Abstract
"Luís Soares" highlights transformations that appeared in Brazilian society as a result of women's then new freedom to make a choice regarding marriage, regardless of family impositions and the factors that contributed to a change in mindset. This freedom was the result of a gradual shift due to the downsizing of women's guarantees on wealth, including inherited assets. The article compares Machado's early short story to the novel, SenhoraALENCAR, José de. Senhora. Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira, 2016., by José de Alencar, and exposes the differences in the writers' treatment of women's position in matrimony and the possibility of redemption through love and the coexistence of bourgeois and manorial ideologies among individuals in the same social group.
Keywords:
Machado de Assis; Nineteenth century; José de Alencar; Brazilian literature; Gender roles