Adpf 779 e a desconstrução da legítima defesa da honra: uma análise sob a perspectiva de otelo e desdêmona

Abstract

The monograph aims to critically analyze the thesis of the “legitimate defense of honor,” historically invoked in Brazilian courts as a justification for homicides committed against women, especially in crimes of passion. To this end, the study takes as its starting point the decision of the Federal Supreme Court in the Arguição de Descumprimento de Preceito Fundamental (ADPF) nº 779, which declared the thesis unconstitutional for violating the principles of human dignity and gender equality. The research seeks to understand the historical, legal, and symbolic foundations that have sustained this argument, examining male honor as a legal good and a social value rooted in a patriarchal culture. Accordingly, an interdisciplinary approach between Law and Literature is adopted, using William Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello as an interpretative basis to illustrate the construction of honor and the legitimization of violence against women. Thus, the study concludes that although ADPF 779 represents a legal and symbolic milestone in the defense of women’s rights, its effectiveness depends on broader cultural and hermeneutical transformations capable of breaking with patriarchal paradigms still present in society and legal institutions.