Ambivalence In Bento's Jealousy Or Treachery?

The author Machado de Assis, tells a story through the narrator (Bento), and foretells the treachery/deceive that occurred in Bento’s married life. In addition, Bento was a jealous man since before his marriage, and his jealousy only drove him to believe that his best friend and wife had had an affair; however, Bento never expressed this emotion out in the open just like the Priams did not. Furthermore, out of this affair, as Bento proposed, came a child by the name of Ezequiel, but it was never really confirmed that his wife Capitu had cheated on him with his best friend Escobar. Later in the novel, Escobar passed away, and Bento began to see “similarities” between his son and his dead friend, and truly believed Ezequiel was not his own. Bento’s

The passage alone created a form of ambivalence because Bento claimed that he repressed his emotions for as long as he could, but the jealousy and anger he felt towards Capitu, Escobar, and even young Ezequiel were a lot stronger. In addition, through his narration, Bento freely expressed his emotions; through his writing, it seemed that Bento hoped that we would understand, and sympathize with his situation. Furthermore, Bento had to go on pretending that nothing ever happened between his best friend and wife, the passage mentioned that “their talk is rather of joy than of melancholy, and all goes along as if Achilles had not slain Hector,” which was comparable to the repressed emotions he had to hold on to. Finally, the use of ambivalence and allusion helped the readers understand why he thought repressing his emotions seemed like a depraved idea. Ultimately, this was important to the novel because Bento wanted the readers to understand him, and allowed them to see his true