Maternal Sacrifice and Social Illusion: Plot, Character, and Symbolism in José de Alencar’s Mãe

José de Alencar’s theatrical play Mãe (“Mother”) occupies a distinctive position within nineteenth-century Brazilian literature. While Alencar is frequently associated with Indianist novels and the project of national romanticism, Mãe reveals his engagement with social melodrama and moral realism, particularly in relation to family, class hierarchy, and slavery. First staged in 1860, the play dramatizes the tragic consequences of social prejudice through the figure of Joana, an enslaved woman who suppresses her maternal identity to preserve her son’s social status and future. Through its plot structure, symbolic characterization, and ideological tension, Mãe exposes the contradictions of a society of yesteryear that venerates motherhood while denying its humanity to enslaved women. This essay (my 518th post in Reflective Online Teaching) analyzes the plot, central and secondary characters, and symbolic framework of Mãe, drawing on Romantic melodrama and realist social critique to demonstrate how Alencar transforms private sacrifice into a collective moral indictment.

Plot Structure and Moral Progression

Alencar’s Mãe follows a melodramatic structure consistent with what Peter Brooks (1976) terms the “moral legibility” of melodrama, in which ethical conflict is heightened to render injustice visible. The plot centers on Jorge, a young man striving for social respectability, and Joana, his enslaved mother, whose maternity must remain hidden for him to circulate freely within a rigidly stratified society. The concealment of Joana’s identity functions as the play’s primary dramatic tension, shaping both its emotional trajectory and its ethical stakes.

The author delays the revelation of Joana’s maternity, allowing the audience to experience the cost of silence before its consequences emerge. This narrative strategy aligns with Antonio Candido’s (1975) observation that Alencar often privileges gradual moral exposure over sudden revelation though the spectator or the reader already knows the character’s internal drama. The climax of the play occurs not through confrontation but through erasure: Joana chooses death rather than disclosure, preserving her son’s social standing at the expense of her own existence. While this resolution conforms to Romantic tragedy, it simultaneously gestures toward realist critique. As Roberto Schwarz (2000) argues, Brazilian literary narratives of this period frequently expose how personal virtue is mobilized to stabilize unjust social structures.

Joana and the Symbolism of Silenced Motherhood

Joana is the ethical and symbolic core of Mãe. Although socially marginalized, this characters embodies the play’s highest moral value: unconditional maternal love. Her motherhood, however, is both biologically undeniable and socially inadmissible. This contradiction situates Joana within what Gilbert and Gubar (1979) describe as the literary tradition of silenced women whose virtue is expressed through self-negation rather than agency.

Symbolically, Joana represents the enslaved mother whose humanity must remain invisible for the social harmony of her son to persist. Alencar avoids portraying her as rebellious; instead, her dignity lies in endurance and restraint. This aligns with Romantic idealizations of moral purity, yet it also exposes their limits. As Alfredo Bosi (1992) notes, Alencar often elevates individual ethics while leaving oppressive systems intact, creating a dissonance between moral sentiment and social transformation. Joana’s death thus functions not as redemption but as indictment. Her disappearance confirms Roland Barthes’s (1972) notion of characters as cultural signs: Joana signifies the cost of maintaining social illusion.

Jorge and the Illusion of Merit

Jorge embodies the fragile ideal of social merit. Unlike Romantic heroes defined by moral autonomy, Jorge’s respectability depends on his ignorance regarding who his mother was or is. His social position is made possible by the suppression of his origins, revealing what Terry Eagleton (1996) describes as ideology’s capacity to conceal its own foundations. Jorge’s suffering upon learning the truth does not equal Joana’s loss; rather, it underscores the asymmetry of sacrifice within hierarchical systems.

Jorge’s trajectory illustrates Candido’s (1987) claim that Brazilian Romanticism often dramatizes personal conflicts that mirror collective moral failures people in different social sphere avoid discussing or making visible. His apparent mobility exposes the illusion of merit in a society structured by lineage and race. He does not actively oppress Joana, yet he benefits from her erasure, making him a passive participant in systemic injustice.

Secondary Characters as Ideological Agents

While Joana and Jorge anchor the emotional core of Mãe, secondary characters such as Dr. Lima, Peixoto, Sr. Gomes, and Elisa function as ideological agents who sustain the social order the tragedy depends upon and describes for the reader or drama viewer. Rather than serving as antagonists, they embody the mechanisms through which injustice is normalized in that period of history.

Dr. Lima represents institutional rationality and enlightened authority. Educated and compassionate, he recognizes suffering but never challenges its causes. His interventions are pragmatic rather than transformative, exemplifying what Eagleton (1996) identifies as bourgeois humanism: ethical concern without structural critique. Dr. Lima reassures the audience and the readers that the social system he is part of is reasonable and fair, even as it destroys Joana.

Peixoto, by contrast, symbolizes utilitarian adaptation. He understands the social rules governing legitimacy and navigates them opportunistically. His moral flexibility reveals how injustice persists not through cruelty but through convenience. Peixoto exposes the transactional logic underlying social survival in a slaveholding society.

Sr. Gomes embodies patriarchal law and the authority of appearances. His judgments are rooted in lineage, honor, and social legitimacy rather than ethical substance. He functions as a gatekeeper of respectability, illustrating why Joana’s truth must remain unspeakable. For Sr. Gomes, morality is genealogical, not humane. Sr. Gomes appears as a puppet of the enslaving system all the characters live in.

Elisa represents conditional love shaped by social conformity. While affectionate and sincere, her feelings for Jorge are constrained by class ideology. Elisa reveals how women may simultaneously suffer under and reinforce patriarchal norms. Her character demonstrates that even romantic affection operates within rigid social boundaries, reinforcing Lukács’s (1971) concept of “typical characters” whose private lives reflect broader social contradictions.

Together, these characters form an ideological chorus: Dr. Lima rationalizes, Peixoto negotiates, Sr. Gomes legitimizes, and Elisa normalizes. Joana’s death is not caused by a single villain but by a system in which everyone fulfills their role.

Maternal Sacrifice and Social Critique

The title Mãe foregrounds motherhood as both sacred and problematic. Alencar elevates maternal love while exposing how society denies full motherhood to enslaved women. This paradox aligns with Adrienne Rich’s (1976) distinction between motherhood as institution and motherhood as lived experience. Joana lives motherhood as devotion and loss, while society instrumentalizes it to preserve order.

Silence emerges as a central motif. Joana’s silence protects Jorge but annihilates her identity, suggesting that social harmony is achieved through moral erasure. The play thus transforms melodrama into critique, revealing the ethical cost of maintaining appearances.

Conclusion

Mãe stands as one of José de Alencar’s most ethically complex dramatic works. Through its melodramatic structure, symbolic characterization, and ideological tension, the play exposes the contradictions of nineteenth-century Brazilian society regarding slavery, class, and motherhood. Joana’s sacrifice reveals the human cost of social illusion, while Jorge and the secondary characters demonstrate how injustice is sustained through normalization rather than cruelty. Positioned between Romantic sentiment and realist critique, Mãe compels readers and audiences to confront the moral foundations of respectability itself.

San José, Costa Rica

Saturday, January 24, 2026

📚 References

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Candido, A. (1987). Literature and society. Edusp.
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Gilbert, S. M., & Gubar, S. (1979). The madwoman in the attic. Yale University Press.
Lukács, G. (1971). The theory of the novel. MIT Press.
Rich, A. (1976). Of woman born. W. W. Norton.
Schwarz, R. (2000). Misplaced ideas. Verso.