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Act 1
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The House of Bernarda Alba, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Freedom, Desire, and Tragedy
Patriarchy and Domination
Class and Honor
Tradition and Modernity in Spain
Summary
Analysis
Bernarda’s daughters, except Adela, are embroidering with Poncia. As she embroiders sheets for Amelia, Magdalena jokes to Angustias that she is adding Pepe’s initials. The women wonder why Adela hasn’t come, and Angustias says she can’t wait to move away. Poncia opens the door to stave off the summer heat. Magdalena and Amelia comment that they saw Pepe visiting Angustias the previous night, although they disagree about how late he stayed. Martirio says it’s strange that Pepe would start approaching Angustias, even though they had never met before. Angustias explains that she knew why Pepe was coming, and he asked for her hand matter-of-factly, claiming he wanted a “well behaved” wife. Angustias was thrilled; she had never been alone with a man like that.
Embroidery is the paramount female-coded activity for women of Bernarda’s class, who were wealthy enough to avoid even housework. This is why Bernarda has ordered her daughters to spend their eight years of mourning embroidering their ajuares (wedding linens), which is of course a metaphor for their preparation for marriage. Thus, it’s ironic that Magdalena—the sister least interested in marriage—takes the lead. This underlines how tradition is quickly becoming less relevant in Spain. Magdalena’s joke to Adelia about Pepe is also ironic, as they are the only two sisters who do not become involved with him in some way. Pepe’s interest in a “well behaved” wife fits cleanly with the value system that Bernarda has taught her daughters, but it also suggests that he is interested in marrying for status rather than love. Readers and audiences must recall that Angustias is 39 years old, so her comment that she had never been alone with a man reflects just how sheltered and unfree Bernarda has kept her daughters throughout their lives.
Themes
Poncia describes the first time her husband came to her window; they briefly chatted, then embraced through the window bars, then married. Like all men, Poncia’s husband quickly grew tired of her. But it could have been much worse. All men cheat and drink, she laments, and women have to accept it. She hit him and even killed his beloved pet finches when he misbehaved. The other women laugh.
Poncia’s love story represents the typical romantic script for rural Spain in the 1930s: men propose to women quickly, treating the process almost like the acquisition of property, then just as quickly forget about them and go on with their immoral behavior. While Poncia’s pushback to her husband shows that she had some power in her marriage, she still accepted his misbehavior and viewed her subordinate role in the marriage as proper.
Themes
Magdalena goes to check on Adela, who Angustias says is envious and mad. Magdalena brings Adela inside, but Adela says she just feels sick. She tells the others to leave her alone and keep embroidering, and she complains that she can’t go anywhere without all her sisters finding out. The Maid enters and reports that Bernarda wants them all; everyone leaves besides Poncia and Adela, who insults the departing Martirio.
To understand Adela’s frustration, it is helpful to remember that she is just 20 years old, and her mother is demanding that she spend the next eight years of her life locked inside, mourning. Adela seems to just now be learning how scripted and restricted her life will be as a woman in rural Spain—something to which her sisters have long since resigned themselves. That said, there is clearly something else behind her anger, too: she is in love with Pepe el Romano and cannot stand the thought of him marrying Angustias instead.
Themes
Adela complains that Martirio constantly watches her and comments on her face and body. “My body will be for anyone I please,” Adela announces, and Poncia asks if she means Pepe el Romano. Poncia points out that Adela woke up and stood at the window when Pepe last visited Angustias, then comments that Angustias probably won’t survive childbirth and Pepe could remarry Adela afterward. Offended, Adela cries and screams at Poncia, who claims that she is just trying to prevent the family from falling into disgrace. Adela warns that Poncia won’t stop her and declares that whatever happens between her and Pepe is meant to be.
Martirio and Adela view each other as rivals not only because they are the two youngest sisters, but also because they are both in love with Pepe. Adela suggests that she is willing to have sex with Pepe even outside the bounds of marriage, which is radical departure from the social norms in her community. Indeed, according to those norms, women’s bodies belong not to themselves but to their husbands—and yet men are free to sleep with whomever they want. Poncia offers Adela a clear but deeply cynical way to reconcile these norms with her desires by predicting that Angustias will die in childbirth, then Pepe will keep her wealth and marry Adela instead.
Themes
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Angustias enters, and Adela and Poncia pretend they are just arguing about errands. Satisfied, Angustias leaves. Martirio, Amelia, and Magdalena enter and chat about Angustias’s wedding lace, but agree that they won’t go on sewing for Angustias if she chooses to have children.
