La Casa de Bernarda Alba by Federico Garcia Lorca Play Review

La Casa de Bernarda Alba by Federico Garcia Lorca Play Review

Lorca was a Spanish writer. He wrote during the early days of Franco's regime. His ideology and his sensual orientation did not match Franco's agenda. Thus, Franco disappeared this writer. No one has yet discovered whereabouts of Lorca's body. Anyhow, Lorca is mostly known for his poems and for his tragic plays. This play starts in medias res. It is the funeral of Bernarda Alba's last husband. The play introduces the main character in a terrible light. Basically, Bernarda Alba is a tyrannical matriarch. She has all her daughters on lock down because she wants them to marry upward. Not only that, she keeps her own mother on lock down. She thinks her mother is crazy because she wants to get married again.



The play takes a darker tone when Pepe El Romano or Peter the Roman enters the scene. This man never does show up in the play. However, all the maidens allude to him. He is going to be the husband of Angustia. She is a 40 year old virgin. This name is quite amassing. Her name means desperation. However, the youngest daughter, Adela is in Love with Peter the Roman. She hopes that her sister dies during childbirth in order to be with Peter the Roman. This play critiques control of female sensuality. It also critiques the hypocrisy of the older Patriarch system. The play implies that one of the daughters was not the daughter of Bernarda's last husband. Bernarda got to have fun in her younger years. Now in her old days she controls the bodies of her daughters.

This play has a lot to do with sensual freedom. My favorite line was Adele's rebellions phrase. She said that it was her body and she would do whatever she pleased with it. I think this play has a lot of significance even today. Government bodies, the religious figures, society and family members are always using their children's body for their own means. For them, their kids are just a means to an ends. They imagine that they have the right to control their bodies just for bringing them into this desolate world. However, these binds are an illusion. We do have control over our bodies. We alone face the consequences of what we do with them. For this reason, I recommend this play to all readers. I think there is an English translation roaming about. All of Lorca's work are classics. As a result, all his works have been translated to all languages. La Casa de Bernarda Alba Play by Lorca is 5 star worth.