The Usage of the Motif of Eyes to Illustrate Defiance, Effects ofRepression and Confinement, and Foreshadow in Federico Garcia Lorca's "TheHouse of Bernarda Alba"

Authors Avatar

The Usage of the Motif of Eyes to Illustrate Defiance, Effects of Repression and Confinement, and Foreshadow in Federico Garcia Lorca’s “The House of Bernarda Alba”

Winniarti Donyada

World Literature Paper 2

13th May 2005

Word Count: 1,152

        Although the human body functions the best when all five senses work, the sense of sight is arguably the most important of the senses. With that intact, it is definitely easier to get by because one will always be aware of the events occurring around him or her. In Federico Garcia Lorca’s “The House of Bernarda Alba”, the motif of eyes and sight is prevalent, and is used for various purposes: to show rebellion against a greater force, to show the effects of repression and confinement, and as well as a way of foreshadowing. In the play, Lorca could be said to be establishing that confinement and repression from a greater force can lead to one’s end, and through the way he uses the motif of vision, he is continuously reinforcing that idea.

        Because of the authoritarian figure of Bernarda Alba, a strict mother who confines her five adult daughters within the four walls of her house, subtle rebellion, usually through what they see, is the one method that her daughters use to defy her. For instance, Adela, the youngest of all the daughters, once told on her sister, Angustias, “I saw her looking out through the cracks of the back door” (Lorca 166). Here, she was referring to Angustias spying on the men outside their house, which could also suggest that she is looking out from the boundaries that her mother had set. This is an act of rebellion against her mother because firstly, she is disobeying her, since she knows her mother disapproves of it, and secondly, she is aware that snooping around during her father’s funeral is wrong, and perhaps even immoral. In addition to that, when Poncia, the house servant says, “It really disgusted me to see her (Angustias) sneak along to the patio” (Lorca 166), it reinforces the fact that Angustias was aware that she was doing something that should not have been done, as illustrated by the word “sneak”. Apart from rebellion, these two examples bring up the point that there is no privacy at home, since everyone is everyone else’s spy. Every event is always witnessed by somebody else, and is subsequently reported back to Bernarda or another person, which adds to the effect of the confinement. In any event, the examples mainly illustrate how Lorca is able to use the motif of eyes to portray rebellion against the dictator of the house.

Join now!

        Although the daughters rebel against Bernarda, her domination clearly still has an effect, especially on the youngest daughter Adela, as can be seen through Lorca’s use of sight. In the first act, Adela’s sister, Magdalena quotes her, “Chickens! Chickens, look at me!” (Lorca 171). Here, Magdalena is referring to the moment when Adela was out in the yard and acting rather bizarrely. She is the youngest and most attractive of all the sisters, but because she is not given the opportunity to expose her beauty to the world and is cooped up instead, it can be hypothesized that she has ...

This is a preview of the whole essay