The empty brain, the rotten soul
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Mas o peor era, que se trazia o cerebro vazio, voltava com a alma corrompida e o coração estragado por habitos de devassidão e libertinagem.
But the worst was, that if he carried an empty brain, he came back with a corrupted soul and a heart ruined by habits of debauchery and libertinism.
But the worst of it was that if he carried an empty brain, he came back with a corrupted soul and a heart ruined by habits of debauchery and libertinism.
The three nouns are laid out like a verdict: 'cerebro vazio', empty brain; 'alma corrompida', corrupted soul; 'coração estragado', ruined heart. And they answer, term for term, the woman two chapters back. Isaura was given a heart 'sómente para penar', only to suffer; Leôncio brings home one 'estragado', spoiled. Her soul was the 'alma solitaria e soffredora' of the smothered moan; his is 'corrompida'. Guimarães is composing them as a matched, opposite pair — the same organs, filled by opposite lives — and the word he ends on is 'libertinagem', libertinism, quietly loading the gun: the ruined heart and the licentious habit are about to be turned, with all the power of ownership behind them, on the woman with the suffering one.
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