The ideal and the real: a ironic approach to the short story “Noite de almirante”

Abstract

This assignment proposes to study the short story of Machado de Assis called “Noite de almirante”, approaching it under an ironic perspective, based mainly on the notion defended by a line of thought known as “romantic irony”, which has as one of its characteristics the view that the human condition would be constantly subject to ambiguity. It is originated by everything that is desired as ideal and of what can be in fact obtained in the real plan. For this study, the main theoretical foundation used was the work Ironia e irônico by Muecke, that exposes the evolution of the concept of irony throughout the time and presents the main characteristics of “romantic irony”, under a viewpoint on which the analysis of the machadian short story was carried out. In “Noite de almirante”, the approach of the short story under an ironic perspective leads us to believe that the intention of Machado de Assis was to utilize the amorous misadventure of his character, Deolindo Venta-Grande, to evidence - but without the need of expressing opinions - all the imperfection of human nature, with its vanity, its selfishness, its illusions and contradictions, that make that life to be constantly intermingled by ambiguities.