In Both "La Casa de Bernarda Alba" (by F. Garcia Lorca), and King Lear, by Shakespeare, there are similar themes that seem to crop up again and again. I feel like they are making commentary on the same ideas, but come to some very vastly different conclusions.
Freedom
There is something about human nature that makes us want to find and express our own identity. This is so much the case in "La casa de Bernarda Alba" that it causes the eventual death of the youngest daughter of Bernarda, Adela. All of Bernardas' daughters (who are many) are forced to be cooped up inside the house, not allowed to leave. Never will they be able to leave until they are married, and they must be married off in order. The oldest sister, still unwed at 34, is not having any promising luck until Pepe el Romano comes around. All the other sisters start to boil up in anxiety and lust and want to express themselves-- but they cannot; they are not allowed to. The dictator-mother will not allow this to happen. Eventually, Adela sneaks out and gets together with Pepe. When Bernarda pretends to shoot him and her sister claims that he is dead, she commits suicide--so that finally she can be free. This is one of the major messages of the play: is death really the only way to escape drastic problems?
It seems that Shakespeare addresses the same question. The play ends so tragically that we wonder if there were not any other alternative that could have been more pleasant.
Family
Bernarda, a single parent, struggles to win the affection of her daughters. She serves as a commentary on Spanish lifestyle in the early 20th Century of keeping private life totally secluded and secret. She must mourn the death of her husband for months, without consolation. With the death of Adela, she tells all of her children to cease from their own sobbing and move on with life, pretending that Adela died a virgin. She never had the love of her children, although the daughters except for Adela, all pretended to give it to keep her happy.
In King Lear, there is also a single parent who at first seeks the love of his children. Two of them make something loquacious up to please him, and Cordelia conceals her true feelings for her father. The other sisters likewise never really love their father, and were only in a scheming plot to benefit themselves just as were the sisters in "La casa de Bernarda Alba" who hoped to get away from their mother by "nicely" putting up a face to isolate themselves for her.
Redemption
There is no redemption, in "La casa de Bernarda Alba", sadly. In King Lear, it is a prominent theme, especially when Edgar and his Father walk the Chalky cliffs of Dover together, and he proceeds with his plan to convince him that he is still very much of great worth. In this aspect the plays differ significantly.
Adversity
Again, here is where Shakespeare and Lorca crash heads. Adversity in "La casa de Bernarda Alba" seems to be built to evoke pity and demonstrate the horrible conditions of family life at this time in Spain. Although family feuds are also prevalent in King Lear, the message seems to be at times a little different. Edgar, with his father, gives the message that: although some trials are so great we cannot understand them, we can still learn to be more compassionate through them. This aspect of Shakespeare is valuable and does not exist in "La casa de Bernarda Alba".
Liberation
Interestingly, Cordelia and Adela both end up hanged. Adela hung herself, though Cordelia never had the choice. Reading the dramatic tones of the plays, however, one almost feels like both females considered that there really was nothing left for them had they stuck around. Were the authors both trying to say that life for them, had they lived, would have been too terrible to take? Is death ever really and answer to these problems?
Freedom
It seems that Shakespeare addresses the same question. The play ends so tragically that we wonder if there were not any other alternative that could have been more pleasant.
Family
Bernarda, a single parent, struggles to win the affection of her daughters. She serves as a commentary on Spanish lifestyle in the early 20th Century of keeping private life totally secluded and secret. She must mourn the death of her husband for months, without consolation. With the death of Adela, she tells all of her children to cease from their own sobbing and move on with life, pretending that Adela died a virgin. She never had the love of her children, although the daughters except for Adela, all pretended to give it to keep her happy.
In King Lear, there is also a single parent who at first seeks the love of his children. Two of them make something loquacious up to please him, and Cordelia conceals her true feelings for her father. The other sisters likewise never really love their father, and were only in a scheming plot to benefit themselves just as were the sisters in "La casa de Bernarda Alba" who hoped to get away from their mother by "nicely" putting up a face to isolate themselves for her.
Redemption
There is no redemption, in "La casa de Bernarda Alba", sadly. In King Lear, it is a prominent theme, especially when Edgar and his Father walk the Chalky cliffs of Dover together, and he proceeds with his plan to convince him that he is still very much of great worth. In this aspect the plays differ significantly.
Adversity
Again, here is where Shakespeare and Lorca crash heads. Adversity in "La casa de Bernarda Alba" seems to be built to evoke pity and demonstrate the horrible conditions of family life at this time in Spain. Although family feuds are also prevalent in King Lear, the message seems to be at times a little different. Edgar, with his father, gives the message that: although some trials are so great we cannot understand them, we can still learn to be more compassionate through them. This aspect of Shakespeare is valuable and does not exist in "La casa de Bernarda Alba".
Liberation
Interestingly, Cordelia and Adela both end up hanged. Adela hung herself, though Cordelia never had the choice. Reading the dramatic tones of the plays, however, one almost feels like both females considered that there really was nothing left for them had they stuck around. Were the authors both trying to say that life for them, had they lived, would have been too terrible to take? Is death ever really and answer to these problems?
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