A Portuguese knight in a savage's body
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— Não há dúvida, disse D. Antônio de Mariz, na sua cega dedicação por Cecília quis fazer-lhe a vontade com risco de vida. É para mim uma das coisas mais admiráveis que tenho visto nesta terra, o caráter desse índio. Desde o primeiro dia que aqui entrou, salvando minha filha, a sua vida tem sido um só ato de abnegação e heroísmo. Crede-me, Álvaro, é um cavalheiro português no corpo de um selvagem!
— No doubt, said D. Antônio de Mariz, in his blind devotion to Cecília he wanted to do her will at the risk of his life. To me it is one of the most admirable things I have seen in this land — the character of that Indian. From the first day he entered here, saving my daughter, his life has been one single act of self-denial and heroism. Believe me, Álvaro: he is a Portuguese knight in the body of a savage!
— No doubt, said D. Antônio de Mariz, in his blind devotion to Cecília he wanted to do her will at the risk of his life. To me it is one of the most admirable things I have seen in this land, the character of that Indian. From the first day he entered here, saving my daughter, his life has been one single act of self-denial and heroism. Believe me, Álvaro, he is a Portuguese knight in the body of a savage!
The novel's famous verdict on Peri — 'a Portuguese knight in the body of a savage.' It is D. Antônio's highest praise and the book's whole thesis: nobility is of the soul, not the blood. Yet the phrase measures Peri by a European yardstick — the generous limit of Alencar's 1857 vision, honoring the Indian by making him a knight.
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