"Awards" and "punishments" in captivity in comparison of Portugal and Brazil: the relationship between "slaves" and "masters" in theatrical plays of the 18th and 19th centuries

Abstract

This text aims to outline the ways how the relationships established between ‘slaves’ and ‘masters’ were ‘represented’ in Portuguese America (which would later become Brazil) and in Portugal, between the centuries eighteen and nineteen, by interpreting the theatrical plays produced in that period. We recur to the hypothesis that the main ‘survival’ strategy of the slaves in the ‘master’s world’ was the establishment of an ‘impaired’ relationship, a fruit of ‘slavery system’ and of the Old Regime, whose operational functioning basis was the offering of ‘prizes’ (frequently understood as ‘gifts’) and ‘punishments’ (whether physical or symbolic), by the masters to their slaves.