A Escrava Isaura 9.41 · 9.41

Here the twist begins in earnest. Leôncio explains away the mother's failure to free Isaura as love: she withheld freedom 'com o receio de perder-te,' for fear of losing her. It is a self-serving reinterpretation — the mother's own stated wish (Chapter VIII) was to free Isaura at her death — but it lays the groundwork for his argument that keeping Isaura is itself a form of love, and so his own possession of her can wear the same disguise.

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