A Escrava Isaura 9.28 · 9.28

The complaint completes the inversion: he casts himself as the one deprived, Isaura as the withholder who 'recusas obstinadamente a felicidade.' 'Obstinadamente,' obstinately, does to her virtue what 'teimasse' did in Chapter VIII — renames steadfast refusal as mere stubbornness. And 'só tu me poderias dar,' only you could give it, flatters even as it pressures, making his desire her unique gift to bestow. The whole speech relocates the wrong from the man who demands to the woman who denies.

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