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Characters · 9
Adela
Adela is the youngest of Bernarda Alba's five daughters and serves as the tragic protagonist of the play.
character
Amelia
Amelia is the middle child of Bernarda Alba's five daughters, holding a quietly resigned spot in the family's hierarchy.
character
Angustias
Angustias is the oldest of Bernarda Alba's five daughters and the only child from her first marriage, which gives her a significant inheritance and makes her the only daughter eligible for marriage in the household.
character
Bernarda Alba
Bernarda Alba is the iron-willed matriarch and central figure in Federico García Lorca's tragedy.
character
La Poncia
La Poncia is Bernarda Alba's long-serving housekeeper and the play's keenest observer, acting as both a confidante and a crucial link between the authoritative mistress and her oppressed daughters.
character
Magdalena
Magdalena is the second-eldest of Bernarda Alba's five daughters and one of the most emotionally honest characters in Federico García Lorca's 1936 tragedy The House of Bernarda Alba.
character
María Josefa
María Josefa is the elderly mother of Bernarda Alba, kept hidden away in an upstairs room as a shameful secret.
character
Martirio
Martirio is the fourth of Bernarda Alba's five daughters and the most psychologically tormented character in the play.
character
Pepe el Romano
Pepe el Romano is the central male figure in Federico García Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba, yet he never appears on stage.
character
Key quotes · 12
“The poor are like animals — they seem to be made of different stuff than the rest of us.”
This chilling line is delivered by Bernarda Alba, the strong-willed matriarch of Federico García Lorca's tragedy The House of Bernarda Alba (1936).
Bernarda Alba · Act I
“My daughters breathe as if they no longer existed.”
This line is spoken by Bernarda Alba, the strong-willed matriarch of Federico García Lorca's tragic play The House of Bernarda Alba (1936), likely in Act I shortly after her second husband's death, when she enforces an eight-year mourning period for her five daughters.
Bernarda Alba · Act I
“No one will ever know. She died a virgin. Tell them so that at dawn the bells may ring twice.”
This chilling line is delivered by Bernarda Alba at the very end of Federico García Lorca's tragic play The House of Bernarda Alba (1936), after her youngest daughter Adela has taken her own life upon the revelation of her secret affair with Pepe el Romano.
Bernarda Alba · Act III
“In this house there is no flood. My father's house was a house of order.”
This line is spoken by Bernarda Alba, the strong-willed matriarch of Federico García Lorca's tragedy The House of Bernarda Alba (1936), likely in Act One, as she reestablishes her control over the household right after her husband's funeral.
Bernarda Alba · Act One
“He will dominate the whole street. He will dominate the whole village.”
This line is spoken by Bernarda Alba in Federico García Lorca's tragic play The House of Bernarda Alba (1936).
Bernarda Alba · Act II
“I am free! Free! Free!”
These are the final words shouted by Adela, the youngest and most defiant of Bernarda Alba's five daughters, in Federico García Lorca's tragic play The House of Bernarda Alba (1936).
Adela
“I want to get away from these walls that are beginning to close in on me.”
This line is spoken by Adela, the youngest and most rebellious of Bernarda Alba's five daughters, in Federico García Lorca's tragic play The House of Bernarda Alba (1936).
Adela
“Here women count for nothing.”
This line is spoken by Bernarda Alba, the strong-willed matriarch, in Federico García Lorca's tragic play The House of Bernarda Alba (1936).
Bernarda Alba · Act I
“With a river of fire I would burn the houses that stand between me and Pepe.”
This intense declaration is uttered by Adela, the youngest and most rebellious of Bernarda Alba's five daughters, in Federico García Lorca's tragic play The House of Bernarda Alba (1936).
Adela
“Silence!”
In Federico García Lorca's tragic play The House of Bernarda Alba (1936), the command "¡Silencio!" — "Silence!" — stands out as Bernarda Alba's most powerful phrase, echoed throughout the drama and landing with particular weight as the play's final word.
Bernarda Alba
“I will not let them triumph. I will raise a wall of silence around me.”
This line is spoken by Bernarda Alba, the resolute matriarch of Federico García Lorca's tragedy The House of Bernarda Alba (1936), near the play's heart-wrenching conclusion.
Bernarda Alba
“Pepe el Romano is mine. He will carry me to the rushes by the riverbank.”
This line is delivered by Adela, the youngest and most defiant of Bernarda Alba's five daughters, in Federico García Lorca's tragic play The House of Bernarda Alba (1936).
Adela · Act III
Symbols · 6
Adela's Green Dress
In Federico García Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba, Adela's green dress symbolizes her rebellious desire, yearning for freedom, and the vibrant life that Bernarda's strict authority tries to snuff out.
Bernarda's Staff
In Federico García Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba, Bernarda's staff embodies the absolute authority of a woman who has internalized and enforces her society's most oppressive codes.
The Stallion
In Federico García Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba, the stallion represents unrestrained male sexuality, freedom, and the natural desires that Bernarda's authoritarian rule tries to stifle.
