MEDIEVO, RELIGIOSIDADE E TRANSGRESSÃO: A FIGURA FEMININA NO MEMORIAL DO CONVENTO DE JOSÉ SARAMAGO

Abstract

For a long time the world was ruled by na interpretation from God and the Bible. In medieval time the image of women was much discriminated not only by men, but also by society and mostly by the Church. The goal of this paper is to reflect upon the portrayal of women in Jose Saramago’s novel Baltasar and Blimunda, observing the christian view concerning the role of women in society. Immersing in the historical context of the time frame of the middle ages we will seek to demonstrate how christian mentality exerted a strong influence on the position of women in society as opposed to the protagonist of the novel, Blimunda. Thereunto, we will approach the themes: religion, marriage, social role of women in the middle ages and the inquisition times through some assertions of the bible based on chapters of works and scientific articles of experts, researchers and historians such as Georges Duby, Burghard Baltrusch, Elizabeth Grosz, Guilhermina Mota, among others. We will make a synthesis throughout the paper showing that the religious as well as historical narrative always favors men, however, the life course of the character Blimunda counteracts such narrative through actions that go the other way of the female pattern of the time in which the novel Baltasar and Blimunda is set.