Lorca’s Theater: Exploring Themes of Freedom and Love
Lorca’s Theater: Themes of Freedom and Love
Lorca’s theater is characterized by seeking new forms and the rejection of traditional theater. He believed theater had the obligation to provide the public with the possibility of moral evidence, addressing old or mistaken ideas and exploring examples of the heart and living standards. Man’s feelings, according to Lorca, should not be a mere show for entertainment but a place where people’s lives are reflected. Lorca achieved this purpose through a treatment evident in his works. Principles clash between freedom and authority, reflected in a series of symbols that characterize the poetic language used by Lorca, as his poetic drama is primarily filled with deep lyricism that reinforces the dramatic conflict. He began writing theater almost from the beginning of his literary career, and his dramatic work went through different stages:
Symbolist and Poetic Drama
The early works of Lorca show some influence of modernist poetic drama. “The Curse of the Butterfly” (1920) is a symbolic drama in verse which introduces the theme of impossible love due to social conventions. The work is similar to his “Book of Poems,” released in 1927. “Mariana Pineda” recreates the figure of a Granada heroine who was convicted during the reign of Fernando VII. Through the recreation of historical facts, the love story highlights the failure of love and freedom, a recurring theme in his later works, and incorporates elements of theater scenery, poetic language, and music.
Farces
Lorca wrote four pieces that can be considered farces: “The Puppets of BlackJack or Tragicomedy of Sena, Christopher and Christopher Rosita” (1923), “The Prodigious Shoemaker’s Wife,” and “Love of Don Perlimplín with Belisa in the Garden.” The first two deal with the issue of marriage of convenience and the triumph of true love, as do the other two works, but they focus on the age difference between the couple. Ultimately, the problem is not about love.
Surrealist Plays
Written during the era when he composed “Poet in New York,” these works are filled with symbolism. None of these plays were staged during Lorca’s lifetime, as he realized that the theater and the public were not ready to understand them. The public was kept in a manuscript of 193, which was not the final version, and gave it to his friend Rafael Martinez Nadal when he went to Granada in the summer of 1936. Nadal published it in 1970. The work shows the need for new theater that tells the truth about human feelings, love, freedom, and homosexuality. “When Five Years Pass” (1931) is a surreal drama about the passing of time and intimate frustration.
Tragedies
Lorca’s tragedies are his most mature works. “Blood Wedding” (1933) presents a wedding where passion and love end in tragedy. It has parts written in verse and lyrical drama reminiscent of Lope de Vega. “Yerma” (1934) deals with the sterility of a woman who wishes above all things to have children and refuses to accept her fate, ending negatively with the murder of her barren husband. It also uses songs and choruses, presenting women in the style of Greek tragedies. “The House of Bernarda Alba” forces Bernarda, her daughters, and her mother to confront each other, representing social power and the suppression of female sexuality. In this confrontation, the desire for freedom emerges. The tragedy ends with the defeat of the girls’ desires. This work is the most stripped of poetic elements. Lorca mentioned that he was writing a trilogy called “The Destruction of Sodom,” of which these two plays would form the first part, but the third part is either lost or was never made known.
“Dona Rosita the Spinster, or the Language of Flowers” (1935), due to the date in which it was written, is a little outside the theater he was doing at the time. This “Granada poem” is also about freedom and unfulfilled love, repressed by social conventions. The woman has a dependent life and needs family and a husband to live.