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Dom Casmurro · Chapters XXXV to XLI

The Apostolic Protonotary and the Secret Audience

Appearance and RealityLanguage and NarrationReligion

Chapter XXXV: The Apostolic Protonotary

Religion

Section summary

Bentinho runs to his lesson, thinks of lying about the delay, gives up, and goes in without anyone scolding him. Father Cabral has been named apostolic protonotary, a title of honor only, and everyone repeats it: Uncle Cosme, Cousin Justina, Dona Glória, who invites him to dinner. José Dias applauds, and the priest gives Bentinho a holiday. José Dias warns that the Latin will be useful even if he does not become a priest; Dona Glória replies that he will be a priest, and Cabral calls him "Protonotary Santiago," words that leave Bentinho wanting to hurl an insult, but tongue-tied.

Analysis

Bentinho decides not to lie, because the shock would harm his mother, and he gives up promising Paternosters, because he already has another promise outstanding. The reason is love for her, not scruple, and the text shows a boy who measures each lie by the price of a face he knows. Arriving, he finds the parlor taken over by Cabral's title, which spares him.

The title circulates among everyone like currency: Cabral savors it, Uncle Cosme repeats it because his card partner at voltarete has risen, Justina practices it, José Dias applauds it, and Uncle Cosme attaches it to the nephew's destiny. Each uses the "protonotary" in his own way. When Bentinho's name enters the title, the boy is wrapped in everyone's honor, and only the will to answer stays tongue-tied.

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Chapter XXXVI: An Idea Without Legs and an Idea Without Arms

Language and Narration

Section summary

Bentinho steps away on the pretext of playing and thinks of redoing Capitu's hairstyle, but the idea has no legs. On arriving, he finds her sewing, without looking at him. When he approaches, she draws back, and his idea of kissing her has no arms. The narrator recalls the Song of Songs.

Analysis

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Chapter XXXVII: The Soul Is Full of Mysteries

Section summary

Capitu asks after Father Cabral and says she will go congratulate him at Bentinho's house, since she is now "half a young lady." To prove she is a whole young lady, he takes her hands and tries to pull her; she flees with her torso, and they struggle without noise, until their mouths miss each other. Someone knocks at the door: it is her father, returning early. Before he enters, Capitu sets her mouth on his and gives willingly what she was refusing by force.

Analysis

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Chapter XXXVIII: What a Fright, My God!

Appearance and Reality

Section summary

When Pádua enters, Capitu is with her back turned, leaning over her sewing, and asks aloud what an apostolic protonotary is. She says "What a fright, my God!", tells her father what she heard, and runs off shouting to her mother that her father has arrived.

Analysis

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Chapter XXXIX: The Vocation

Religion

Section summary

Capitu arrives in a better dress to greet Father Cabral and Dona Glória. José Dias holds forth on Pius IX and debates with the priest what a vocation is: he says one can serve God outside the priesthood, Cabral says he was ordained against his vocation as a doctor, and that Bentinho has a manifest vocation. Capitu avoids Bentinho's eyes and leaves at the Hail Marys. In the corridor, she tells him to stay and says they will talk tomorrow, and a servant woman who lights the lamp laughs to see them.

Analysis

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Chapter XL: A Mare

Section summary

Alone, Bentinho has a fantasy, and the narrator compares his own imagination to an Iberian mare that conceived by the wind. The idea is to confess to Dona Glória that he loves Capitu and has no vocation, telling her, if she doubts it, about the hairstyle.

Analysis

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Chapter XLI: The Secret Audience

Appearance and RealityReligion

Section summary

Bentinho sees Dr. João da Costa arrive and tells Dona Glória that he wants to speak with her. Alarmed, she checks for fever and takes him to her room. He asks when he goes to the seminary: only next year, returning on Saturdays. He says "I only love Mama," and the narrator notes that he wanted to divert suspicion away from Capitu. He speaks of the vocation he does not feel, and the mother replies that vocation comes with habit, and that she will fulfill the promise. She refuses to ask God to release her from it and sets the entry for the first or second month of the year. As he leaves, Bentinho thinks he sees her nearly leap to his lap to tell him he would not be a priest.

Analysis

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