1. Introduction:
The work is a faithful reflection of the period. Women should stay at home waiting, and obey their husbands or men in the house. However, in the play only female characters are present physically and male characters are just mentioned by the women so. Therefore, we could say that in the play Bernarda plays the role of a male character, since she will be the man in the house, the ruler. The aim of this essay is to observe the situation of men and women in that period, and to look more precisely to various characters to see how they acted and what they thought about the other gender. The characters we will be looking at are Bernarda and Adela on the female side (even if Bernarda plays the role of a man), and on the other side, Pepe el Romano and the men that are mentioned, including Poncia’s husband. In order to prove the statements, I will give examples from the text, taking parts of the dialogue. Moreover, I will portray some of the symbols Lorca used to represent the characters’ feelings and attitudes.
2. Society:
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In the Act I we can read how Bernarda states: “That’s what it means to be a woman” (7), referring to (mirar que viene antes). Women in that period didn’t have a chance to study; however, women who came from wealthy families did have the opportunity to study piano, French, etc. In the play, we can observe how the daughters spend most of their time sewing the clothes for the wedding. As Bernarda says, “A needle and thread for women. A whip and a mule for men” (Bernarda 7). Sewing was also very important to maintain the appearance, which is another theme of the