Eça de Queiroz e as três Marias Maia

Abstract

Based on the reading of Os Maias (1888), a novel by Eça de Queiroz (1845-1900), this essay proposes an analysis of the female characters of the Maia family — Maria Runa, Maria Monforte and Maria Eduarda — seeking to observe how they were constructed to serve the model of denunciation of the Lisbon society of the 19th century XIX, the author is one of the main representative author of these Portuguese realist’s ideological proposals. Queiroz attributes to his Marias the entire tragic end of the Maia family, from their moral judgment driven by the traditional and patriarchal Lusitanian society of the time. For reflection, we bring the considerations of Barreiros (1992), Reis (2005), Moisés (2002) and Brait (1985).