The Triangular Aspect of Machado de Assisi: How does the Figure of a Triangle Help to Comprehend and Know his Works

Introduction

Triangles are one of the most used figures to express an idea, a feeling, or a tension. It gives stability and simplicity, but at the same time is perfect for relationships and dynamics, what makes it an ideal way to express something between three entities, concepts, groups, ideas, and how they interact between them. It is a simple and concrete way to express something that is complex. And what else could be more complex than a character?

Robert McKee says that “the sum of all observable qualities of a human being, everything knowable through careful scrutiny”[1] is just the definition of characterization. A character, according to McKee, is revealed in the choices made under pressure, namely its very life in the story, in its relationships, in its dialogues, in its social interaction.[2] Therefore, it is possible to say that “a hidden nature waits concealed behind a façade of traits”[3]. Behind this facade we can analyze the author himself, works that influenced him, and the connection between characters in the same story and between other stories written by the author. A way to know a character simply and concretely is exploring the triangle for that purpose.

By the triangular analysis of characters, it is possible to know more about the story, its aesthetics, what values are highlighted, the conflicts that are going on, the ideas to be expressed. It helps also to know about the characters themselves, the psychological aspect of the character, the author`s intentions in the story, their connections to other works that might have influenced the story, the author`s personal life, and how do they integrate.

Machado de Assis biography

“My writings are my life, by my works ye shall know me.”[4] Therefore, it is essential to know who Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis was. His life gives a hint of the complexity of his characters by his personal background, literary influence, and how influential he was.

Journalist, story writer, novelist, poet, and playwriter. These are some of the descriptions given to Machado, who wrote almost every literary genre. Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1839, he suffered his mother’s death when he was only 10. His father married another woman when Machado was 15,

– age that Machado was already starting his life inside the writing world – and passed away 10 years later.[5]

He had just a few chances to study in a proper school, and when he had these opportunities, he did not show any interest in them and ended up without officially concluding any of his studies. Considered to be an autodidact, Machado de Assis learned Latin and languages with his friend Reverend Silveira Sarmento, a roman catholic priest, and studied some French in a school where his stepmother used to work, where he also showed huge interest in and abstraction for books. Joaquim Machado also learned from his own life situations, in which he frequented groups and made friends in Downtown Rio.

His career as a writer started when he was just 15 years old, at the time he published a sonnet in the newspaper “Periódico dos Pobres”. He worked in printing offices in internship and revisor during the following years of his life, when he met Manuel Antonio de Almeida, who was one of the great Brazilian authors in Rio de Janeiro. When Machado was 20, Pipelet debuted, an opera based on one of his booklets. At 21, Machado is already considered a great personality among the intellectuals in Rio de Janeiro, and in 1860 was named assistant-director of the imperial official diary by the emperor Pedro II. He strengthened his social position with public jobs, what gave him stability and allowed him in a not-so-far future dedicating himself to literary works.

In 1869 he married Carolina Augusta Xavier de Novais, from Portugal, one of his friends’ sisters. Carolina was known for her sympathy and attractivity, and Machado de Assis fell in love on their first meeting. Carolina was a cultured woman, and she was probably the one responsible for introducing Machado to the Portuguese classics. She passed away in 1904, and her death left a deep wound in Machado de Assis. He authored the poem “A Carolina” in her honor, and this poem was considered one of the most heart touching poems of Brazilian literature.

Between politics and literature, Machado’s personality expands in his works and his deeds appear. Even though more romanticist in his first works, such as “Helena,” he was already hinting at certain characteristics from his realistic maturity. At his peak, he deeply explored human psychology, man’s interior, and used more subjectivity in his works, treated themes as social conflicts and critiques to society. In fact, regarding international recognition his most remarkable works came from this maturity period of Machadian realism and are called the realistic trilogy, formed by “Dom Casmurro,” “Posthumous memoirs of Bras Cubas,” and “Quincas Borbas.” The novel “Dom Casmurro” is figured between one of the finest novels of the American continent, from North to South.

