The Tears of Xerxes

Born of Machado de Assis's celebrated irony, "The Tears of Xerxes" revisits the iconic scene of Romeo and Juliet's wedding through the lens of the famous episode involving the Persian emperor Xerxes I. By intertwining classical tradition and Shakespearean literature, Machado de Assis constructs a narrative that casts a melancholic and tragic gaze upon the fate of the celebrated lovers.