La Casa de Bernarda Alba Quotes

La Poncia: "Este cristal tiene unas motas."

The glass has spots on.

It represents the family as Bernarda believes she's the perfect representation of society but she has spots of imperfections that can't be cleaned or hidden.

Criada: "Por la puerta se va a la calle. Las sobras de hoy son para mí."

Go back to the streets. The leftovers are for us.

Shows the class discrimination from everyone even if you are poor like the servants. Society has forced people to only care about themselves. There is inequality everywhere and lorca demonstrates this.

bernarda: 'silencio'

First line from Bernarda and we immediatley get a sense of her personality and behaviour. Shes quick to assert her dominance over the lower class servants and the rest of her family. She comes across powerful.

Bernarda: 'Magdalena, no llores. Si quieres llorar te metes debajo de la cama.'

No more crying. If you want to cry then go to your room.

Doesn't want anyone to show any emotion as she sees it as a weakness and she does not want anyone in society to see her as weak. Shes embarrased of her own daughters and is not willing to comfort.

Bernarda: "Me sirves y te pago. Nada mas!

No you serve I pay you. That is it. You mean nothing.

Everyone is beneath Bernarda which represents society's attitude at the time. Very classist and is rude to anyone in a lower class than her. She keeps everyone at arms length because she doesnt trust anyone to keep her secrets.

Magdelena: "Malditas sean las mujeres."

Women are cursed.

Women have no position in society which men control. Their job is to look after the husband and kids. They have no say in anything and have no choice but to live this life. Magdelena is the only one who seems to accept their fate.

Amelia: "Ya no sabe una si es mejor tener novio o no."

I no longer knows if its better to have a man or not.

Life for a woman doesn't get any better when you find a man but if you don't find a man you can't work in order to pay for things so will be tossed aside.

Magdelena: "Se ha puesto el traje verde."

She put on her green dress.

Green represents the sisters jealousy over Adela and Angustias that Pepe Romano has shown interest in both of them and they have a chance of getting out of the house.

Green also represents fertility which forebodes Adelas potential pregnancy with Pepe Romano.

Magdelena: "... pero viene por el dinero"

But he only wants her for money.

Shows marriage is a business deal. No love and romance instead its simply for money and power.

Amelia: "Abre la puerta"

Open the door.

They want a glimpse of outside since they been banned. The heat is unbearable and they need to relieve this pressure in any way they can even though it will never go away.

A Lack of Bernarda in Act 2.

A shift in mood as Bernarda is absent. It's sad that women turn on themselves when they need to stick together. If women unite it mighrt change things but all they do is argue.

La poncia: "abre los ojos y verás."

Open your eyes and you will see.

Bernarda is blind to the problems that are in her own house and refuses to look closer because shes afraid of the consequences.

Angustias: "Mentira!"

Liar!

She's listening in. Shes worried about people outside the house but they should be worried about the devils in the house.

Adela: "Madre, no oiga usted a quien nos quiere perder a todas."

Mother, don't listen to who wants to lose us all.

Adela sucks up to Bernarda and uses her weak spot to do this which she attacks her reputation.

Martirio: "Que pague lo que debe!"

You pay for your sins.

Martirio is suspicious of Adela because of her behaviour regarding Pepe Romano. Adela is distraught that people are gonna kill her and even more so her sisters encourage it. Women support roles like this. It forebodes Adela's death.

Bernarda: 'Una hija desobedece deja de ser hija para convertirse en una enemiga.'

A daughter that disobeys is a daughter that becomes an enemy.

Ironic because all of her daughters have disobeyed her and she is completely unaware but she preeches this to the other women.

Bernarda: "Hilo y aguja para las hembras. Látigo y mula para el varón. Eso tiene la gente que nace con posibles."

Needle and threat for females. Mule and whip for the man. That is the fate of people of substance

Highlights differences in expectations of men and women. The role of women is to cook, clean and sew all for the man and children. Whereas men go out hard labour.

Bernarda: "Ella la hija menor de Bernarda Alba ha muerto virgen. Me habéis oído?"

She, the young daughter of Bernarda Alba has died a virgin. Have you heard me?

Bernarda does not possess any feelings for concern for her daughters especially since one daughter has just committed suicide because of Bernarda. Instead she is more concerned by the talk by others and the impact it will have on her reputation. She wants to make sure her daughter is labelled as a virgen so she comes across innocent and pure as she is not married.

Adela: "Yo hago con mi cuerpo lo que me parece!"

I do with my body what I want!

This is the downfall of Adela in which she believes she can do what she wants and her arrogance is the thing that causes her death.

Habitación blanquísima del interior.

Very white interior.

Prison like setting which shows the daughters' entrapment/ imprisonment. White can be seen as pure which is the behaviour Bernarda wants everyone to see. White can also be symbolised as plain suggesting Bernardas house is an accurate representation of the character in which she is simple and has no elements to her personality.

Bernarda: 'Es así como se tiene que hablaren este maldito pueblo sin río, pueblo de pozos, donde siempre se bebe el agua con el miedo de que esté envenenada. '

Its the only way to speak when you live in a cursed village without a river, without wells, where one drinks the water always fearing it has been poisoned.

Bernarda is way too obsessed with reputation and has no trust in anyone so much she believes someone may cause harm to her.

María Josefa: '¡Quiero irme de aquí! ¡Bernarda! ¡A casarme a la orilla del mar, a la orilla del mar!

I want go! Bernarda! To marry at the seaside, at the seaside!

She still has an air of romanticism, she believes in the idea of maybe there is hope. She dreams of finding a man of dreams by the coast and escaping to a new and better world. She wants to believe that true love is a real thing, and men don't just want someone to obey them, or money, or sexual gratification.

