Bentinho leaves the seminary at seventeen, by a solution that is not his own. Dona Glória's vow is not undone: it is discharged by a substitute.
The exit appears from two sides. José Dias proposes taking Bentinho to Rome, so that the pope may release Dona Glória from the commitment. Escobar suggests another: she would fulfill the vow by giving the Church an orphan, ordained at her expense, and the son would be free. Dona Glória agrees after Father Cabral, having consulted the bishop, says the exchange is valid.
Free of the cassock, Bentinho studies law, graduates as a bachelor of laws at twenty-two, and returns to marry Capitu. The book shows that, in this passage, he is passive: both ways out come from others, from José Dias and from Escobar.