Federico García Lorca: Analysis of Dramatic Works and Symbolism

Lorca: Dramatic Production and Symbolism

Lorca's dramatic production expresses the problems of life and history through a language loaded with drama, farce, and symbolism.

Early Works

His first theatrical dramas are related to Modernismo, including The Butterfly's Evil Spell and Mariana Pineda. The four farces derived from Lorca explore the expressive conflict between the marriage of the old and the young, contrasting luxury with commercial theater using popular forms like puppet shows (guiñol).

Impossible Comedies and Farces

Lorca's "impossible theater" anticipates the breakdown of spatiotemporal logic, the overflow of personality, and the possibility of multiple interpretations.

• As Soon as Five Years Pass (1931): Describes an existential drama between a young man who waits five years to marry, only to find his fiancée has moved on to a rugby player, while the typist he once ignored seeks him out.
• The Public (1933): Dramatizes the mental process of a stage director. It places the conflict in a dream world with multiple symbolic characters, developing personality issues and the concept of "theatre beneath the sand."
• Untitled Comedy: The first act is known; it presents the relationships between drama, reality, and social-political concerns.

Tragedies and Dramas

The tragedies take place in a rural setting where natural forces impose a tragic destiny. The plot is often secondary, featuring few main characters and the intervention of choruses.

• Blood Wedding (Bodas de Sangre): Represents the flight of a bride on her wedding day with her former boyfriend, emphasizing the strength of instinct.
• Yerma: Sterility occurs as a curse for the protagonist. Yerma is fruitful, but her husband, Juan, functions as a natural rule-breaker. The end reveals she wants children, leading her to kill him.
• The House of Bernarda Alba: Develops the conflict between the principles of authority, embodied by Bernarda—who imposes years of mourning and seclusion on her daughters after her husband's death—and the principle of freedom, represented by Adela, who maintains a hidden relationship with Pepe el Romano. The action elapses in an hermetic space.