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Poncia
Pepe el Romano is Angustias, Martirio, and Adela’s love interest, and seemingly the only man in their village whom Bernarda deems high-class enough for her daughters. While he never appears onstage, Pepe visits Bernarda’s house each night to talk to Angustias and Adela through their windows. Though he proposes marriage to Angustias, likely because she has inherited all of her father’s wealth, he carries on an affair with Adela, which leaves her pregnant and indirectly contributes to her suicide at the end of the play. His womanizing and impropriety reflect how traditional Spanish conceptions of honor give men all but complete power over women—and therefore also license to mistreat them.
Pepe el Romano Quotes in The House of Bernarda Alba
The The House of Bernarda Alba quotes below are all either spoken by Pepe el Romano or refer to Pepe el Romano . 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 2
Quotes
PONCIA: Afterwards, he behaved himself. Instead of doing something else, he took up breeding finches—until he died. Anyway, it’s best for single women like you to know that fifteen days after the wedding a man leaves the bed for the table, then the table for the tavern. And any woman who doesn’t accept it rots away crying in a corner!
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Explanation and Analysis:
ADELA: She follows me everywhere. Sometimes she peeks into my room to see if I’m asleep. She won’t let me breathe! And it’s always, “What a shame about that face!” “What a shame about that body, which will never belong to anyone!” No! My body will be for anyone I please.
PONCIA: Besides, who says you can’t marry him? Your sister Angustias is sickly. She won't survive her first childbirth. She's narrow in the hips, old, and from what I know, I can tell she’ll die. Then Pepe will do what all widowers do in this country: he’ll marry the youngest, the most beautiful, and that will be you. Live on that hope or forget him, whatever you want: just don’t go against the law of God!
(Outside, a woman screams, and there is a great uproar)
ADELA: They should let her go! Don’t go out there!
MARTIRIO: (Looking at ADELA) Let her pay for what she did.
BERNARDA: (In the archway) Finish her off before the Civil Guard gets here! Burning coals in the place where she sinned!
ADELA: (Clutching her womb) No! No!
BERNARDA: Kill her! Kill her!
CURTAIN
Act 3
Quotes
PRUDENCIA: It’s lovely. Three pearls! In my day, pearls meant tears.
ANGUSTIAS: But things have changed now.
ADELA: I don’t think so. Things always mean the same. Engagement rings are supposed to be diamonds.
PRUDENCIA: It’s more appropriate.
BERNARDA: You shouldn’t ask him. Especially after you’re married. Speak if he speaks, and look at him when he looks at you. That way, you won’t quarrel.
ANGUSTIAS: Mother, I think he hides many things from me.
BERNARDA: Don’t try to find out about them. Don’t ask him. And, above all, don’t ever let him see you cry.
ANGUSTIAS: I should be happy, and I’m not.
ADELA: Mother, when there’s a shooting star or a flash of lightning, why do we say:
Blessed Santa Barbara, why
Are you writing, up so high,
With holy water in the sky?
BERNARDA: In the old days they knew many things that we have forgotten.
AMELIA: I close my eyes so I won’t see them!
ADELA: Not me. I like to see things blazing through the sky, after being motionless year after year.
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Explanation and Analysis:
MARTIRIO: (Pointing at ADELA) She was with him! Look at her petticoats, covered with straw!
BERNARDA: That is the bed of sinful women! (She moves toward ADELA, furious)
ADELA: (Confronting her) The shouting in this prison is over! (She seizes her mother’s cane and breaks it in two) This is what I do with the tyrant’s rod! Don’t take one step more. No one gives me orders but Pepe!
(A shot is heard)
BERNARDA: (Entering) I dare you to find him now!
MARTIRIO: (Entering) That’s the end of Pepe el Romano!
ADELA: Pepe! My God! Pepe! (She runs out of the room)
BERNARDA: I want no weeping. We must look death in the face. Silence! (To another daughter) Be quiet, I said! (To another daughter) Tears, when you’re alone. We will all drown ourselves in a sea of mourning. The youngest daughter of Bernarda Alba has died a virgin. Did you hear me? Silence! Silence, I said! Silence!
CURTAIN
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Pepe el Romano Quotes in The House of Bernarda Alba
The The House of Bernarda Alba quotes below are all either spoken by Pepe el Romano or refer to Pepe el Romano . 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 2
Quotes
PONCIA: Afterwards, he behaved himself. Instead of doing something else, he took up breeding finches—until he died. Anyway, it’s best for single women like you to know that fifteen days after the wedding a man leaves the bed for the table, then the table for the tavern. And any woman who doesn’t accept it rots away crying in a corner!
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
ADELA: She follows me everywhere. Sometimes she peeks into my room to see if I’m asleep. She won’t let me breathe! And it’s always, “What a shame about that face!” “What a shame about that body, which will never belong to anyone!” No! My body will be for anyone I please.
PONCIA: Besides, who says you can’t marry him? Your sister Angustias is sickly. She won't survive her first childbirth. She's narrow in the hips, old, and from what I know, I can tell she’ll die. Then Pepe will do what all widowers do in this country: he’ll marry the youngest, the most beautiful, and that will be you. Live on that hope or forget him, whatever you want: just don’t go against the law of God!
(Outside, a woman screams, and there is a great uproar)
ADELA: They should let her go! Don’t go out there!
MARTIRIO: (Looking at ADELA) Let her pay for what she did.
BERNARDA: (In the archway) Finish her off before the Civil Guard gets here! Burning coals in the place where she sinned!
ADELA: (Clutching her womb) No! No!
BERNARDA: Kill her! Kill her!
CURTAIN
Act 3
Quotes
PRUDENCIA: It’s lovely. Three pearls! In my day, pearls meant tears.
ANGUSTIAS: But things have changed now.
ADELA: I don’t think so. Things always mean the same. Engagement rings are supposed to be diamonds.
PRUDENCIA: It’s more appropriate.
BERNARDA: You shouldn’t ask him. Especially after you’re married. Speak if he speaks, and look at him when he looks at you. That way, you won’t quarrel.
ANGUSTIAS: Mother, I think he hides many things from me.
BERNARDA: Don’t try to find out about them. Don’t ask him. And, above all, don’t ever let him see you cry.
ANGUSTIAS: I should be happy, and I’m not.
ADELA: Mother, when there’s a shooting star or a flash of lightning, why do we say:
Blessed Santa Barbara, why
Are you writing, up so high,
With holy water in the sky?
BERNARDA: In the old days they knew many things that we have forgotten.
AMELIA: I close my eyes so I won’t see them!
ADELA: Not me. I like to see things blazing through the sky, after being motionless year after year.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
MARTIRIO: (Pointing at ADELA) She was with him! Look at her petticoats, covered with straw!
BERNARDA: That is the bed of sinful women! (She moves toward ADELA, furious)
ADELA: (Confronting her) The shouting in this prison is over! (She seizes her mother’s cane and breaks it in two) This is what I do with the tyrant’s rod! Don’t take one step more. No one gives me orders but Pepe!
(A shot is heard)
BERNARDA: (Entering) I dare you to find him now!
MARTIRIO: (Entering) That’s the end of Pepe el Romano!
ADELA: Pepe! My God! Pepe! (She runs out of the room)
BERNARDA: I want no weeping. We must look death in the face. Silence! (To another daughter) Be quiet, I said! (To another daughter) Tears, when you’re alone. We will all drown ourselves in a sea of mourning. The youngest daughter of Bernarda Alba has died a virgin. Did you hear me? Silence! Silence, I said! Silence!
CURTAIN