In Bernarda’s small, crowded house, misunderstandings abound because everything risks being overheard. The sisters’ reluctance to embroider for Angustias’s potential future children, instead of themselves, reflects their very real worry that Angustias will be the only one to marry because she is the only one with enough wealth to offer an adequate dowry.
Themes
The bells strike three o’clock, and men start returning home from the fields. The women wish they could go out and see the attractive young fieldhands, who have come from the mountains to work. But due to their class, the women must stay home. Poncia says that 15 of the fieldhands took a dancing-woman into the olive grove last night. Poncia concludes that “men need these things” (including her own son) and Amelia declares that “to be born a woman is the worst punishment.” In the distance, the fieldhands sing about harvesting wheat and seducing women. The sisters dream of being free to come and go as they please.
This scene reflects the tragic dimension of class divisions in García Lorca’s rural Spain: just as Poncia wishes she had Bernarda’s family’s wealth, so that she wouldn’t have to spend her life working for them, the sisters wish they could have the freedom of lower-class women, who don’t have to lock themselves inside and stick to men of their own social class in order to keep up appearances. Still, Poncia’s comment about “men need[ing] these things” shows that women of her class are no more exempt from patriarchy.
Themes
Adela, Magdalena, and Poncia go to watch the men out of Adela’s bedroom window. Meanwhile, Martirio tells Amelia that the summer heat is making her sick and asks if Amelia knows anything about the sounds she heard coming from the corral late at night. Amelia says that maybe it was just a wild mule, and Martirio slyly jokes that it must have been. Amelia starts to leave and Martirio calls out her name, but claims it was an accident.
Doors and windows again provide the sisters with their only connection to the outside world. Martirio’s comment about the corral is clearly a sexual reference. (It’s about Adela and Pepe.) But Amelia naïvely takes Martirio at face value. Having taken Bernarda’s values and the women’s honor code to heart more than any of her sisters, Amelia simply cannot—or chooses not to—see the salacious truth.
Themes
Angustias enters, furious that someone has stolen the picture of Pepe she kept under her pillow. Her sisters return, and Angustias confronts them. Bernarda comes in, too, and she declares that the neighbors will hear the sisters’ argument. Angustias mentions the stolen photo and Bernarda sends Poncia to search the other sisters’ rooms for it. Poncia returns shortly thereafter with the photo, which she says she found in Martirio’s bed. Bernarda beats Martirio with her cane, but Angustias stops her. Martirio claims she was just playing a prank on her sister, but Adela insists that Martirio is in love with Pepe, too. Martirio declares that “the walls will collapse in shame” if she tells the truth.
Martirio’s comment about her shame suggests that Adela is right: Martirio is also in love with Pepe, and her jealousy for Angustias and Adela has risen to the level of a veritable sibling rivalry. Readers and audiences should consider this in the context of Martirio’s romantic history—and specifically the suitor who left her for a wealthier woman. Meanwhile, Bernarda’s reaction to the situation shows that she values her family’s reputation far more than her daughters’ wellbeing: she cares more about whether the neighbors hear the sisters fighting than what they are actually arguing about.
Themes
The sisters all accuse one another of sin; Angustias reminds the others that Pepe el Romano chose her, but Adela, Martirio, and Magdalena declare that he just wants her money. Distraught, Bernarda kicks her daughters out of the room. She and Poncia agree that they have to get Angustias and Pepe married and “far away from here” as soon as possible. But Poncia speculates that Pepe won’t leave; Bernarda objects and accuses Poncia of attacking her. “Open your eyes and you’ll see,” Poncia tells Bernarda; Bernarda seems to see everyone’s flaws but her own daughters’. But Bernarda still insists that Martirio was just joking when she stole Angustias’s picture of Pepe.
Bernarda and Poncia hope to fix the sisters’ conflict by rushing Angustias and Pepe’s marriage, so there is no longer any question of who gets to be with him. This shows that they do not necessarily view a transactional marriage as problematic—even when Angustias would be the one offering up property. Poncia’s attempt to help Bernarda see what is really going on demonstrates that, despite her deep hatred for Bernarda, she is still invested in the sisters’ wellbeing (and the family’s overall reputation). Unfortunately, Bernarda refuses to accept a reality that contradicts her fantasy: that her daughters will carry forth tradition and the bloodline by finding appropriate husbands in due time.
Themes
Poncia tells Bernarda that “something monstrous is happening here” and argues that Bernarda should have let Martirio marry her suitor Enrique Humanas, even if his father was merely a fieldhand. But Bernarda refuses to mix with a lower-class family and accuses Poncia of forgetting her own low birth. She insists that nothing is wrong in her house and declares that her family would never be caught dead in the brothel that Poncia’s late mother used to run.
