The Old Man of Restelo

[1] The Old Man of Restelo is variously interpreted as a symbol of pessimism, or as representing those who did not believe in the likely success of the then upcoming Portuguese voyages of discovery.

There seems to be a contradiction between the writing of a large epic on maritime expeditions, in which there was a clear enthusiasm for the undertaking, and, on the other hand, the fear and pessimism that emerges in this speech and certain other passages in the work.

[6][7] Historian Sanjay Subrahmanyam lists different possible interpretations of the passage: that Camões was criticizing the degenerated moral state of the Portuguese empire in the East in his own time; that he was utilizing a standard theme of nostalgia for Portuguese agrarian life as opposed to its "destiny overseas" (Subrahmanyam considers this less likely); or that Camões was merely acknowledging the historical reality that overseas expansion had its opponents in Portugal in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries.

[6] Subsequent allusions in Portuguese to the Old Man of Restelo have tended to portray him in a negative light – as a "doubting Thomas", not as a "Cassandra" who expresses apposite cautions.

[2] For example, in a speech in 2013, the Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said that Brazil would not have been discovered (by Europeans) if "the Old Man of Restelo had prevailed at that time, on that beach, there on the Tagus in Lisbon.