"There is somewhat an overstatement in it"

Intermediality and meaning between Dom Casmurro and Capitu

Abstract

Machado de Assis’ novel Dom Casmurro (1899) is one of the best-known works in Brazilian literature. It is recognized as a kind of Romeo and Juliet, since even those who have never read it are aware of Assis’ fable. In view of this, and because of its indetermination, this narrative has not only been adapted to different media, but its elements often appear in a variety of texts, whether it be through the universal motto of jealousy or through references to the features of its characters. In this work, I show how the intermedial analysis of Capitu (Luís Fernando Carvalho, 2008), a transmediation of the novel to cinema, helps in understanding what is perhaps not as evident in the verbal work: the partial and exaggerated view of the narrator-protagonist. For this purpose, through the propositions of Lars Elleström (2017, in press), I show how the tv series Capitu reveals this specific characteristic of Machado's text through simple media representation, such as technical media, and complex media representation, such as the novel’s narrator and the theatrical scene.