FLORBELA ESPANCA E GILKA MACHADO: LILITHS DA MODERNIDADE

Abstract

This work aims at analyzing the myth of Lilith as it is represented in the poems of Florbela Espanca and Gilka Machado. This myth has distant origins and it is associated with the creation mythology, representing the first demonstration of female refractoriness before the male domain. Lilith has the individualized female ego qualities and, in literature, she is interesting for us because of her efforts for the affirmation of feminine rights for freedom and pleasure. She is the
symbol of a woman that pays the price for being different, losing herself and giving up her love.
Espanca and Machado have showed this feeling in a poetry that induces us to think about the unhappy destiny that goes along with women that break up with social rules. I will analyze, in the
light of the myth, poems of the book Livro de mágoas written by Espanca, and Cristais partidos by Machado. Both poets show a strong adhesion to the symbols and respect for the formal tradition, associated with an extremely subjective contestation and indignation with the condition of being considered as “damn women”, like Lilith.