Proverbs contain culturally important information about themes such as marriage and gender relations, since they constitute an authoritarian and stereotyped discourse which is accepted and memorized by people from early ages. The present study involved selection and categorization of proverbs about romantic relationships, marriage, separation, as well as about the socio-cultural conditions that characterize masculine and feminine life, with the objective of analyzing revealing singularities and regularities of the conceptions present in such modality of cultural production. The selection of the 569 examined proverbs was made from documental sources. The proverbs were classified in 4 broader themes (Love, Marriage and Conjugal Relations, Man, Woman) which spanned 104 analysis sub-categories. The results revealed a cultural universe constructed upon the male perspective, in which are found conceptions about the feminine nature and about romantic relationships that justify the unbalance of power in conjugal relationships still found in current days.
love; marriage; conjugal relations; gender; proverbs