Bernarda Alba: Language, Characters, and Social Commentary
Character Language in *The House of Bernarda Alba***
Regarding the language of the characters, you can distinguish Bernarda from all others. Her speech is dominated by rapid, dry, and sharp expressions. She has an authoritarian way of talking, sharp and aggressive, so it is logical to use interrogative and mandatory sentences. Angustias, Magdalena, and Amelia are characterized by monotony in their words. Martirio, for her part, uses threats and abuses. Adela is characterized by force and verbal abuse, using imperatives and sharp, energetic phrases. Poncia's language is extremely rich and varied; it has the grace of popular language. Maria Josefa's language is a mixture of childlike speech and disturbed speech.
The Language of the Home
The language of the home is Andalusian, often led to its essence. The Andalusian language is not often used "realistically" and is also proud of it. Poetic language is increasing, and will have double value, double meanings, so words become symbols. *The House of Bernarda Alba* cannot be anything other than poetic theater. The work is a poetic building erected and dedicated to hatred and repression. However, all elements come from the fact that Lorca masterfully staged them to create his Andalusian poetic drama.
Social Commentary in *The House of Bernarda Alba***
PLANO OFFICE: Obviously, Lorca had a really great social conscience and was increasingly concerned about social problems. But it cannot be concluded that *Bernarda* is a political work. Lorca is a social writer, very critical of society.
Subtitle Interpretation
The subtitle of the book, "Drama of Women in the Villages of Spain," has caused some problems. It is not intended to represent the women of all Spanish towns. Yerma, Bernarda, and other cases are special cases within the framework of the Andalusian phenomenon.
Bernarda as a Representation
Bernarda is the representation of an abnormal life of an Andalusian family on the sidelines. The author is now interested in the moral life of a people, and no doubt there is social criticism, but it is not targeted at Spanish society, or even Andalusian society as a whole. Bernarda is strict, traditional, and intolerant to the maximum, but she does not represent Spain, not even its people. She represents only a woman who uses the socio-moral code of her society (the Andalusian village) for her own purposes.
Thematic Focus: Individual vs. Society
Lorca's work is the epitome of Andalusia, and its ethics are the ethics of love. Bernarda is the character of authority and social law. Bernarda is bad, repressive, and tyrannical, but always within the limits of the target company established in the Andalusian countryside for centuries. The struggle between individual law, expressed especially in anarchic sexuality, and social law in Adela, and Bernarda's authoritarian need to suppress this individuality, cannot be more universally human. Lorca studied here the moral and human issue, criticized the two forces, but is interested in fighting it in its theatrical force.