Machado is considered the greatest Brazilian author of all times, and his influence is unmeasurable. Joaquim Machado influenced unknown and known generations of Brazilians, among them are some authors as Lima Barreto, Olavo Bilac, Drummond de Andrade, Milton Hatoum, and Jô Soares. Not only in Brazil, but he is name was made known throughout the world, and his influence is found in American authors as John Barth, Donald Barthelme, and Woody Allen. He is also considered to be a precursor of the magic realism of the Argentinians Jorge Luis Borges and Julio Cortazar. Lastly, Machado de Assis work is essential to historically understand Brazil and Rio de Janeiro’s society from the XIX century and the change to XX century.

Summary of novels and characters

Helena

Helena starts with the death of Conselheiro Vale, with the family in his burial. In his will, he reveals an unknown biological daughter, Helena, who should be received in the house to live with Estacio, his son, and Dona Ursula, his sister. Estacio welcomes Helena, while Ursula raises suspicion. Estacio develops strong feelings for Helena, and he falls in love with her, but it is a forbidden love. Helena also loves Estacio but sacrifices his love for the good of the family, not making a fuss about it. Later, Helena discovers that she is not a real daughter of Conselheiro Vale. She knows her real father and her story, and when Estacio and Helena finally assume what they feel for each other, it is already too late. Tragically, Helena falls sick after all this trouble she went through and passes away before the love between Estacio and her is fulfilled.[6]

Other characters: Doctor Camargo, friend of Vale; Doctor Mendonca, friend of Estacio and lover of Helena; Eugenia, Camargo`s daughter, betrothed to Estacio; Father Melchior, friend of the family and spiritual guide of the community; Ângela, Helena’s mother;

Dom Casmurro

The story goes through the memoirs of Bento Santiago, lately named Dom Casmurro, or Lord Taciturn. He tells of his childhood and teenagerhood in Rio de Janeiro, developing his love story with Capitu, to whom he got married later. However, Bento becomes jealous and raises suspicions and doubts of Capitu, sustained only by his own point of view. He is insecure and thinks that Capitu betrayed him with his friend Escobar, and then he starts looking for confirmation of this betrayal. Bento ends up sending his kid and Capitu away to Europe, despite Capitu’s faithfulness and love for him. The memoirs are told at the end of Bentinho’s life, full of uncertainty and regret, trying to justify his actions and find console in his bad decisions.

Other characters: Jose Dias, servant of the family; Father Cabral, chaplain, and friend of the family;

Other characters and stories

In a few cases, characters from Quincas Borba, The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas, Othello, and The Sorrows of Young Werther will be part of the analysis. All the information needed for the analysis is contained in the development of each case.

The triangles of characters in Machado de Assis

The triangles inside Machado’s works are disposed in this analysis by story tools rather than chronological order or the cases of each novel.

Helena – Estácio – Mendonça (Helena)

This first triangle represents two extremes and one object. Helena is the object of Estácio and Mendonça’s love. Estácio and Mendonça occupy the extremes of the triangle. In the beginning of the novel “Helena,” this conflict is not explicit.

Mendonça is described as Estácio’s friend and naturally received in his family, but at the same time as someone coming from the wild world, because Mendonça is coming from an adventure in Europe, where he lived the challenges and pleasures of life in the Old Continent. Unlike Mendonça, Estácio is more of a home and family guy. Always responsible, he endures the duty of succeeding his father regarding his household. He studied Law, prefers rather logic and rationality than emotion and feelings, he is introspective, not active, prefers to digest his thoughts alone and in silence and is morally rigid.

Great writers push their minds to create and develop opposites.[7] In Estácio, the aspect of a stable, controlled, and traditional life is set, as in Mendonça the vagabond archetype, the unstable, and the dubious moral life is put as an opposite.

As a story develops, you must willingly entertain opposite, even repugnant ideas. The finest writers have dialectical, flexible minds that easily shift points of view. They see the positive, the negative, and all shades of irony… this omniscience forces them to become even more creative, more imaginative, and more insightful.[8]

And it is clear the force of antagonism emphasized in these opposite characteristics of Estácio and Mendonça. They are presented as friends, so there must be a connection, although they are totally opposite of one another. But it is not as simple as it looks: Machado de Assis is complex regarding his characters. Mendonça is just an auxiliar character, and Estácio is one of the main characters, therefore Mendonça is representing an interior change in Estácio’s character, that is, his supposedly impossible and immoral love, his hidden and uncontrolled sentiments for Helena. Regarding Helena, the triangle also represents the complexity of Helena in this novel: Refined, full of talents, enchanting lady, but also full of secrets, bold and hidden actions in the story.

