can be discerned in other short stories. For instance, the protagonist of "U1timo dia de urn poeta" ("A poet's last day") suffers from ~is beloved's preference for a tolo to such a degree that he comes very close to dying. He escapes death when he finds out that she was forced to prefer the tolo. While sick, close to death, he delivers a pessimistic speech whose theme is later developed by Machado in Epitaph. The address on nature in the following excerpt, once deprived of its lachrymose pitch, resembles Bras Cubas's delirium: 6 mae cruel, que nao honras a morte dos teus filhos com uma Iagrima de dor e urn suspiro de magoa.... Parece que te apraz cria-Ios para mata-Ios, produzi-Ios com uma ilusao, absorve-Ios com urn desengano, verdadeira condena~ao dos 56 Problematic Characters que aguardavam esse desengano e acreditaram nessa ilusao. (MJ ill 208; see ApPendix 30) , / The poet's pessimism vanishes, however, when he discovers...