Lucero

A recent effort by literary critics to highlight 19^th century women playwrights’ work has brought fourth plays by the Portuguese Guiomar Torresão (1844-1898) and Brazilian Júlia Lopes de Almeida (1862-1934), several of which had never been published before. This work analyzes A herança (1908) and Vai raiar o sol (2016) by Lopes de Almeida and O fraco da baronesa (2005) by Torresão in order to understand how ambiguity is used to persuade readers/spectators to support women’s cause for equality. In the case of Lopes de Almeida, who had been neglected by 20^th century critics for her lack of support for equality, we find strong female protagonists that are not afraid to challenge their roles in order to find happiness. Torresão’s comedy, on the other hand, brings forward the hypocrisy of upper-class liberals that claimed to support women’s right for equality. All three plays were clearly written with the reader — men — in mind since women counted on their support to entice change.