Blimunda and Baltasar’s relationship with contemporary marriage
The memorial work of the convent, written by José Saramago, published in the year of 1982, is one of the works of greatest importance of the writer, which has stood out in great magnitude, achieving the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1998. The work due to its content can be classified as a historical novel, it can also be a social novel, where the author’s critical vision is shown on aspects of global importance, the story that takes place in the work is located inThe reign of Juan V Monarch Portuguese that the throne happened in 1681, the same that orders the construction of a Franciscan convent in Mafra, to obtain succession. The development of the work revolves around the construction of convent, where the author is responsible for incorporating several characters that give sense of history which are Baltasar, Blimunda and Father Bartolomeu Lourenço, who at the same time focus on the Construction of the Passarola, a flying machine that had certain complexities which the father knew very well to drive, having as main help to Baltasar and Blimunda who were one, they worked with some complementation that made them unique and different from the rest of the relationships That they developed in the time they lived, the relationship of these characters goes beyond love is deeper than simple speculations of being a couple, in itself the author implies their vision of a conjugal relationship through symbols that presents during the narration of the work, allowing the reader to discover the criticality of his thinking, resulting in a temporary contrast where he clearly sees l Contemporary marriage as the ideal form of coexistence, the same that develops in a very little flexible time before the matter.
The author to show his sidewalk vision of the relationship that Blimunda and Baltasar develop in the work makes use of symbology, a resource that “… represents or suggests another absent reality in the text. The symbol can be born from a logical, historical, emotional or similarity association. (Harlan, 2016) ”, which helps interpret the author’s criteria on a certain subject, this rhetorical figure can also be polysemic, which occurs when the same word or linguistic sign has several meanings or meanings. Saramago begins using this resource, in the line of action where the two characters become only one marriage, so that the fundamental part of one and the other will become complementing with some accuracy, which was not so common at that time.
“… He waited for Baltasar to end to use his spoon, it was as if quiet were answering another question, you accept the spoon for your mouth that this man’s mouth has served, making his own what was yours, returningNow to be yours, what was from him, and that so many times until the sense of yours and mine is lost, and as Blimunda had already said that if before being asked, then, I declare you married. Father Bartolomeu Lourenço I wait for Blimund to eat the soups that were left, I take the blessing, covering with her person, food and spoon, the lap, the fire, the candle, the soil mat, the Baltasar stump (Saramago, 2015, p. 37) ".
During this scene, Saramago seems to show us a religious ritual, however, when analyzing each symbolic element that shows us, this ceremony can be determined as pagan, because no element belonging to what its culture demands is not governed, it isTo say is outside the religious and cultural field that its society demanded, beginning with the replacement of the Eucharistic bread with soup, the rings by the domestic utensils, the Church by the humble inn, which comes to represent the authenticity and independence of the issuescultural that these two have, where they only import their relative desires and not personal interests, which if it was predominated in the context in which they are.
During the 18th century marriage was seen as a class and prestige representation, “convenience marriages were the most usual at that time. With them, it was possible to keep the social estates, the family rank and honor. (Soto, 2019) ". Likewise, another of the central axes that predominated was the procreation, offspring and opinion of society, because the more children, the greatest prestige was, likewise the relationship they maintained was very contradictory to what we see today in amarriage, because for that century it was normal for the individual space between the couple, their bedrooms were separated and each of them had their own cabinet where after the cleaning they could receive visits. Each space allowed a completely independent life, which demonstrates the clear personal distancing between them.
That is why Saramago by capturing these two characters in the work, establishes a temporary contrast, where the couple develops with certain peculiarities belonging to contemporaneity, despite being in the 18th century, because both as Blimunda and Baltasar hadForgotten their personal interests, procreation as a principle, and social status, they only showed themselves with their wishes without giving importance to the judgment that society would generate on them, marking in the story a liberal and unparalleled love,
“Sietesoles de nicodo, if he deserves so much fatigue, but it is a constant sun for this woman, not because he always shines, but because there is, hidden from clouds, covered with eclipses, but alive, holy God, and opens his arms, who, he opens them to her, she opens them to him, both are the mafra scandal, which thus grab in the public square, and with plenty of age, perhaps they have never had children, or maybe they look moreYoung people of what they are, poor blind, or these two human beings may be that as they are seen, that is the most difficult way to see, now that they are together to our eyes they are able to see that they have become beautiful(Saramago, 2015) ".
We can clearly see the temporary contrast that exists in this scene, because the development and transformation through which they have passed, starting with an accelerated marriage that led them to relate more Afondo, so that their personalities would adjust to each other until they becomeIn that contemporary couple, out of place, advanced to their time, they are nothing more than a scandal in Mafra, known for their well -appropriate and common behavior that makes them unique and different from the rest, as well as another aspect that Saramago shows contemporary love of loveThey had, they are, the compartment of joys, sorrows and needs, because they were already one, their goal revolved around helping to build the Passarola, individual interests did not exist, “the great sadness of Baltasar and Blimunda is not to have aNetwork that can be thrown to the stars, and bring here the ether that holds them (Saramago, 2015, p. 67) ". We can see how his concern was one everything focused on the work they performed within the construction of Passarola, showing us that there was no common individual space that at that time marriages were accustomed to projecting.
From the different points exposed, it can be said that Saramago had great expectations of contemporary marriage, and as it should be, free and without schemes, such as Blimunda and Baltasar, regardless of society’s judgment on them, byTherefore, he was responsible for capturing his work through different literary resources being one of these symbology, with which he shows the clear vision of different social aspects that influence a conjugal relationship, such as the religious and cultural context, providing theopportunity that the reader can interpret their thoughts and ideals on the subject, placing the couple out of time generating contrasts with the sevenwhich can be sought the depth of the different perspectives on the critical vision that has been reflected in his work.
Bibliographic references
- Harlan, c. (August 31, 2016). Spanish About. Obtained from symbol: https: // www.aboutespanol.com/Symbol-2207007
- Saramago, j. (2006). Convent memorial. Lisbon: Geminis.LTDA.
- Soto, m. M. (June 30, 2019). Marriage and women in the 18th century. Obtained from marriage and women in the 18th century: https: // www.UGR.es/~ inveliterary/pdf/marriage%20y%20la%20mujer%20en%20el%20siglo%20xviii.PDF
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