In his will, the Conselheiro has recognized a natural daughter, previously unknown to both Estácio and his aunt Dona Úrsula, with whom he shares the family home.
While Estácio grows increasingly more fond of his half-sister, Helena in a series of events succeeds in also winning the affection of the stern Dona Úrsula.
In Machado de Assis’ earlier, romanticist, works the role of the female figure is an important and persistent theme.
Helena is, in many ways, a transitional character between the fading aristocratic values of the landed oligarchy and the emergent urban middle class.
Opposed to the aristocratic values which tended towards idle beauty and adornment, the new ethic prized industry and domestic utility in the female figure.
[6] Realism, along with Naturalism which Machado de Assis disdained, supplanted Romanticism as the pre-eminent novelistic form of the final two decades of the 19th century.
[7] His romantic novels: Ressurreição, A Mão e Luva, Helena and Iaiá Garcia have seen some growth in critical interest but are generally considered inferior.