The Bolsonaro family has gone to great lengths to publicly destroy itself, through loud conspiracies and accusations that turn privacy into political action, for good and for ill. Samuel Johnson, an 18th-century British thinker, said that characters in Shakespeare’s plays epitomize “the progeny of humanity,” lacking “any relevant human type or feeling.” Like him, many of our Shakespeare experts like to compare his characters to Brazilian politicians, as our politics also embraces a “Brazilian lineage,” with parliamentarians representing the diversity of the electorate. Starting with Bolsonaro himself.
Using the comments of friends who are experts on Shakespeare, such as the economist Gustavo Franco and the lawyer and writer José Roberto Castro Neves, who donated their time to enlighten friends like me on the ins and outs of the Master from Stratford-upon-Avon, I cannot resist comparing the Bolsonaro family to that of King Lear, even though the latter was made up of female daughters, and the former was made up of male daughters. The Bolsonaro family tragedy has Shakespearean overtones, as the former Brazilian president vies for the affection of his children by pitting them against each other. But, from time to time, with ulterior motives, the three oldest come together to fend off “interested parties.”
Like now. So they decided to unite against their stepmother, Michelle, who began spreading her wings to fly higher towards the presidency. Then-Minister Gustavo Bibiano was removed from Bolsonaro due to a plot by Carlos Zero Two. Who will be our Shakespeare’s Cordelia Chanchada? The third daughter, who is no sycophant, ends up being banished in favor of the other two, the more ambitious, Goneril and Regan.
Congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro, who went to the United States with the mission of convincing the Trump government to free his father from the clutches of Minister Alexandre de Moraes, tried to pretend to be the son working for his father without being recognized. After being accused of getting his father in trouble over the trade sanctions story, Eduardo spoke out, even cursing his father in a phone call. Cordelia wouldn’t do that.
Bolsonaro, like King Lear, only takes into account those who appreciate and accept him as he is. He stops deciding on the right-wing candidate for the presidency because he is still unable to accept that it is not him. As the Jester said to King Lear:
-You shouldn’t have grown up before you became wise.
Unfortunately, Brazil finds itself involved with two similarly defined political leaders, fooling themselves into feeling that they are still treading water.
There are also examples of Shakespearean characters who resemble Bolsonaro’s flaws, such as masculinity and resentment. Coriolano also wears an image of Bolsonaro. He had intense resentment towards the political elite that overlooked him despite his heroism. He was the aggressive intruder. Angelo, the hypocritical puritan in “Measure for Measure,” harasses the nun Isabella into not executing her brother. Petruchio, in The Taming of the Shrew, attempts to control Catharina, “brusque, angry and willful,” and, finally, tames her with brutality—both characters suggest masculinity. Michel Bolsonaro is living (or reliving) this situation.
The play ends with the subjugated shrew’s confession of inferiority: – The same duty that binds servant to king, binds husband to wife. And when she is obstinate, insolent, bitter, unresponsive, disobedient to his just commands, what then is she if not rebellious, disreputable, disloyal, unworthy of the favor of her master and lover?
This is what Bolsonaro’s three eldest sons alleged against Michel. The stepmother also claims that she followed Jair’s instructions when she criticized Ceará PL’s agreement with government candidate Ciro Gomez.