Finally, the connection between opposites that happens in Estácio and Mendonça represents a possibility that this antagonism might not be unconcealable. We said that Helena gathers inside her character this complexity, and that Estácio also had this value change during the story, therefore, we can conclude that inside this triangle it is revealed the tension of the impossible love – Helena and Estácio – between siblings, as they think they are, but also the possibility of this very situation. They are not siblings. The story goes through a whole shift of point of view. For there is a story to be unpacked, and what seems to be totally opposite or impossible, is not.

Estácio – Helena – Eugênia (Helena)

Continuing inside the novel “Helena,” there is another great triangle among characters. Estácio is engaged to Eugênia, more because of his family and the proximity to Eugênia’s family. Eugênia is a depiction of the ideal woman during Brazil-Empire. Sweet, gentle, yielding, naive, idealistic, sensitive, emotive, fragile, and dependent. For Estácio’s deception, he also considered her sometimes a little bit too frivolous and shallow, what bothered him. Helena also has some of the same characteristics, just as sweetness and gentleness, but has other characteristics such as well educated, cult, mysterious, strong, and independent. She is ambiguous, complex, and conceals both vulnerability and being a calculating woman, controlling the situations.

What makes this particularly special is not the opposite characteristics of Eugênia and Helena, although it creates a propitious situation. According to Dr. Fr. Patrick Langan, “there is not always just a conscious desire, but also an unconscious one.”[9] The description of these two characters gives an important angle to delve into the main issue inside the novel: What does Estácio really want? Why does he postpone his marriage with Eugênia? Why does he praise so much Helena’s virtues and is so close to her? Estacio’s conscient desire would answer that he wants to marry Eugênia, he is just trying to get the right moment to properly take it to completion, he just praises Helena’s virtues because he is proud of being her brother, and that he is close to her to receive her well into his family.

An unconscious desire is always more powerful and durable, with roots reaching to the protagonist’s innermost self. When an unconscious desire drives the story, it allows the writer to create a far more complex character who may repeatedly change his conscious desire.[10]

Helena is his unconscious desire. He does not know that he wants her until the final chapters of the novel, although whoever is reading can guess it much earlier. All the characteristics Estácio would like to find in a wife, and he does not find in Eugênia, are found in Helena. And this is the unconscious desire that drives the story[11] and makes it great, and the whole drama is inside this desire. By analyzing Estácio’s personality – already described in the first case – in relation to Helena and Eugênia, it is possible to unwrap the novel’s plot, the issues, the conflicts, and why are these characters so intriguing.

Ângela – Conselheiro Vale – Salvador (Helena)

A triangle inside Helena that is not directly concerned about Estácio or Helena. It is the background triangle that gives material to the main situation regarding Helena and Estácio. Helena was just presented to Estácio’s household after Vale’s death, revealed in his will as his daughter and heir, and that she should be accepted into his household. But there are a lot of mysteries regarding Helena: Her birth, education, her mother, her story.

The real story is that Helena is not Vale’s daughter, as revealed in the last chapters of the novel. She is the daughter of Salvador. The question is how she ended being recognized by Vale in his testament. When she was just a baby, Ângela e Salvador had a normal life living together and raising Helena, despite all difficulties of poverty, but Salvador had to travel for a while because of work. It happens that Salvador took longer to return, and meanwhile, Ângela met Vale and started a hidden relationship with him. Vale loved Helena and treated her as his own child. Ângela was both happy because of the opportunity being given to Helena and her relationship with Vale. Returning, Salvador looked for Ângela and discovered that she abandoned him. She was with Vale. Furious and willing to kill Vale, he went to the Conselheiro’s house to reclaim his wife. But when he got there, he had a huge shock seeing that Helena was being so well treated and that Ângela was happy, so he decided to leave and disappear from their lives. Later, Salvador would find a way to stay connected with Helena by letters and working next to the school where she was sent to be educated.

Here it is important to go beyond the novel itself. As we know how complex a character can be, let us unpack this triangle first by analyzing each character in this triangle. Ângela seems to be the object and the cause of this conflict involving Vale and Salvador, but her name already explains what her role is: Ângela, coming from the Greek άγγελος, that means angel, a messenger, the one who bears a message. What is the message she bears? Helena. It is all about Helena. Although hidden in this triangle, Helena is the main point of it. Just as in the Trojan War, Helena as “Helen” is the principle of a war between two different world views, in our case, between Vale’s world – rich – and Salvador’s world, poverty.

