As imagens da personificação do Mal no Canto XXXIV da Divina Comédia e no conto A Igreja do Diabo.

Abstract

The Devil, as a theological entity, engross a highlight place in the western imaginary. But no less relevant is his status as a fictional character, which enabled the establishment of a vast iconography and different configurations for the embodiment of evil. In the literary productions elaborated between the Middle Ages and the Modern Age, Satan went through a constant process of mutation as the society itself progressed, politically and culturally. Satanic iconography was conceived from a inaccurate notion offered by the Bible, then, it was left to artists and writers to create and reinvent the features and a personality of the fallen angel. Dante Alighieri, author of one of the most expressive descriptions of Hell and of the Devil in his Divine Comedy (1307-1321), gives to the figure a monstrous shape and a gigantic physical structure but, at the same time, devoid of freedom and cognition. Another narrative that puts Satan as the protagonist is the short story A Igreja do Diabo (1884), written by Machado de Assis, who sets him free and deeply motivated to turn over all christian moral rules and establish a true upside down world. In this way, the present work aims to comparatively analyze these two representations, enlightened by figural interpretation and the Bakhtin's theories of parody/carnavalization, with the intention of identifying in which aspects they are similar and at what point they are far from each other. Thus, we rely on authors who have followed the footsteps left by the rebel angel in Western narratives and traced an overview of the origins and trajectory of this mythical creature, having as theoretic references the researches of some historians (LINK, 1998; MUCHEMBLED, 2001; NOGUEIRA, 1986). Next, we explain what motives led us to select the texts of Dante Alighieri and Machado de Assis as objects of analysis. From the theoretical-methodological perspective, this is a bibliographic research, from a exploratory type and with a qualitative approach. And with this research, we expect to add to the field of studies dedicated to identifying the Dante’s references in all works written by Machado; and through the historical and cultural profile of Devil’s figure, we hope to help realize in which ways this entity has became a free concept to be developed in the poetic and inventive writing’s style from who offers to represent a being that carries the maleficent essence.