Com as mãos nuas : teatro, boxe e masculinidades no século XIX

What does happen when the performance of box encounters the drama performance? The mixture among these two diverse types of enactments has been explored in the literature and in drama plays since the early 19th century. This paper looks at an obscure play that was performed in the UK and in the USA in the late 1890s discuss how box and masculinity were performed on the stages during those times. On those days 'bare knuckles' fights were the norm and professional prize-fighters used to have an entourage of trainers to sustain their fights. Our analysis reveals that prize-fighters who dominated the fighting scene on those times disseminated a particular form of hegemonic masculinity that had other submissive and weaker men around them. Their masculinity was impregnated by a code of honour and loyalty that saw them avoiding violence that was not strictly related to their prize-fighting activities. On the other hand, the new masculinities that arose on the period questioned and found cracks in the fragile masculine construct of the prize-fighter.