Summary
Summary of Dom Casmurro
Key ideas
Key idea 1
A copied house cannot restore youth
Bento Santiago, a retired lawyer living with few people around him, builds a copy of his childhood home. He wants to join the boy he was to the old man he has become. The decorations return, but the feeling does not: the house cannot bring his former self back.
Instead, he begins telling his story. His jokes and friendly comments invite trust, while his habit of arranging memories raises a question: can describing the past really repair it?
Key idea 2
A loving promise limits Bentinho's future
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Key idea 3
Capitu sees possibilities that Bentinho misses
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Key idea 4
Capitu plans while Bentinho hesitates
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Key idea 5
The seminary brings an unexpected friendship
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Key idea 6
Suspicion changes the meaning of memory
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Key idea 7
Private choices follow public rules
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Key idea 8
Bento's friendly voice invites close scrutiny
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Key idea 9
One voice leaves room for doubt
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The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
Read the rest freeWho it’s for
For readers who love narrators whose words invite close scrutiny, first love, jealousy and the mysteries of memory, and anyone curious about Brazilian literature.
What this book is
Dom Casmurro is a novel by Machado de Assis, published in Brazil in 1899. It is set mostly in Rio de Janeiro in the middle of the nineteenth century, when Brazil was still an empire with slavery and a strong sense of rank. The man who tells the story is Bento Santiago, a lawyer, now old and alone. He says he wants to tie the two ends of his life together and to bring back his youth.
He begins with a small joke. A neighbor once nicknamed him Dom Casmurro, which suggests a man who is closed, silent and stubborn. Bento accepts the name and uses it as his title. Then he builds a house that copies the one he grew up in, and he fills it with memories of a girl named Capitu, who lived next door. What he tells is a love story, but he tells it from far away, with gaps, jokes and talk straight to you.
The book gives you a first love, a family trapped by a promise, and a narrator who wants you to trust him. It is short, and its chapters are brief and quick. It has kept readers arguing for more than a century about what really happened. Let us start with the house that Bento builds, and why he builds it.
In this summary
- 1An old man rebuilds his childhood homeFree
- 2A mother's promise hangs over a boy
- 3The girl next door with the strange eyes
- 4José Dias sounds the alarm
- 5Capitu thinks harder than Bentinho
- 6The seminary and the friend named Escobar
- 7What the book says about jealousy and memory
- 8Class, dependence and Brazilian society
- 9How the story is told and why it unsettles
Key point 1 of 9
An old man rebuilds his childhood home
The story opens in the present, in a quiet suburb of Rio called Engenho Novo. Bento Santiago explains how he got his nickname. On a train, a young neighbor who writes poetry began reading his verses aloud, and Bento fell asleep. When he woke, the young man called him Dom Casmurro in annoyance. Bento says he likes the name and will use it as the title of his book.
He is a retired lawyer who lives with few people around him. His house is not an ordinary one. He has had it built as a copy of the house on Rua de Matacavalos, where he spent his boyhood. He even had the old painted decorations copied, including busts of famous Romans on the walls.
Why do this? Bento says he is trying to join the two ends of his life. He wants the old man he is now to meet the boy he was. Yet he admits at once that the plan has failed. The house looks the same, but he does not feel the same inside it.
This opening teaches you how to read what follows. Bento is writing to fill a loneliness, and he says so, a little slyly. He talks to you as a reader, he jokes about his own habits, and he often stops to comment on his own storytelling. You learn early that he likes to arrange the facts of his life into a pattern.
So the book starts with a man who is calm on the surface and unsettled below. He tells you he is only recalling, and that recalling is a kind of repair. As you read, you may ask whether a person can truly repair the past by describing it. That question follows every chapter.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Check yourself
Why is Bentinho expected to become a priest?
Right. “Before Bentinho was born, Dona Glória lost a child, and she made a vow to God.”Not quite. “Before Bentinho was born, Dona Glória lost a child, and she made a vow to God.”
How does Capitu respond when their future together is threatened?
Right. “She studies the people in the house and asks who can help and who stands in the way.”Not quite. “She studies the people in the house and asks who can help and who stands in the way.”
Why should readers question Bento's account of the past?
Right. “He fills in gaps, he adds his own commentary, and he sometimes confesses that he does not remember a scene well.”Not quite. “He fills in gaps, he adds his own commentary, and he sometimes confesses that he does not remember a scene well.”
Who’s who
- Bento Santiago
- Also called Bentinho, this lawyer narrates his youth, his love for Capitu, and his life within his mother's household.
- Capitu
- Capitolina, called Capitu, is Bentinho's clever childhood neighbor and sweetheart, whose family has less money than his.
- Dona Glória
- Bentinho's devout widowed mother loves her son but has promised to dedicate him to the Church.
- José Dias
- A dependent in Bentinho's household, he offers elaborate advice and warns Dona Glória about her son's attachment to Capitu.
- Escobar
- Bentinho's quick and charming seminary friend prefers business to the priesthood and becomes close to Capitu.
- Tio Cosme
- Bentinho's widowed uncle is a lawyer who lives with Dona Glória and approaches household troubles with easygoing practicality.
- Prima Justina
- A widowed cousin living in Dona Glória's household, she observes her relatives closely and speaks with sharp frankness.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 67,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 4 h 30 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 14 other languages
Questions about Dom Casmurro
What is Dom Casmurro about?
It is the memoir of Bento Santiago, an old Rio lawyer who recalls his boyhood, his love for the neighbor girl Capitu, and a mother's vow to make him a priest. He tells it with irony and doubt.
What does Dom Casmurro mean?
It is a nickname given to Bento by a young neighbor. Casmurro suggests someone closed, silent and stubborn, and Dom is a title of respect. Bento adopts the name with some humor as the title of his book.
Why is Bento called an unreliable narrator?
Bento tells the whole story himself, years later, and admits that memory is imperfect. He also shapes events to support what he believes. Readers must decide how far to trust his view of other people.
When was Dom Casmurro written and is it a true story?
Machado de Assis published it in 1899. It is a work of fiction, set in nineteenth century Rio de Janeiro, though it draws on the real society, customs and city of its time.
Is Dom Casmurro hard to read?
No. Its 148 chapters are short and the language is clear and witty.