Salvador also has a description by his own name. Salvador, if translated in English means savior, and here Machado assumes in the character the sacrificial meaning of love to save someone else. Salvador gives up the woman he loved and his own child so then they can have something better than what he could offer. He was convinced seeing their joyfulness. Love is to look for the good of the other, and Salvador made this sacrifice. Vale’s name also reveals two more things in relation to the attitude of Salvador: Conselheiro means counselor in English, a person trained to give guidance on personal, social, or psychological problems, and Vale, translated from Latin to English means “I salute you” and “Goodbye.” Go in peace.

Therefore, Ângela brings the message that is Helena, that may be cause of conflict, cause of war, reason of two different world views clashing against each other. Salvador represents both by his actions and his name the sacrifice he made. Vale is the one that gives the necessary guidance on problems to be solved, or that ends something saying goodbye, it is ended. Helena gathers in herself this hard background involving her stepfather and her father, that flows out to living with her brother and falling in love for him, but because of all the confusion happening around and inside her, she decides to reject and sacrifice this love for the good of her family, and at the end, when things seem to be possible to get better and fulfill this love, she is the one that says: Goodbye, it is ended. Go in peace. And dramatically dies.

All these aspects related to the characters guide to a multi-aspect view of the story. By this analysis, the superficial understanding of each character is totally changed. Ângela goes from someone that left a husband to live a possibly adulterous relationship to someone that was just looking for a future to her child and her life, not knowing what happened to Salvador. Salvador goes from what can be seen as a father abandoning his family because of work to someone that sacrifices the greatest gifts life gave because of love. Vale goes from a rich man taking advantage of his social class to have relations with a married woman from a lower class, offering a better life, to someone that embraces with love Helena, gives her the best, giving her all the love a father should give to a daughter. All these things are just possible to be known because story is seeing the character from the inside out.[12]

To understand the substance of story and how it performs, you need to view your work from the inside out, from the center of your character, looking out at the world through your character’s eyes, experiencing the story as if you were the living character yourself.[13]

Estácio – Dr. Camargo – Mendonça (Helena)

Estácio has in from of him two different situations that are bothering him. In this triangle inside “Helena,” Estácio, in one hand, faces Camargo trying to get part of Estácio’s estate and social status marrying him with Eugênia, and in the other, he has Mendonça, his friend, enchanted by Helena’s beauty, but also to join her family. From the beginning, these tensions regarding Camargo and Mendonça are not quite clear, so then we must know that the “spirit of creation is the spirit of contradiction – the breakthrough of appearances toward an unknown reality.”[14] Therefore, to know this:

You must doubt appearances and seek the opposite of the obvious. Don’t skim the surface, taking things at face value. Rather, peel back the skin of life to find the hidden, the unexpected, the seemingly inappropriate… the truth. And you will find your truth in the gap.[15]

Camargo was a great friend of Estácio’s father. He was the one that read and helped at his funeral. Supposedly, he was always there to help the family to keep going on after Vale’s death. He trusted the family so much that he was willing to give his daughter, not only not making any objection regarding the marriage, but also encouraging them to get married soon. If we do not put his real intention in check, we might not find his truth. Here it is necessary to consider what is hidden in plain sight.[16] Then, we just discover that Camargo does not want to be a friend, but he wants to grant his family a social upgrade, marrying Eugênia with Estácio, taking part of his estates.

In the case of Mendonça, his love for Helena was just so perfect to be true. The dialogues between Helena and Mendonça are short and subtle, full of silence and ambiguities. From Mendonça, he falls in love at first sight, but Helena is just interested in his stories. Then, Mendonça reveals his feelings to her, but she gently rejects them, because of a promise involving Estacio. Later, Helena tells for the first time she loves him, but it is impossible because she feels herself attached to a promise made to Estácio. Mendonça abdicates from his love for her and for considering his friendship with Estácio, and leaves. In the last chapter, he is already good – after suffering the pain of renouncing her love – and wishes Helena happiness. Just as in Camargo’s case, it is just too obvious to believe that Mendonça just wanted to marry her. What he wanted was to be around Estácio’s family, for many reasons: Friendship, social status, business with Estácio – he was meant to be a politician. He suddenly renounces Helena for a “heroical” reason, and later returns to keep his friendship with Estácio, Helena and the whole family. And using the tools of McKee and Dr. Fr. Patrick Langan, we can clearly see his truth.