María Josefa: '¡Quiero irme de aquí! ¡Bernarda! ¡A casarme a la orilla del mar, a la orilla del mar!

I want go! Bernarda! To marry at the seaside, at the seaside!

Although she is wise enough to know how much women suffer, this is something she still craves. It is the idea of being trapped in your fate. The fatal flaw of women (in the world of the play) is that they can recognise how terrible their situation is, but are unable to escape it. Adele comes close to defying this fate, but she gets punished for it and death is the final result of this. This links with the idea of a hamartia in a Greek Tragedy.

María Josefa: '¡Quiero irme de aquí! ¡Bernarda! ¡A casarme a la orilla del mar, a la orilla del mar!

I want go! Bernarda! To marry at the seaside, at the seaside!

She is the same as the daughters. They all know the reality of being with a man, but it is a way of escaping the rule of Bernarda and the oppressive imprisonment of the mourning period. It is still more freedom to move freely, even if the man doesn't love you or respect you.

María Josefa: '¡Quiero irme de aquí! ¡Bernarda! ¡A casarme a la orilla del mar, a la orilla del mar!

I want go! Bernarda! To marry at the seaside, at the seaside!

Perhaps the only thing worse than being under the rule of a man, is being under the rule of a woman pretending to be one. She doesn't respect Bernarda's rule, as she believes she is trying to play the role of a man. She would rather the metaphoric shackles of a marriage then the literal interpretation she has in the house being locked in a room by Bernarda.

Bernarda: 'Tú no tienes derecho más que a obedecer.'

Your only right is obedience.

Bernarda's rule is her way of preparing them for what life will be like if they were with a man. A woman's right is to obey the man.

Adela: 'a beber agua.'

To drink water.

One of the most important of all ancient archetypal symbols is that of water, a dual symbol which can be either good or evil or even both. Water can be seen as good for the daughters by relieving them temporarlily of this tension, heat and pressure. However, it could also be seen as evil because no matter how much water they drink, it will never go away which could essentially be seen as torture.

Water can symbolise purity that the daughters take advantage of. They all participate in not honourable activities and they believe that water will clear them of this and make them purer. In Macbeth he tries to wash his hands to undo a deed but water will not wash away the metaphorical blood on his hands.

Bernarda: 'El caballo garañón, que está encerrado y da coces contra el muro, ... debe tener calor.'

The stallion, he's shut in and kicks at the wall. He must be hot.

Lorca's symbols for male sexuality, passion, vital energy, and fertility in this play are the stallion, which is never seen on stage. The silence at dinner in act 2 is broken by the stallion pounding on the walls with its hoofs. The stallion's appearance is monstruous which shows Adela's hopeless passion for Pepe and its gigantic size suggests men's power over women. Maria josefa says "Pepe el Romano es un gigante." which exaggerates this. Pepe Romano is the symbol of all men in which he causes all the problems.

Amelia: " abre la puerta del patio a ver si nos entra un poco el fresco"

Open the patio door for cool air.

Lorca uses heat/fire imagery to mirror conflict, sexual passion and fertility. Early in Act 2 Amelia asks Poncia to open the patio door for a little fresh air. This turns the conversation to a discussion of the weather revealing that the stifling heat of the previous night had kept nearly everyone awake causing them to be aware of Pepe's departure but not the hour, it hints at the hidden conflict and building tension among the women.

Riots were currently going on in Spain at the time in which the government tried to keep putting out the fires and left-wing rioters. The women are behaving like the government and doing everything they can to put out the fire and take away the heat but it's impossible. That method will never work.

Poncia: "Este cristal tiene unas motas"

Criada: "Ni con el jabon ni con bayeta se le quitan"

White and cleanliness are synonyms. A spotless house symbolizes an unblemished reputation, the ultimate goal of all Bernarda's vigilance. Poncia notices that the glassware has spots on it to which the servant replies that she could not get them off with soap or flannel cloths. Spots on the glassware indicate Bernarda' s prescription for respectability is flawed. She has only taken a portion of the code which suits her purpose she wants the end product of the code which is respect and honor. Bernarda does not adhere to the code herself, so can she not expect to reap the benefits.

'Habitación blanca del interior'

Following the house and the character of Bernarda in importance as major symbols and closely linked to both is the large and complex white image cluster. Bernarda's name demonstrates their association with one another. Bernarda's last name, Alba, is derived from the Latin word meaning white. In Spanish "alba" signifies the early liqht of dawn before the sun rises. This definition can be applied to Bernarda. Early dawn light is cold, lacking warmth because the sun has not risen yet. Bernarda is cold and unmoved by the problems of others. Indirectly white relates to the sheets the daughters are making in the sewing scene in Act 2 and, as such, acts as an ironic comment on the fate of Bernarda's daughters. Angustias' bridal sheets and those being made for the other daughters are destined never to be used. Rather than suggesting sexual fulfillment, they become just another symbol for sexual frustration and sterility. When Martirio takes Pepe's picture she hides it in her sheets. Placing a copy of him there is as close as she will ever get to sharing a bed with Pepe or any man.

Maria Josefa with her sheep.

Zoomorphism. Maria Josefa always carries her sheep with her in every scene. A sheep is a person who is meek, stupid and submissive. This represents all the women in the play to Bernarda and women of society to men. Sheep are raised for their meat, milk, wool, hides, and skins, they don't have a life or free will and are ordered around and exploited by farmers. Women are raised and have no value apart from to get married and serve a man. They have no dreams or aspirations. Men use women for sex, money and power. Farmers use dye that marks the sheep as theirs for identification. Although Women are not physically marked with a dye, but the wedding ring is the marking of that woman like the sheep. Sheep have basic needs such as food and water like women do but also both are trapped in their lives/prisons. Sheep have a fence and women have a metaphorical prison boundary.