Poncia’s comment reveals the true reason why Martirio’s engagement collapsed: Bernarda sabotaged it because she thought Enrique was not high-class enough for her daughter. But Martirio does not know about her mother’s involvement, and thus blames herself for Enrique’s loss of interest. Thus, Bernarda is in some way responsible for Martirio’s rabid jealousy, which unleashes the tragic conflict at the end of the play.
Themes
Poncia says she shouldn’t have gotten involved in the family’s problems, and Bernarda replies that her job is to “work and keep your mouth shut.” But Poncia says that she felt the need to say something, and that it would be better for everyone if Pepe marries Adela—the woman he really loves. “Things are never the way we would like them to be,” Bernarda quips, but Poncia replies that people always end up following their true desires. Bernarda accuses Poncia of inventing evil prophecies, but she reassures herself that her daughters would never disobey her. The real problem will come once they’re independent, Poncia says, but Bernarda insists she’ll overpower them.
Poncia only wants to help: she has tried to inform Bernarda about the brewing conflict among her daughters because she hopes that, together, they can prevent it. But Bernarda continues to deny this reality instead of confronting it. For instance, she assumes that she will always be able to control her daughters by dominating them, even as they are growing more and more resistant to her control. This makes Bernarda’s quote about things not fitting our fantasies all the more ironic. While Bernarda assumes that everyone will fall in line with the dictates of tradition, however, Poncia recognizes that the sisters no longer respect it—and particularly that Adela may be willing to ruin Angustias’s marriage prospects to get Pepe for herself.
Themes
Poncia points out that her son saw Angustias and Pepe talking at four-thirty in the morning. Angustias enters to say that this is false, and Pepe leaves at one. Martirio comes in, too, and agrees that she heard Pepe leaving from the alley window at four o’clock. Angustias says she speaks to Pepe through her bedroom window, not the alley window. As Adela stands in the doorway, Bernarda, Poncia, and Martirio all realize that something is wrong. Adela accuses Poncia of trying to destroy the family; Bernarda agrees, calls the rumors false, and tells her daughters to ignore them. She insists that she will find out the truth for herself. Angustias says she wants to know what is happening, but Bernarda says that she has “no right except to obey.”
Poncia and Martirio’s observations suggest that Pepe goes over to Adela’s window after his evening chats with Angustias. This confirms Poncia’s suspicion that Pepe and Adela are already carrying on an affair—a truth that Bernarda stubbornly refuses to accept. Her denial is closely linked to her faith in traditional women’s honor codes: she fails to see Adela’s adultery in part because she finds it unfathomable that one of her daughters could ever do something so dishonorable. As a corollary, since she thinks of marriage as inviolable (despite her own husband’s adultery), she assumes that Angustias and Pepe’s marriage will naturally end the conflict among her daughters. But she fails to realize that her daughters do not place the same credence in this honor code that she does.
Themes
The Maid announces that all the townspeople are gathering in the streets; Bernarda sends Poncia to figure out what is happening, but she chastises her daughters for breaking their mourning obligations when they try to follow. Everyone leaves but Martirio and Adela, who both threaten to expose the other. Martirio claims that she’s attracted to Pepe, but hasn’t done anything with him, and Adela claims that Pepe is trying to sleep with her, but she doesn’t want to.
This commotion pauses the play’s action, which again shows how that gossip, honor, and reputation play a central role in Bernarda’s village (and rural Spanish life more generally). This offers readers and audiences some insight into what it will mean for the townspeople to overhear any commotion in Bernarda’s house going forward. Meanwhile, Martirio and Adela’s rivalry keeps intensifying and suggests an impending tragic ending to the play.
Themes
The other women return to the room, and Poncia explains what is happening outside. A neighbor’s unmarried daughter just had a baby and killed it to hide her shame, but a pack of dogs found the body and dragged it to her doorstep. The townspeople have brought her out in the street and want to kill her. Bernarda announces that they should, as she has “trample[d] on decency.” Adela says they should let the woman live, but Martirio stares straight at Adela and says, “Let her pay for what she did.” Adela screams no and holds her womb. Bernarda yells “Kill her!” as the curtain falls.
In addition to showing how cruel and misogynistic Spain’s traditional honor codes can be, Bernarda’s reaction to the village woman’s infidelity and infanticide suggests that she might respond to Adela’s affair with Pepe in the same way—that is, if she ever realizes that it is happening. Of course, readers and audiences might also think that, given her great concern for her family’s reputation, Bernarda would prefer to highlight such impropriety. Regardless, Bernarda’s reaction clearly frightens Adela, who suggests that she may be pregnant by clutching her belly.
Themes
