THE SACRIFICIAL MYTH IN THE BLINDNESS

Abstract

In the Blindness, the greatest sufferings in the world where vision has been destroyed are suffered by women, even though one of them is (apparently) spared from blindness. This critical-interpretative reading seeks to elucidate the reasons for this, which is called the sacrificial myth. Two episodes are essential to the development of discussions anchored in the theory of sacrifice (Mauss & Hubert, 2017; Girard 2002, 2004 and 2011), of the symbol (Chevalier & Gheerbrant, 2022) and of the myth (Barthes, 2003): the gang rape of women culminating in the tragic end of the blind woman suffering from insomnia; and the self-immolation of the woman with the lighter in the passage between the world limited by the labyrinths of the asylum and the unlimited world of the disfigured city. This reaffirms the singularity of Saramago's feminine as a non-dichotomy of the masculine and a certain attempt at a realistic approach by highlighting the historical condition to which women were subjected in relation to men.