Justice

The historical melodrama, comedy and bourgeois melodrama in which Justice is set fully reflect Camilo Castelo Branco’s ethical and philosophical concerns, his way of looking at the world and the country, customs and the surrounding reality. In Justice, we have a peculiar view of society and customs. On the one hand, the utopia of a society that should be driven by honour and work, the apology of the self-made man who, having risen from poverty, will conquer his space with probity. On the opposite side, the men of marble, hardened hearts, worshippers of the golden calf in a society where man was a wolf to man. From one angle, the social and tribunician turmoil mirrored the aspirations of a class fighting against the impoverished and decadent aristocracy, living off the rusty glory of their coats of arms. From the other, the fight against the ruthless mercantilism of speculative capital that sought to impose on this same bourgeoisie an ethical model that would dignify it.