The construction of female characters in the strings of Maria das Neves Batista Pimentel

Abstract

Maria das Neves Batista Pimentel was the first woman to rupture the masculine hegemony present in the universe of "Cordel" literature in the first half of the 20th Century. In a society which limited the feminine experience and action, it was natural that women reproduced the current thought, especially the patriarchal precepts, as they were rooted in the education they received since they were born. Thus the writer also repeated in her verses the behavioural standards that were imposed on her. The honoured behaviour, pure and virtuous, was expected from a "real woman" and those who did not act this way, disrespecting many patriarchal rules, would be condemned to several misfortunes and disdain from society. We try to demonstrate in this article how the poetess corroborated with this ideology in her three published "cordeis", analyzing how the feminine characters were portrayed in her verses.