Helena – Capitu – Sofia (Helena, Dom Casmurro, and Quincas Borba)

Machado de Assis’ characters are extremely ambiguous. Most of the time, and using just the text written by the author, it is possible to find more than one answer to the same question. This intentional ambiguity contributes to the beauty of his works and inspires the reader to reflect on and delve into the story. Nonetheless, there is a certain unity in the characters created by Machado de Assis, especially because he uses his books to express his own view of humanity and the world. Therefore, we can unwrap more about three stories together analyzing three different characters, one from each of three different novels, developing what one shows about the other.

The three of them share a lot of characteristics in common. They are all considered strong and independent, mysterious, enigmatic, beautiful, controlling, and manipulator. Even some of the issues they face are similar, such as moral and interior conflicts. However, Helena, Capitu, and Sofia have many different but connected particularities. Helena was published in 1876 and Machado made a conscient effort to write it as a romantic novel. Dom Casmurro and Quincas Borba are from another period of his life, considered his mature epoque, where he wrote mainly realistic novels. Nonetheless, many scholars have found in Helena traits of his future characters, such as Capitu and Sofia.

Helena is young, cult, beautiful, well educated, mysterious. She oscillates from naiveness to cunning, from docility to rebellion. She is docile and adapts herself to situations, but at the same lies and uses her charm to reach her objectives. Was Helena conscient of his brother passion for her? If she knew that Salvador was her father since she was a kid, she always knew that Estácio was not her real brother, therefore, she did not have the same boundaries as Estácio had. One of the reasons why Estácio was against the marriage between Helena and Mendonça is that Helena told Estacio that she had a strong love for someone but totally hopeless, impossible, and Estácio knew this love was not for Mendonça. Who was this love? Was Estácio himself? Helena gave information way before asking permission to marry Mendonça, what could mean that Mendonça is just an excuse to fake her love for Estácio, already knowing that Estácio would not accept her marriage, protecting her from love that is not real. Although we can reflect on these things, it seems to be that Helena was just a victim of love and died trying to conceal it with all the exterior pressure upon her.

Describing Helena is not an exhaustive action. The goal of reflecting on these assumptions is to pick some of them and identify what is also present in Capitu and Sofia. Capitu, from Dom Casmurro, is also depicted as a highly intelligent and keen woman, independent, strong, ambiguous, with a strong love, charming. But most of the plot of Dom Casmurro comes from her ambiguity – considering her husband’s low self-esteem and jealousy – and the suspicions Bentinho, her husband, had on her. Has Capitu betrayed Bentinho? This is one of the greatest questions of Brazilian literature. Capitu has always manipulated the situation to achieve her goal, since her childhood. But at the same time, her actions and submission show that she was just, like Helena, a victim of love. Victim of her own love for Bentinho, victim of Bentinho’s lack of self-esteem, victim of Bentinho’s jealousy, victim of Bentinho’s own mind, an, sent away alone to Europe with her child, died faithful to her husband but rejected by him. Just one more victim.

Sofia, from Quincas Borba, is not described with the same beauty as Capitu and Helena, but at least in the mind of Rubião she is the most wonderful woman in the world. His heart is taken from the first moment he met her. She shares the manipulating characteristic as Capitu and Helena, and as an independent, controlling, intelligent, strong, charming woman. But in Sofia every suspicion found in Helena and in Capitu is confirmed. She constantly makes use of Rubiao’s fortune for herself, she manipulates Rubiao because of his passion for her to get economic aid to her husband’s business, she just cares about material goods and social status above all. Sofia can use questionable methods to achieve her goals in life, such as lying to her husband, take advantage of a man facing a psychological illness – because of his passion for her. However, differently from Capitu and Helena, her cruel and ambitious personality is revealed in the novel, and she suffers and is punished, losing everything she conquered with her slyness.

Analyzing these three characters, it is possible to identify very concrete and important aspects of Helena in Capitu and Sofia. Still: If we consider Capitu a victim of love and circumstances, and Sofia the opposite, what does this situation say about Helena?

