Love, Passion, and Control Theme Analysis

In Blood Wedding, Federico Garcia Lorca scrutinizes the nature of love and the ways in which passionate romance can affect a person’s control over his or her life. In his treatment of the Bride and the Bridegroom’s relationship, Lorca presents the audience with a seemingly blissful and logical pairing, one that should—for all intents and purposes—bring happiness to both partners. Although the Bride is clearly less invested in the relationship than her fiancé, she appears to actively want to marry him for practical reasons. However, she finds herself unable to go through with the marriage because her true love lies with Leonardo, who is one of the Bridegroom’s enemies. When Leonardo first appears at her wedding, she tries to resist her feelings by telling him to keep his distance throughout the day. Later, she rushes to the Bridegroom and insists that they hurry the ceremony along, clearly hoping that making their union official will keep her from succumbing to her true desire for Leonardo. In this way, Lorca intimates that the Bride is afraid of what she might do under the strong influence of love. Indeed, protecting herself from her own desires, the Bride attempts to ignore her feelings by making a pragmatic commitment to the Bridegroom, one that will provide her with domestic and financial stability. When she later elopes with Leonardo even after having married the Bridegroom, though, the audience sees that she is powerless against her romantic passions. In turn, Lorca suggests that love is irrational and perfectly capable of squashing a person’s willpower, regardless of what he or she does to stave off the yearnings of the heart.

The Bride’s initial decision to marry the Bridegroom is pragmatic and rational. Rather than paying attention to her romantic feelings, she focuses on the practical reasons to get married to a man like the Bridegroom, who can provide her with everything except the passion she feels for Leonardo. Given that everybody in her life (except Leonardo) fixates on the pragmatic benefits of marriage, it’s unsurprising that she settles for a steady—but unimpassioned—domestic life. “You know what getting married is, child?” the Bridegroom’s mother asks, and the Bride “solemnly” says she does. “A man, children, and as for the rest a wall that’s two feet thick,” her future mother-in-law intones, suggesting that the only reasons to get married are to attach oneself to a man, to have children, and to live in a sturdy house. “Who needs anything else?” the Bridegroom happily adds, demonstrating just how oblivious he is to the fact that his future wife happens to want love in addition to these relatively mundane perks. Rather than backing out, though, the Bride commits herself to this dreary, loveless life, saying, “I know my duty” in response to her future mother-in-law’s talk about childrearing. As such, the Bride frames the institution of marriage as an obligation to which she has stoically resigned herself. In other words, she has chosen to live a cheerless life in order to attain the kind of domestic stability her society values most.

However, the Bride’s resolve to enter into a loveless marriage falters when Leonardo appears on her wedding day, stirring up feelings of passion that threaten the Bride’s commitment to pragmatism. When he laments that she decided not to marry him (for financial reasons) when they were first together, she replies, “I’ve got my pride. Which is why I’m getting married. And I’ll shut myself away with my husband, and I’ll love him above everything.” Despite these strong words, though, Leonardo simply says, “Pride will get you nowhere,” adding that “to keep quiet and burn is the greatest punishment we can heap upon ourselves.” When he says this, the Bride begins to “tremble” and admits that just hearing “the sound of his voice” is enough to make her feel “drunk.” But before she completely breaks down, the servant steps in and sends Leonardo away. Still, though, the damage has been done, and the Bride now knows how difficult it will be to turn her back on love.

After realizing how susceptible she is to her love for Leonardo, the Bride tries to seal her own fate by hurrying along the wedding process. “Let’s get to the church quickly,” she tells the Bridegroom, saying, “I want to be your wife and be alone with you and not hear any other voice but yours.” Although this might seem like an expression of love, it is actually the Bride’s flimsy attempt to run from love, since the only reason she wants to “be alone” with the Bridegroom is so she can’t listen to Leonardo’s pleadings, which she knows will crush her willpower and convince her to sacrifice the even-keeled domestic life she’s trying to secure for herself. Going on, she tells the Bridegroom she wants him to “hold [her] so tight that” she couldn’t break free from his grasp even if she wanted to. By saying this, she reveals that she wants her future husband to make it impossible for her to act on her true desires. As such, the audience sees that if she were to listen to her heart, she would certainly not choose to be with the Bridegroom, which is why she needs him to force her to stay.

Even after the Bride marries the Bridegroom, she isn’t safe from her own desires. This becomes evident when she elopes with Leonardo during the wedding’s afterparty, having finally given into her yearnings. This lapse of willpower illustrates how difficult it is to resist passion. “You have to follow your instinct,” says the Greek chorus of woodcutters, who comment on the Bride and Leonardo’s elopement, saying that “they were right to run away.” In keeping with this, Leonardo justifies what he and the Bride have done by upholding that “the fault belongs to the earth,” implying that it would be unnatural to deny certain romantic bonds, which are stronger than humans themselves. In this way, Lorca suggests that although following one’s heart might end in tragedy (since both Leonardo and the Bridegroom eventually die as a result of the elopement), it’s pointless to resist the undeniable strength of love and passion.