The House of Bernarda Alba: A Feminist Analysis of Repression and Rebellion
The Characters in The House of Bernarda Alba
We must distinguish between three types of characters in the play:
- Visible characters (on stage): Starring: Bernarda, her daughters (Angustias, Magdalena, Amelia, Martirio, and Adela), Maria Josefa, and Poncia. Secondary: Maid, Beggar, Prudence, Girl, and Women (1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th).
- Invisible characters (not appearing on stage but affecting the development of the action): Pepe el Romano, La hija de la Librada, and the reapers.
- Referred to characters (characters mentioned for some peculiarity, or part of a story): Antonio Maria Benavides, Enrique Humanes, Paca la Roseta, Woman of the sequins, Don Arturo (the notary), and the man with the lace.
Bernarda is the repressive force, subject to old and outdated approaches. She represents criticism and is depicted with a cane on stage, exhibiting male attitudes. She opposes the erotic impulses of her daughters, emphasizing “honor” and “decency,” obsessing over virginity and appearances before society. Bernarda seeks to impose her point of view at all times. She believes she belongs to a higher social class and doesn’t allow her daughters to marry men from the village. She wants to ban everything that exceeds her design for their lives, based on the principle of authority and the exercise of power, even if it’s unfair.
Angustias is the oldest child, a marriage prospect, and heir to a fortune that attracts men, including Pepe el Romano. She appears in the play as aesthetically unfortunate and without passion or enthusiasm for marriage, seeing it as the only way to escape her prison-like home.
Magdalena, 30 years old, embodies submission and acceptance of the situation, occasionally cursing the societal expectations placed upon women. Amelia, 27 years old, is shy, resigned, and plays a minor role on stage. Martirio, 24 years old, is described as ugly, sick, hunchbacked, self-conscious, and aggressive, making her a challenging and quick-tempered character.
Adela, 20 years old, embodies rebellion. She is the youngest, the prettiest, the “unbroken mule,” and willing to pursue her passionate love for Pepe el Romano, who remains offstage. This ultimately leads to her suicide after believing Pepe is dead. Adela, the rebel, wears a green dress to oppose the stringent black attire imposed by her mother. She is the transgressor, willing to defy her mother’s laws and break Bernarda’s control.
Maria Josefa, the grandmother, appears eccentric and occasionally foolish. However, she reveals the problems afflicting her granddaughters with sympathy and humor, highlighting their imprisonment, frustration, desire for marriage, motherhood, and freedom. Her perceived madness allows her to express her longing for freedom and confront Bernarda’s tyranny.
Poncia, in her dialogues with Bernarda, reveals the house’s past and participates in the unfolding conflicts. Full of wisdom and common sense, she offers advice that Bernarda, deaf to any suggestion, consistently rejects. The maid and some neighbors remain insignificant in this “drama of women in Spain” (the play’s subtitle).
Main and Secondary Themes in The House of Bernarda Alba
Clash Between Authoritarianism and the Desire for Freedom
The play’s central theme is the clash between Bernarda’s authoritarianism, attempting to impose oppressive norms based on her position as “head of the household,” and the yearning for freedom, primarily embodied by Maria Josefa and Adela, who actively rebel.
Hatred and Envy
Human relationships are dominated by hatred and envy. Bernarda is hated by the maids and neighbors; Angustias is hated and envied by her sisters; Adela accuses Martirio of jealousy, envy, and hatred. The women, locked in a hostile and savage environment, are driven by an unfulfilled desire for love and freedom, fueling their intense feelings of hatred and envy.
Social Criticism
Lorca critiques the Spanish society of his time, exposing social injustice, class differences, pride, and cruelty governing human relationships. Relationships are hierarchical and tainted with cruelty and meanness, particularly towards the lower classes. Bernarda, greedy and vile, embodies this lack of generosity. Each character tends to humiliate those below them in the social pyramid.
Marginalization of Women
Women, confined to limiting and unrewarding social roles, have fewer resources than men to fight for their happiness. Deviating from these roles (bride-mother-wife) leads to societal condemnation, labeling them as failures, useless, and worthless.
Lorca bluntly portrays the marginalization of women in his time, presenting two extreme models of female behavior: one based on moral laxity (Paca la Roseta, the prostitute) and the other on a rigid idea of decency. The first group seemingly leads a life of apparent freedom.
However, adhering to societal expectations of decency involves submission to social norms that discriminate against women, ultimately benefiting men who are free to do as they please.
The work of men and women is clearly differentiated: men work in the fields, while women remain confined to their homes. Men and women are not equal before the law. In matters of love, women are expected to suppress their desires. The play highlights the family submission of women to men.
Family honor, as in 17th-century works, is directly linked to women’s behavior.
Moral Clash Between Authoritarianism and the Desire for Freedom
The play’s central theme is the conflict between authoritarianism, represented by Bernarda, and the desire for authenticity, embodied by Adela and Maria Josefa. Secondary themes include the search for a husband, deceit, envy (jealousy), social differences, the concept of honor, violence, and death.
The confrontation between authoritarianism and freedom is evident from the beginning, with Bernarda imposing eight years of mourning on her daughters. They are obligated to submit to their mother’s irrational discipline. Bernarda’s authoritarianism sometimes turns physically violent (end of Act 1, throughout the play, Act 2: slapping Martirio, Act 2: end; Act 3: when she fires the gun).
Adela’s desire for freedom and love outweighs her fear of Bernarda’s absolute power. She subtly and sometimes defiantly expresses her feelings. Adela and Bernarda’s personalities clash throughout the play, culminating in Adela’s defiance. By wearing a green dress and confronting her mother and sisters, Adela proclaims her desire for freedom, opposing her mother’s rigidity. In Act 1, she cries, “I think this mourning has caught me at the worst time of my life…” At the play’s end, before dying, Adela confronts her mother and breaks her cane. Adela’s freedom is fleeting, ending in her death, a final act of defiance against her mother’s power.
Maria Josefa’s rebellion manifests through her perceived madness, her only escape from confinement and abuse. Her attempts to resist oppression prove futile, leaving madness or death as the only options. The play ends with Bernarda’s final words, demonstrating the triumph of authoritarianism.
Structure
The House of Bernarda Alba follows the classical tripartite structure of a play, divided into three acts that reflect the classic pattern of presentation, middle, and end.
Interestingly, the author did not divide the acts into scenes, leaving the task to later interpretations. The play adheres to the law of three unities: unity of place (the house) and action, but not time. It also presents a repetitive structure, with each act internally repeating a three-stage process: quiet, conflict, and violence. Each act mirrors the overall structure of presentation, middle, and end.
This repetitive structure is reinforced by recurring elements that unify the play. Act 1 and Act 3 begin similarly: with a “shady silence” interrupted by bells in the first instance and the clatter of dishes in the second.
All three acts begin with scenes of everyday life. Throughout the play, and particularly from Act 2 onwards, recurring themes and omens foreshadow the tragic outcome. The play revolves around these events: it begins and ends with a death, starts with the tolling of bells and ends with two cries, and both begins and ends with Bernarda uttering the word “Silence.”