The Well
In Federico García Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba, the well represents suppressed desire, forbidden freedom, and the destructive nature of repression.
The White Walls
In Federico García Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba, the white walls of Bernarda's house represent the stifling mask of social respectability and strict morality placed on women in rural Spanish society.
Water
In The House of Bernarda Alba, water symbolizes freedom, desire, and the life force that Bernarda's strict control denies her daughters.
Literary devices · 12
Symbolism
The house serves as the central symbol of the play, with its whitewashed walls and locked doors reflecting the stifling patriarchal order that Bernarda imposes.
Imagery
Lorca fills the play with sensory details that make the feeling of repression almost tangible.
Dramatic Monologue
María Josefa, Bernarda's deranged mother, delivers speeches that act as dramatic monologues within the play's choral structure.
Irony
Dramatic irony fills the play as the audience is aware, or quickly begins to suspect, what Bernarda refuses to acknowledge: that Pepe el Romano is visiting not just Angustias's window but also Adela's. Bernarda's insistence that "In this house there is no man" becomes painfully ironic as Pepe's presence, always offstage yet always felt, influences every scene.
Personification
Lorca brings abstract forces to life in the play, granting them the same agency typically reserved for characters.
Motif
Needlework and embroidery are key motifs that highlight the play's critique of the enforced idleness of women.
Pathetic Fallacy
The play's weather closely reflects its emotional tone.
Juxtaposition
Lorca designs the play around sharp contrasts that fuel its tragic energy.
Repetition
Bernarda's commands come through in a way that emphasizes her authority, almost like an incantation.
Metaphor
The play's main metaphor compares the house to a prison and Bernarda to a warden.
Allusion
The play references Spanish Catholic culture in a way that would be clear to its original audience.
Extended Metaphor
The stallion serves as a powerful metaphor for sexual desire throughout the second act.
Vocabulary · 24
mourning
A period of grief and formal sorrow observed after someone's death, often marked by wearing black clothing and withdrawing from normal social life.
noun · Chapter 1
whitewashed
Painted over with a cheap white lime-based coating, giving walls a stark, bright appearance; here it signals rigid purity and suffocating conformity.
adjective · Chapter 1
shuttered
Having the window covers closed and fastened, blocking out light and air and cutting off those inside from the outside world.
adjective · Chapter 1
matriarch
A woman who rules her family with absolute authority, making all decisions and demanding total obedience from everyone beneath her.
noun · Chapter 1
enforced
Imposed by someone in power and not chosen freely; here it describes silence and mourning that are compelled rather than voluntary.
adjective · Chapter 1
bear
To endure or put up with hardship, pain, or injustice without complaint or resistance.
verb · Chapter 2
repression
The act of forcibly suppressing people's feelings, desires, or freedoms, preventing any natural expression or outlet.
noun · Chapter 2
courting
Pursuing a romantic relationship with someone, especially with the formal intention of marriage.
verb · Chapter 1
inheritance
Money, property, or other assets passed down to someone after a relative's death.
noun · Chapter 1
infatuated
Overwhelmed by an intense, irrational passion or obsession for another person, beyond what reason or circumstance can justify.
adjective · Chapter 2
defiant
Boldly refusing to obey rules or authority, openly resisting control rather than submitting.
adjective · Chapter 1
brewing
Gradually developing or building up beneath the surface, used here to describe hidden tension or danger that is about to erupt.
verb · Chapter 2
arrogantly
In a way that shows an exaggerated sense of one's own importance or superiority, dismissing others' concerns as beneath consideration.
adverb · Chapter 2
mentally unstable
Having a mind that does not function in a predictable or controlled way, prone to erratic or confused behavior that others cannot manage.
phrase · Chapter 1
truth-teller
A character who speaks uncomfortable or suppressed truths that others in the play refuse to acknowledge or try to hide.
noun · Chapter 1
stifling
So oppressively hot, close, or restrictive that it feels impossible to breathe or move freely.
adjective · Chapter 3
virgin
A person, especially a woman, who has never had sexual relations; here used as a social and moral label tied to family honor and reputation.
noun · Chapter 3
honor
The public reputation for moral uprightness and sexual purity that a family, especially its women, is expected to maintain in this society.
noun · Chapter 3
closing in
Moving nearer from all sides in a way that feels threatening and inescapable, creating a sense of being trapped with no way out.
phrase · Chapter 2
shore
The land along the edge of the sea; here it represents freedom, escape, and a life beyond the locked house.
noun · Chapter 1
confines
The enclosed boundaries or limits of a space, emphasizing how restricted and trapped those inside feel.
noun · Chapter 2
housekeeper
A servant employed to manage the domestic work of a household, occupying a position between the family and the other servants.
noun · Chapter 1
gossip
Casual talk or rumors about other people's private lives, used here as a weapon of social control and cruelty within the household.
noun · Chapter 2
affair
A secret sexual or romantic relationship between two people, at least one of whom is committed to someone else.
noun · Chapter 2