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Angustias
Thirty-year-old Magdalena is Bernarda’s second daughter and the eldest of her children with Don Antonio. Caring and perceptive, she is the only person to truly mourn her father’s passing, and she tries to look out for Angustias and Adela by warning them about Pepe el Romano’s double-crossing and unseemly motives. While Bernarda desperately wants Magdalena to marry, she says “to hell with being a woman!” and resolves to live independently, to whatever extent she can in rural Spain in the 1930s. Arguably, she is the play’s kindest and most ethical character—but also the most cynical, as she clearly understands the limits that patriarchy places on women and harbors no illusions about love or marriage saving her from them.
Magdalena Quotes in The House of Bernarda Alba
The The House of Bernarda Alba quotes below are all either spoken by Magdalena or refer to Magdalena. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Act 1
Quotes
MAGDALENA: Neither mine nor yours. I know I’m not going to get married. I'd rather carry sacks to the mill. Anything but sit in this dark room, day after day!
BERNARDA: That’s what it means to be a woman.
MAGDALENA: To hell with being a woman!
BERNARDA: Here you do what I tell you to do! You can't run to your father with your stories anymore. A needle and thread for females; a mule and a whip for males. That’s how it is for people born with means.
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ADELA: I’m thinking that this period of mourning has caught me at the worst possible time.
MAGDALENA: You’ll soon get used to it.
ADELA: (Bursting into angry tears) I will not get used to it! I don't want to be locked up! I don't want my body to dry up like yours! I don't want to waste away and grow old in these rooms. Tomorrow, I’ll put on my green dress and go walking down the street. I want to get out!
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Act 2
Quotes
ADELA: (Sitting down) Oh, if only I could go out to the fields, too!
MAGDALENA: (Sitting down) Each class does what it must.
MARTIRIO: (Sitting down) That’s how it is.
(AMELIA sits down with a sigh)
PONCIA: There’s no greater joy than being in the fields at this time of year! Yesterday morning the harvesters arrived. Forty or fifty good-looking young men.
AMELIA: To be born a woman is the worst punishment.
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Magdalena Quotes in The House of Bernarda Alba
The The House of Bernarda Alba quotes below are all either spoken by Magdalena or refer to Magdalena. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Act 1
Quotes
MAGDALENA: Neither mine nor yours. I know I’m not going to get married. I'd rather carry sacks to the mill. Anything but sit in this dark room, day after day!
BERNARDA: That’s what it means to be a woman.
MAGDALENA: To hell with being a woman!
BERNARDA: Here you do what I tell you to do! You can't run to your father with your stories anymore. A needle and thread for females; a mule and a whip for males. That’s how it is for people born with means.
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ADELA: I’m thinking that this period of mourning has caught me at the worst possible time.
MAGDALENA: You’ll soon get used to it.
ADELA: (Bursting into angry tears) I will not get used to it! I don't want to be locked up! I don't want my body to dry up like yours! I don't want to waste away and grow old in these rooms. Tomorrow, I’ll put on my green dress and go walking down the street. I want to get out!
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Explanation and Analysis:
Act 2
Quotes
ADELA: (Sitting down) Oh, if only I could go out to the fields, too!
MAGDALENA: (Sitting down) Each class does what it must.
MARTIRIO: (Sitting down) That’s how it is.
(AMELIA sits down with a sigh)
PONCIA: There’s no greater joy than being in the fields at this time of year! Yesterday morning the harvesters arrived. Forty or fifty good-looking young men.
AMELIA: To be born a woman is the worst punishment.
