A Escrava Isaura 3.96 · 3.96

He puts a moral name on it. 'É uma infamia, em que não posso consentir' — it is an outrage I cannot consent to. There is something almost true in his indignation: what Leôncio intends would be an 'infamia', a vile thing, and a decent man ought not to allow it. But the line quietly appoints Henrique the arbiter of what may be done to Isaura, as though her fate were a matter of his conscience rather than her right. He is scandalized on her behalf while courting her against her plain refusals; the same man who calls Leôncio's design an infamy is, in his gentler key, pressing a version of the same claim. Guimarães lets the word 'infamia' sit there, doing double duty.

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