Reality, Poetry, and Themes in The House of Bernarda Alba

Posted on Feb 20, 2025 in Latin

Reality and Poetry in The House of Bernarda Alba

In The House of Bernarda Alba, Lorca combines reality and poetry. The work transcends the boundaries of realism. However, characters, situations, and space are all viewed from a poetic dimension: exaggeration, the marked differences between old Angus and Pepe among the Romans, and the structuring of the work. We see a level of poetization of reality. Lorca’s greatest merit is having integrated poetic language into the speech of the characters, making it seem natural and spontaneous.

  • Realism: Many features and notes are taken from reality.
  • In the first act, for example, Poncia surprises us with an extremely vulgar and prosaic action when she comes on stage eating bread and chorizo. The maid also begins her normal domestic actions in the first act by cleaning.
  • In the second act, the realistic elements disappear in favor of poetic character.
  • Poetry: In the third act, magical, fanciful, or poetic elements appear: the starry night, the persecution between Adela, Martirio, and Maria Josefa.

Lorca uses verse four times:

  1. In the litany of the first act, when Bernarda and the women of mourning pray.
  2. In the song of the reapers (which reminds them of freedom, joy, and love).
  3. In a popular saying, which is given strophic form.
  4. In the lullaby that Maria Josefa sings with the sheep (the sea as a symbol of freedom, and insults to Bernarda and Magdalena).

Main Themes of the First and Second Acts

The main theme of the play is the confrontation between authoritarian, rigid, and conventional morality (represented by Bernarda) and the desire for freedom (represented by Maria Josefa and Adela).

Among the secondary themes and motifs, the following stand out:

  • Sensual love and the pursuit of men (Adela’s love affairs and those of her sisters).
  • The hypocrisy of a world of false appearances (obsession with cleaning, fear, gossip, and the need to maintain appearances for Bernarda and Martirio).
  • Hatred and envy (Bernarda’s feelings towards Angustias).
  • Social injustice (Bernarda’s meanness and social inequality, cruelty, social humiliation, and the submission of characters like Poncia, the Maid, and the Beggar Woman. The marginalization of women is also highlighted).

The Theater Before the Civil War

Before the Civil War, theater was going through a series of specific circumstances:

  • Theater requires representation on stage to achieve its full communicative vitality.
  • The theater business depends on many factors; it takes a lot of money to stage a play.
  • By its nature and its audiovisual reception, theater is more suitable for the transmission of ideas.

We find three theatrical currents that monopolized public taste:

  • The Bourgeois Comedy: This genre is represented by J. Benavente. Among his works are Vested Interests, featuring upper-class characters with conflicts typical of this group.
  • Poetic Theater: Modernist theater represented by Marquina and Villaespesa (conservative views). Marquina wrote a series of works with rural settings that influenced García Lorca.
  • Comedy: For the masses. Performances such as zarzuela and farces by Carlos Arniches.

Innovative Theater

During this period, there were attempts at dramatic experimentation:

  • Generation of ’98: Unamuno and Azorín.
  • Novecentismo: Serna.
  • Generation of ’27: García Lorca, Rafael Alberti, and Salinas.

Valle-Inclán was one of the great innovators of contemporary theater because of his creation of the esperpento (grotesque).

By 1920, García Lorca began his work in the theater. Blood Wedding, The House of Bernarda Alba, Yerma, and other works show a deep social concern:

  • Characters express female marginalization.
  • The social environment is oppressive.
  • The consequences are tragic.