But if that same person tells the truth that could cost him his reputation, then that truth is at the core of his nature. The same happens to us. We do not know if we are brave or not until the dangerous situation arises and we have to make a choice.[17]

The slyness found in Sofia and possibly present in Helena and Capitu are just fruit of Machado de Assis’ ambiguity, to make the character more complex and richer, allowing the reader to ask questions about and even judge them. As it is written above, we can affirm that Helena has in herself some aspect of Sofia, for the fact that she knew from the beginning she was not daughter of Vale and still tried to carry on the situation, but at the same time she is just a victim of love and the circumstances as Capitu, despite every suspicion raised about her.

Werther – Estácio – Bentinho (The Sorrows of Young Werther, Helena, and Dom Casmurro)

In the last triangle analysis, we saw that Machado de Assis’s characters can be interconnected, and that through this interconnection they can be better understood. But if this is true regarding his own works, let us apply one interconnection more but with another author that preceded him.

Helen Caldwell says that his sixth novel to be written, Dom Casmurro, “is the culmination of the six that preceded it”[18] and has “elements of the first six novels”[19], including the composition of characters, narrative structures, and theme developments.[20] Goethe was one of the most influential authors in European Romanticism. His works inspired most of the Romantic authors. Helena is Machado de Assis’ most Romantic work, and Dom Casmurro his most mature Realistic work. In one hand, Machado draws some traits from The Sorrows of Young Werther regarding Romantic aesthetics and composition of character, but in the other hand, Machado de Assis also reacts and respond to Goethe’s Romanticism in Dom Casmurro. Therefore, it is possible to analyze and understand better two of Machado de Assis’ two heroes, Estacio from Helena and Bentinho from Dom Casmurro, through the character Werther from The Sorrow of Young Werther.

Even though it is not written that Machado used Goethe to compose Estacio e Bentinho, it is also known that “instead of saying something, you communicate it through gestures”[21]. Some of Goethe’s gestures, or traits, are found in his characters Estacio e Bentinho. That is the beauty of Machado de Assis characters, because these things are not clear to see unless a deep reflection is made. It is that way because an author should never force words – or explicit similarities – into a character’s mouth to tell the reader about world, history, analogies, or person,[22] for it would be bad storytelling.

Werther is a very emotional character, sensitive to the world around him. In the first part of the novel, he experiences the joy and beauty of nature, but in the second part, he faces sadness, melancholy, despair. He is depicted having an idealistic view about life, about love, about the world. In the story, Werther falls in love with Lotte, who consumes every single part of Werther’s heart – and mind. But this love is not possible, it cannot be responded. The whole story goes through an impossible love, till the end when Werther committed suicide.

Estacio is also very idealistic about life and about the world around him. He was not giving in to the stereotype of his time and being a politician or a lawyer. He would not be satisfied with a social marriage. He wanted virtues that he could not find in the woman arranged to him. He could only find this in Helena, with whom he held a very deep relationship, but as siblings, although they were in love.

The first part of Helena shows the beauty of Estacio living with his sister Helena, and it is bright, full of light, joy, an ideal relationship between brother and sister. Love is in the air. But in the second part, things start to go dark. He realizes that his love makes him jealous, and his heart is always wondering about Helena. They both walk towards separation and two different paths: Estacio with Eugenia and Helena with Mendonca. Even Dona Ursula, who did not like Helena in the beginning, is totally delighted with Helena. Estacio’s relationship with Helena goes from the beauty of siblings to a clear impossibility of something more than what they had. The impossible love is set. The suicide of Werther in Estacio is found in the personal dialogue between Father Melchior and Estacio[23], where his passion is revealed, and as siblings, this love is immoral, wrong, and therefore, impossible. This is the moment when Estacio becomes hopeless.

Bentinho is mocking Werther. If Estacio has in himself the passionate and traditional romantic aspects of Werther, Bentinho incorporates the drama of Werther, not only the character. In the first part, he falls in love with Capitu, for a little while this love is impossible because his mother sends him to the seminary, but soon he returns to his home and his love for Capitu becomes possible. The second part begins after Bentinho married Capitu and they are, supposedly, living happily ever after. This fact should be the end of a romantic novel, but in a realistic one it is just the end of the first part. From then on, Bentinho starts to suspect Capitu and be very jealous. He thinks she betrayed him with his friend, Escobar, that even his son is not his, but Escobar’s.

