Literary Style in “The House of Bernarda Alba”: Reality and Poetry
Style in “The House of Bernarda Alba”: Reality and Poetry
To understand the style of “The House of Bernarda Alba,” we must examine the combination of two key elements: reality and poetry. Lorca integrates his poetic language into the characters’ speech, creating a colloquial language that feels real and spontaneous. The play seamlessly blends Lorca’s poetry with colloquialisms, Andalusian expressions, and even insults.
A) Language: A Symposium of Styles
1) Insults, Curses, and Threats
Examples include: “Nail bad you fucking sore eyes!” and “And chiton! We’ll see!”
2) Slang
Slang is primarily used by Poncia and reflects her lower social status. For example: “are more than two hours of gori-gori.”
3) Andalusian Expressions
An example is: “do not be like small children.”
4) Rural and Peasant Speech
This includes using the noun “mother” without the article.
5) Proverbs, Idioms, and Popular Sayings
For example: “Your mother is tough as nails.”
6) Author’s Invention or Adaptation of Sayings
For example: “Better an ounce on the ark black eyes in the face.”
7) Salutations
The maids address Bernarda as “your,” and the daughters do the same.
8) Insinuations, Allusions, Hints, and Double Meanings
The characters accuse each other or a third party through vague innuendo. Adela and Martirio also use allusions and insinuations to accuse each other in the presence of their mother or sisters.
B) Poetic Language: Literary Figures
The characters’ speech blends colloquial language, slang, popular expressions, and proverbs with refined literary figures. Some of the literary figures used include:
1) Comparisons
For example: “have fingers like five picks” (check the text for exact quote).
2) Images and Metaphors
The house is identified with a convent, representing the seclusion of five women, all under the feminine authority, like a lock on that prison, suffering from war, violence, hatred, and infighting.
3) Hyperboles
Hyperboles are sometimes combined with metaphors. For example: “fire came out from the land,” “crop between flares,” “with the strength of my little finger.”
4) Parallelism
Semantic parallelism or repetition of the same idea in several different places.
- a) Parallels concerning the wickedness of Martirio and her dramatic function to stop the relationship between Pepe and Adela.
- b) Parallelism in the expression of strength and passion of Adela.
Another fundamental poetic element used in the work is symbolism. A single symbol may refer to several terms. For example, the moon is associated with fertility, beauty, death, and eroticism, depending on the context. Other symbols include flowers (red flowers and green fan, flowers in their hair), water, and sheep.
Then comes the symbolic value of colors, with a contrast between white and black:
- The walls are white but lose intensity as the play progresses.
- Shawls and fans are black.
- The sheets are white, sewn and embroidered.
- Lace for the wedding is white.
- Dark and black.
- White stallion.
- Maria Josefa’s hair is white, and the sheep is too white.
White is used to symbolize life, joy, love, and freedom, while black accentuates sadness, hatred, repression, and death.
….. VALUE OF SYMBOLS IN THE HOUSE OF B. ………..
….. SPEAK THE LANGUAGE OF CHARACTERS ………..