Characters and Themes in The House of Bernarda Alba
Characters in *The House of Bernarda Alba*
Lorca presents characters in *The House of Bernarda Alba* mainly through their interactions. These include main, secondary, and even unseen or alluded-to characters. The names of the characters are symbolic; for example, Bernarda means “hard,” signifying anxiety and sadness; Angustias means “anguish”; and Alba means “dawn-white” (purity). The characters are also taken from reality and the terms of commonality, which Lorca uses in the play.
Main Characters
- Bernarda:
Roman Leisure, Festivities, and Sciences
Leisure, Holidays, and Traditions
Holidays
Every nine days, the Romans had a day of rest. Roman festivals were closely related to religion. In fact, it was the pontiff who mostly elaborated and controlled the calendar, and also indicated the holidays and working days. Each year, the Pope indicated the most suitable tokens for public activity and on fasti (courts). Because citizens were not informed, calendars were hung on the walls of buildings.
Major Holidays
The holidays are a portrait of the idiosyncratic
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Generation of ’27
Production Quality and Exceptional Poets: (Garcia Lorca, Rafael Alberti, Vicente Aleixandre).
Traits: Personal relations, a tribute to Góngora, formation of common cultural interests.
Evolution:
- Formation stage (Juan Ramón Jiménez’s influence).
- Personal stage.
- Social and political concerns stage (influenced by Surrealism) (after the Spanish Civil War, they were dispersed).
Neopopularism: Short compositions and high lyrical intensity (Rafael Alberti, Federico García Lorca).
Influence
Official Languages of Spain: Beyond Castilian
Languages of Spain
Castilian (Spanish) is not the only official language of Spain. Some communities have co-official status with Castilian, including Catalan, Galician, and Basque.
Catalan
Catalan is a Romance language that is co-official with Castilian in Catalonia, Andorra, the Balearic Islands, and Valencia (where it’s known as Valencian).
Origin: It emerged in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula.
Literary Tradition: It has a rich literary tradition, highlighted by the Forum Iudicum, culminating
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His father, Juan Vicente Bolívar y Ponte, and his mother, Doña María de la Concepción Palacios y Blanco, belonged to the Caracas aristocracy. When they married in 1773, there was a significant age difference between the spouses: Juan Vicente was 47 years old, and Concepción was 15. They had four children: Juan Vicente, María Antonia, Juana, and María del Carmen, all older than Simón.
The Bolívar family came from a village called La Puebla de Bolívar in Vizcaya (Basque Country, Spain),
Catalan Literature Decline and Renaissance: A Historical View
The Decline of Catalan Literature (16th-18th Centuries)
Definition: A period of crisis lasting three centuries (16th-18th centuries) where Catalan literature diminished under the influence of Latin and Spanish literature.
Historical Reasons:
- The end of the Barcelona dynasty and the enthronement of a Castilian king, Ferdinand of Antequera.
- The union of the Crown of Aragon with Castile through the marriage of Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain (1469).
Socio-economic Causes:
- The shift of Mediterranean maritime