Dom Casmurro, the hero of the novel of the same name by Machado d'Assis, develops, after the death of his friend Escobar, the paranoid delusion that Escobar was the paramour of his wife and father of his child. This is taken to be a manifestation of a homosexual attachment to Escobar. Support for this understanding may be found in Dom Casmurro's fatherless childhood and other life circumstances, as well as the style, imagery, and minor themes in the novel.