The House Of Bernarda Alba Themes

Poverty and hardship are shown to create vulnerability in female characters, particularly the female servants, allowing powerful men to manipulate and sexually abuse them. Kent illustrates how poverty perpetuates maltreatment and abuse in a society like Burial Rites using the characters of Agnes’ mother Ingveldur and Agnes. Agnes’ mother is forced to make invidious choices as her children are “lugged along” from farm to farm, where she is sexually exploited by her employers. In spite of these circumstances, Agnes’ mother is commonly referred to as a whore in their society which abhors female promiscuity yet disregards male promiscuity as a harmless character trait; as in the case of Natan, who is merely “indiscreet” despite all his philandering. Born into poverty, Agnes experiences similar sexual coercion and manipulation from her “masters” and yet is labelled “a woman who is loose with her emotions and looser with her morals”. The severe poverty of Agnes is explicitly demonstrated to the reader by Kent through the intertextual reference of her entire belongings - a very dismal, piteous list to be “sold if a decent offer is presented”. Furthermore, Kent contrasts the situation of Agnes, a “landless workmaid raised on a porridge of moss and poverty”, to the comparative security Steina has experienced using a rhetorical question from

In El Laberinto del Fauno, Guillermo del Toro uses the theme of obedience to illustrate and condemn two repressive components of fascism: patriarchy and the coercion of free will. This essay will look at two examples of obedience in the film which reveal the abhorrent nature of these aspects of fascism and the importance of resisting them. These are, respectively, the relationship between Captain Vidal and Mercedes and Ofelia’s refusal to compromise her own integrity.

The author agrees with the idea of women as victims through the characterisation of women in the short story. The women are portrayed as helpless to the torment inflicted upon them by the boy in the story. This positions readers to feel sympathy for the women but also think of the world outside the text in which women are also seen as inferior to men. “Each season provided him new ways of frightening the little girls who sat in front of him or behind him”. This statement shows that the boy’s primary target were the girls who sat next to him. This supports the tradition idea of women as the victims and compels readers to see that the women in the text are treated more or less the same as the women in the outside world. Characterisation has been used by the author to reinforce the traditional idea of women as the helpless victims.

The narrator is totally crushed by the gender discrimination. She longed to be seen by her mother and her grandma. The narrator is heartbroken that her mother loved her brother more than her and failed to notice her. “When she went into Nonso’s room to say good night, she always came out laughing that laugh. Most times, you pressed your palms to your ears to keep the sound out, and kept your palms pressed to your ears, even when she came into your room to say Good night, darling, sleep well. She never left your room with that laugh” (190). Her agony can be easily seen by the way of her narrating. She does not get the affection that she deserves. She really needs the affection from her own mother, but she is not getting it. She compares the love which her mother shows to his brother and herself. This is gender discrimination can be seen with her grandmother too. She hated her grandma as she would always support her brother and find fault with her. Even though what the brother did, no matter what crime. Her mother and grandmother always supported her brother and never supported or showed interest towards

Lope de Vega’s play touches upon several key components and ideas that were brought up in many of the other stories read throughout the semester. This included the role of gender and how men and women are viewed differently in the Spaniard town of Fuenteovejuna. Another topic included the importance of family, love, and relationships and their connection on loyalty, trust, and personal beliefs. The last major influence found in other literature and in Fuenteovejuna, were the political and religious references made throughout the play. Even though Lope de Vega didn’t make these views obvious, the reader could still pick up on their connotation and the references made towards these specific ideas. With all of this in mind, each of these

Often, the patriarchy is viewed as something enforced by men in order to retain their own power and sense of supremacy. However, many social scientists acknowledge the female elders in communities serve frequently as some of the most stringent enforcers of the patriarchy. In The House of Bernarda Alba and Death of a Salesman, the playwrights explore how their female characters use gender stereotypes to hold onto power or achieve stability. In both plays, Bernarda Alba and Linda Loman utilize patriarchal notions of gender performativity and roles tactically in order to achieve their objectives. Yet, at the same time, in both of these plays, moments of challenge to the traditional structures do occur. In House of Bernarda Alba, Lorca utilizes Adela’s challenges to patriarchal ideas to create the central conflict, whereas, in Death of Salesman, Linda

