BETWEEN EMANCIPATION AND SUBMISSION: SENHORA, BY JOSÉ DE ALENCAR

Abstract

This article analyzes the construction of the character Aurélia Camargo in the novel Senhora (1875), by José de Alencar, in order to examine to what extent the protagonist may be interpreted as a figure of female autonomy or whether her trajectory ultimately reaffirms the limits imposed by gender relations in nineteenth-century Brazilian society. The study is based on the hypothesis that, although Aurélia appears to challenge the feminine norms of her time by assuming economic power and orchestrating the negotiation of her own marriage, her experience remains shaped by romantic ideals that associate women with love and conjugal life. Methodologically, this is a qualitative and exploratory study grounded in literary analysis of the novel and in a review of scholarship in literary criticism and gender studies. The analysis shows that the character’s autonomy proves to be partial and contradictory, since her trajectory ultimately culminates in the reaffirmation of the conjugal order and of the social structures that regulate relations between men and women in imperial Brazilian society.