The House of Bernarda Alba made me think of a world where nothing grows. The eight years of

mourning is solidified through guilt and shame. Bernarda fills the house with resentment and envy. There

was a time when the house was once a place full of promise and now is a symbol for confinement,

isolation and decay. There is a sense that hope does not exist however there are still remnants of a rich

family history. The many windows and doors are barriers distinguishing the inside from the outside.

Bernarda’s house is filled with the rigidity by which she lives with iron, bronze, gold and silver objects.

There is a sense of frustration that the many thick walls of the house cannot be penetrated making the

light source dim and never able to shine out. It gets darker and the windows begin to shut as Bernarda’s

control is depleting. In this effort to control her daughters, Bernarda cannot see that the nature of sexual

desire and freedom has already manipulated her household. Adela is passionately in love with Pepe el 

Romano, Angustias has been given a glimmer of hope for her future and Martirio has understood that

that competing with her sisters is the only way out. Maria Josefa’s idea of marriage and the far away sea is

all too real for her and La Poncia’s acceptance and understanding that the natural order of things cannot

be contained is what makes her wisdom valuable as things begin to unfold. Contrary to Bernarda’s house

the natural world and all its romantic influence on human beings is something that cannot be controlled.