In Werther, part of his suffering is to live and be close to Lotte even though she is living with her fiancée, Albert, whom he respects and even likes in the beginning, but Albert becomes jealous of him as his relationship with Lotte deepens. In Bentinho, Machado sets him as both Werther and Albert. He does have his love responded and is married to Capitu, but at the same time he puts himself as Werther seeing his beloved with one another, in his case, Capitu with Escobar. Bentinho conceals the situation of Albert and Werther, and he goes from Albert – having a normal relationship with Lotte and responded love – to Werther, when he sees Albert taking his beloved away, and in our case, Bentinho is taking away the loved one from himself because of his low self- esteem and jealousy.

Conclusion

 Triangles are a very accurate tool to better express an idea, a tension, or a feeling. In a story, it gives cohesion and clarity while analyzing characters in a triangular point of view, suitable for relationships and dynamic situations. Because of these attributions, a triangular view analyzing characters in a story becomes an ideal to make plain and objective something that is knotty.

The story reveals its aesthetics, values, conflicts that are happening, and ideas, by the triangular analysis of characters. Not only these points are revealed by the story through exploring the triangular figure in the work, but also the psychological aspect of the character, the author’s objective in the story, and the connection with other literature works that influenced the author, the story, and how it is possible to integrate them.

Therefore, unpacking situations in some characters from Helena, Dom Casmurro, Quincas Borba, and even from Sorrows of Young Werther, it is possible to discover the hidden nature that waits behind a character in his actions, beliefs, psychology, and values.[xxiv] The connection between works that influenced the author, the author’s very life, and characters – inside the same work or among different stories though related – becomes possible by the triangular unpacking method.

From complexity to simplicity, Machado de Assis beauty in his work can be discovered with the auxilium of this great triangular analysis method.

[1]R. MCKEE, Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting, Harper Collins Publishers, New York 1997, 100

[2] Cfr. R. MCKEE, Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting, Harper Collins Publishers, New York 1997, Chapter 5

[3] R. MCKEE, Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting, Harper Collins Publishers, New York 1997, 103

[4] H. CALDWELL, The Brazilian Othello of Machado de Assis, University of California Press, Los Angeles 1960, 10

[5] Cfr. H. CALDWELL, The Brazilian Master and His Novels, University of California Press 1970, Chapter 2

[6] Cfr. H. CALDWELL, The Brazilian Master and His Novels, University of California Press 1970, Chapter 8

[7] Cfr. P. LANGAN, Detective Narrative Thinking, Universidad Francisco de Vitoria, Cheshire 2023, 180

[8] R. MCKEE, Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting, Harper Collins Publishers, New York 1997, 121

[9] P. LANGAN, Detective Narrative Thinking, Universidad Francisco de Vitoria, Cheshire 2023, 130

[10] R. MCKEE, Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting, Harper Collins Publishers, New York 1997, 195

[11] A.MACINTYRE, Ethics in the Conflicts of Modernity, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2016, 12

[12] Cfr. P. LANGAN, Detective Narrative Thinking, Universidad Francisco de Vitoria, Cheshire 2023, 117

[13] R. MCKEE, Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting, Harper Collins Publishers, New York 1997, 136

[14] R. MCKEE, Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting, Harper Collins Publishers, New York 1997, 177

[15] Ibid.

[16] Cfr. P. LANGAN, Detective Narrative Thinking, Universidad Francisco de Vitoria, Cheshire 2023, 259-261

[17] Cfr. P. LANGAN, Detective Narrative Thinking, Universidad Francisco de Vitoria, Cheshire 2023, 140

[18] H. CALDWELL, The Brazilian Master and His Novels, University of California Press 1970, 142

[19] Ibid.

[20] Ibid.

[21] P. LANGAN, Detective Narrative Thinking, Universidad Francisco de Vitoria, Cheshire 2023, 255

[22] Cfr. R. MCKEE, Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting, Harper Collins Publishers, New York 1997, 334

[23] M. DE ASSIS, Helena, University of California Press, Los Angeles 1984, Chapter 23

[xxiv] Cfr. R. MCKEE, Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting, Harper Collins Publishers, New York 1997, 103