Contextualising the play: The social, cultural and historical context of the play will be discussed in some detail and the relative importance of each as a factor in the writing, producing and interpretation of the play will be considered.
Context is the circumstances and conditions which surround the play. We are able to tell that the social, historical and cultural context all affected Lorca and this emphasised certain aspects of “Blood Wedding”. The play has many references to social, cultural and historical events and themes.
Frederico Garcia Lorca was born in a rural background and this could have affected the play. Lorca was born in Granada, Spain. Granada is positioned next to Andalucia, where it is presumed to be set. We are able to tell this, as Lorca makes many references to scenes which are present in Andalucia, such as the vineyards. These vineyards are in “Blood Wedding” as well as vineyards being present in Andalucia. At university, Lorca met a famous artist named Salvador Dali, which could have influenced some of the parts of “Blood Wedding”, such as the surreal scenes with the woodcutters and the moon. Also this could have influenced the use of the evocative juxtaposition of images. Around the time of the writing “Blood Wedding”, the rising artists Picasso and cubist artists could have influenced “Blood Wedding”. Picasso used symbolism in their art and this could have possibly inspired Lorca to use symbolic language in the play. In Spain, Lorca was confined to certain guidelines due to the politics. This meant that Lorca was unable to express himself as much as he may have liked; and this could have affected the way Lorca wanted to express himself. Then the Spanish government changed and therefore this allowed Lorca more freedom to write and create new literature, plays and art. During this time, Lorca wrote “Blood Wedding”.