“The house of Bernarda Alba” play.

“The house of Bernarda Alba” play.

“The house of Bernarda Alba” is a play developed by Spanish writer Federico Garcia Lorca exploring the lives of five daughters who are under the care of their oppressive mother. Throughout the play, the themes of freedom and repression keep on recurring conflicting with each other. The main characters Lorca’s play are females; Bernarda and her five daughters. The daughters are, “Angustias (39 years old), Magdalena (30), Amelia (27), Martirio, (24), and Adela (20).” Bernarda forces her daughters to abide by her rules, and they have fewer choices to make on matters about their lives. Bernarda interferes with her children’s privacy and freedom; they are forced to play as per their mother’s rules. The daughters are even denied fundamental freedoms, like making their relationship decisions. I relate to the play because I feel that it explores my reality. My mother has a significant control on my relationships and freedom. To some extent, I think that she is over-controlling me, and it is undesirable. This paper uses K. Hope, “Rhetorical Modes,” to analyze two conflicting themes; freedom and repression in “The house of Bernarda Alba” play.

“The house of Bernarda Alba” expresses repression through Bernarda’s treatment of her daughters. After the funeral of her second husband, Bernarda declares that her daughters will stay in the house for eight years, mourning and doing needlework. She says, “no breath of air is going to get into this house.” Bernarda’s daughters are in between the ages of twenty to forty. They should at least maintain meaningful relationships and be allowed to make their own choices. Holding them hostage for eight years in the name of mourning for her late husband does not sound logical at all. The daughters get denied freedom, opportunity to interact with others, and enjoy life. Living enclosed in a house for eight years sounds terrible and oppressive. The play illustrates that the ladies are going through quite a rough moment; they have fewer choices to make on issues concerning them. The mistreatment of the daughters raises tension in the family.

Bernarda understands that her children are growing, and they should express their sexual desires, but she is determined to keep them from exploring their lives. Bernarda is afraid that if her daughters are left out and get to explore their sexuality, they might fall into men like Pepe. She believes that she is doing all this to protect her daughters, but in the real sense, she denies them freedom. La Poncia advises her that the children will break free if they get any slightest chance, but Bernarda still believes that she is protecting her children. To some extend, La Poncia’s view is correct; if people get denied an opportunity to do something, they tend to utilize any opportunity that comes forth to maximum; the results are always undesirable. Protecting people does not mean that you deny them a chance to explore the world that surrounds; people get to learn from their mistakes. Bernarda is overprotective like many parents, but then she is not doing her daughters any good; she is instead risking them.

The play depicts hatred and bitter feelings between the sisters because they get repressed. The sisters create animosity amongst each other because they all want Pepe to comfort them in their squashing world. Lorca’s play depicts the side effects of repression. It pushes people into fights amongst each other. In the case of the sisters, they all want the same man; the situation could have been different if they were allowed to interact with the world and make choices of the men they want. Keeping them in isolation is depriving them of their sexual rights. They are grown-up ladies; they need to admire and explore their sexuality. Sadly, they have to abide by the so-called mother’s rules. The world is moving fast; they are aging. Bernarda denies her daughters an opportunity to find partnerships and start marriage; this can be so depressing. The suffering of the daughters results in fatalities such as; the death of Martirio that can get associated with suppression. La Poncia believes that sexuality instincts can push people into their deaths and associates this with Martirio’s case.

The male characters never appear on the stage; however, it is evident that men still dominate the women in society. Men get revealed as characters who enjoy their freedom. They are free to drink beer and gamble in the pubs. Unlike the male, women get controlled by some rules and conditions that limit what they can freely do. A lot of women are sexually harassed without any form of defense. The sexual harassment of women shows that they have fewer powers of controlling what happens to them. As Adele puts it, men have all the freedom, she says, “Men get away with everything.” They can mistreat the ladies and still get away with it. The society is not doing enough in terms of protecting the vulnerable ladies. The five sisters are characters in deep pain forced to live under repression inside the four walls. The characters are unable to establish any form of healthy relations with other people.

In my argument, I decided to use K. Hope, “Rhetorical Modes,” because I feel that the technique best articulates on the ideas I want to pass through. I feel free to express my thoughts and arguments using the mode. In my paper, the method allows me to make a comparison between Freedom and repression in “The house of Bernarda Alba.” I am also in position to draw on some examples from the text to support my arguments. The mode makes me more flexible, and I am in a position to persuade the audience and vividly describe what I want to pass. Choosing this mode has helped me as a writer to clearly explain myself out and get to understand the play better. I was in a position to come up with an excellent paper as I wanted because I was able to present my ideas in a readable and understandable manner.

In a nutshell, “The House of Bernarda Alba” presents a society where women live under repression, and they get denied an opportunity to enjoy their freedom. Bernarda puts her fully grown daughters under restraint, denying them a chance to enjoy their freedom of exploring the outside world. The daughters live under pain, regretting the lost opportunities to get to interact with people, and explore their sexuality. The story explores some realities many people face under the custody of their overprotective parents who never want to let their children grown and learn from the world. Parents should allow their children to learn from the outside world; they should let them learn from their mistakes so that they can grow.