Abstract
Marocas, a character in the short story, "A Singular Occurrence," inscribes herself in the line of Machado de Assis’s intriguing female characters. Although her profession is not stated by the text, it urges the reader to find out by the process of elimination. Marocas leaves her profession to dedicate herself to a married man. Everything "seems" to be fine until the night her lover is absent and she seeks another man. Everything "seems" to be fine, because the reader becomes acquainted with her story by reading the dialogue between two men talking on a street corner in Rio de Janeiro. The character is filtered by this dialogue. The purpose of this article is to discuss the construction of the character and based on this construct consider what it tells us about the dialoguing men. The discussion is premised on Lacan's ideas, especially on desire.
woman; desire; clothing; look; "Singular ocorrência"