I was never the kid to write on walls. I needed a bigger canvas, and the sand offered me all the space I needed. From sunrise to sunset, I would spend my days on the beach. I used a wooden stick half my size to pretend to write. I would talk to the small creatures around me and I would baptize them with names of friends I never had. The beaming sun kept a watchful eye out for me as I ran to hug the incoming waves. I squealed with delight as they kissed the shoreline. The only thing that I worried about was how the sand kept creeping in between my toes. And when the sun began to sink, I knew it was time for even more adventures, this time in the comfort of my bed.

the same fears and aspirations as the rest of us” (Ghafour). “ Hosseini carefully portrays both Laila, whose parents raised her with a greater sense entitlement and privilege, and Mariam, whose mother taught her to endure by taking control of the conditions under which they lived to the extent that they possibly could and he had very cleverly shown feminism and activism on their part at some extent” (Singh). Readers might ask themselves what brings these two women together to fight off their equal enemy and the answer is hope and love. “ The woman in the novel often work to retain hope while dealing with the realities of political and personal oppression. At significant points throughout the novel, characters express their individual hopes.

In The House of Bernarda Alba society revolves around repression and subdual. Alternative thoughts are often seen as mad and individuality is unheard of, yet further hopes and dreams are still held by some. The ruthless matriarch of the household, Bernarda, is often heard bellowing “I will haunt your dreams.” (“The House of Bernarda Alba, 276”) In such society where dreams represent freedom from said repression, Bernarda blinds herself into grasping onto her daughters to keep them crippled under societal standards. Only those who embrace their true selves and seek freedom are able to reveal the truth others are afraid to reach.

The unhappiness that is portrayed by each women directly reflects on the time period and how relationship and women were handled. Marriage consisted of women taking care of the house while the men worked in order to provide for the family. In each of the stories, both women have free spirits and want more than what they are allowed to do. Based on the context and from inferring, the relationships that Elisa and Mrs. Mallard have with their husbands, has limited their dreams, aspiration, and goals in life.

This can be seen in Lorca’s play The House of Bernarda Alba. As stated, being gay in a country of expected male masculinity, it was difficult for Lorca to conform to society. Even in the home, his father and siblings did not get along well with him, and even after his death attempted to destroyed any evidence that could insinuate his homosexuality. Those who were in his social class despised him for being queer and having so much talent, leaving him with little friends. Because of this, amorous frustration, fertility, and loneliness are common themes among his plays. Lorca utilizes women, mainly, as his protagonists to execute such themes, who find they are in a position where true love or dreams are unclaimable. In The House of Bernarda

The House of Bernarda Alba is the third play in the trilogy knows as the “Rural Trilogy” alongside Blood Wedding and Yerma by Federico García Lorca. Garcia Lorca was a Spanish poet, playwright, who was a member of the Generation of ’27. Garcia Lorca’s main themes include the tension between social responsibility and individual freedom as well as love and tragedy. After the death of her second husband, Bernarda Alba is locked up at home and imposes a rigorous and suffocating mourning for eight years, forbidding her five daughters to go out into the street. When Angustias, the firstborn, and only daughter of the first husband, inherits a fortune, attracts a young man, Pepe the Roman.

The House of Bernarda Alba is a drama depicting the lives of women in villages of Spain during the 20th century. The play begins by the mother, Bernarda, issuing a seven-year mourning period upon her family of five daughters after the death of her beloved spouse. The isolation inside this house causes tensions to rise, and a thematic struggle between freedom and captivity becomes apparent as emotions start to snowball out of control.

Federico Garcia Lorca's “The House of Bernarda Alba” and Henrik Ibsen's “A Doll's House” both protest against the confinement of women of their days. Although the Houses are set differently in Spain of 20th century and Norway of 19th century respectively, both the plays relate in illuminating their respective female protagonists, Adela and Nora, as they eventually develop a sense of individuality and self-expression and emerge as free individuals from repression. The authors’ attempts allow the reader audience to gain an insight into the social norms that each protagonist was pitted against. This heightens the tension as the action develops.

The character of Andrea is something of an enigma to the reader. There is a strong ambiguity in the reader’s interpretation of Andrea’s depictions of the two most prevalent women in her life: Gloria and Ena. The theme of sexual repression is recurring and glaringly evident in Laforet’s writing of her protagonist, and this fact seems to curb one’s interest to further explore the potential homosexual undertones which feature in Andrea’s interactions with both men and women. While they differ, there is evidence to suggest homoerotic undertones to be analysed, and a myriad of factors which contribute to the ways in which the characters of Gloria and Ena are perceived by Andrea. While it could be argued that she simply lacks confidence or experience with men, Andrea’s description of the women in her life are assuredly worth further examination beyond this assumption.