4The House of Bernarda Alba
Act Four: Adela's Suicide Note
Statement of Intent
This work is a creative assignment based on "The House of Bernarda Alba" by Federico Garcia Lorca. I plan to add an act to the play in which Bernarda finds Adela's suicide note. This act is going to repeat a lot of the action in the first act in order to demonstrate the cyclical nature of life and the futility of Adela's death. Although it may not be the idea Lorca intended for this play, this is my personal response to the play. When I first read the play I felt that because Adela had taken control of her life, she had finally escaped her mother's tyranny. However upon closer inspection the last lines took on new meaning:
Tears when you're alone! We'll drown ourselves in a sea of mourning. She, the youngest daughter of Bernarda Alba, died a virgin. Did you hear me? Silence, silence, I said. Silence!
(Lorca 221)
These lines led me to the conclusion that perhaps, Adela's death was less influential than I thought. Bernarda Alba did not become enlightened and suddenly realize the error of her ways. Rather she clung to her domineering persona and tried to stifle the emotion out of remaining daughters. This creative piece attempts to expound on this idea.
Stage directions will be given describing the green walls that represent Adela's youth and free spirit and the candlelight that represents her passion. Bernarda will enter the stage, inspect the room in which she will be receiving her guests and find the note. She will read it, burn it, and continue with the funeral rites as if nothing had occurred. The primary portion of the assignment is the note. Although at times Adela addresses her mother and sisters directly, the letter is basically a recording of Adela's last thoughts. As such, the letter is written mostly in stream of consciousness. Adela's frantic state of mind is displayed through the use of repetitive statements, exclamations, and series of rhetorical questions. The rest of the act is quite sparse, revealing only the attitude of the world Adela left behind.
This additional scene enhances the understanding of "The House of Bernarda Alba" by highlighting the coldness of Bernarda and restrictive nature of the town. The assignment attempts to explore the themes of hypocrisy, pretension, confinement, and the double standard of sexuality. Adela identifies all of these as factors she is trying to escape by killing herself. These elements will also be displayed in the behavior of Bernarda and the Women, indicating the persistence of theses behaviors and points of view despite Adela's death. Literary techniques used in this assignment often imitate the funeral rites of Bernarda's husband and include the use of color imagery, dramatic irony, and the satire of religious rituals. Confinement is specifically addressed in the presence of bars on the windows and the candlelight being extinguished at the end of the act. By the end of the act it should be clear that the community has learned no lesson and they will continue to live in deception and repression.
I believe this piece was successful in its portrayal of Adela's emotions, although the language may not be in keeping with the time period. The creative portion also fulfilled my goal of depicting Bernarda as a heartless mother, who obsesses over reputation at the expense of her children. It is clear in this text that Adela's death had no lasting effect on Bernarda and for that matter the rest of society.
ACT FOUR
"Well then, lock the mares in the corral, but let him run free or he may kick down the walls" (Lorca 197).
Bernarda enters alone in a small room. The walls are clean white, lightly washed in green. The room is neat but spare with only a bed, a dresser, a table and a chair in the corner. The only light comes from a flickering candle and a small window that is welded shut with iron bars. Bernarda runs her fingers across the furniture, checking for dust.
BERNARDA. That damned Poncia. Leaving this room a mess knowing full well I am expecting guests. After all I have done for her she is still ungrateful. She is probably conspiring with that filthy woman, Adelaida, to shame me before the entire town.
Bernarda finds a note crumpled in the corner near the wastebasket. Bernarda sits in the chair and reads.
ADELA. They've killed him! My one chance at happiness, my only chance at freedom, and they've taken him away from me. My darling, my hope, my dearest Pepe! If only I had a few more moments with him! To show how I loved him. To give myself to him one more time. How I long to feel his forceful hands running down the length of my back! That vile woman! Martirio would rather see me die than see me happy. I, her sister! She couldn't bear to see me smile, couldn't bear to see me escape the terrible prison Mother made for us.
For it is a prison. Only in a prison could five women have their life force taken from them and yet continue to live on as shells of their former selves. "You'll get used to it," Magdalena said. Get used to what? Get used to having my skin become dry and sallow? Get used to being locked inside "as if we'd sealed up doors and windows with bricks." I don't know how they do it, but I can never live like this! I refuse to live like this! They live in a constant state of hypocrisy. For what? To gain the approval of the neighbors? The neighbors who walk with their noses in the air while they walk in the mud? Well, let them judge me! I don't care. I refuse to give my happiness for them! I refuse to allow my life to be reduced to such pettiness. I'd rather die!
At least in death I'd have freedom. All I wanted was to feel the sun on my face, to feel the breeze in my hair! Is that too much to expect from life? Is it too much to ask for happiness? For freedom? I should have run. Run far away. Pepe could have come to me when he pleased and I would have been his forever. Could have lived in a nice cottage in the country with no neighbors to impress, no walls to keep me in. He's gone now. But soon I will be with you.
I pity you, Sisters. Yes, even you, Martirio. You poured all of your soul into caging me and still I soar! I soar without limits while you wither away in solitude. To you I bid farewell, Mother. When you killed him, you killed me too. But I've won. I've escaped your damned snare and I will be free. For the first time I will take control of my own fate. You can't control me in death! For only in death shall I truly live. In death nothing will smother the fire of my passion! You should have known better, Mother. You should have known I would never stay in the corral. Never.
Women enter the room whispering.
FIRST WOMAN. So this is where the youngest daughter of Bernarda Alba was killed.
SECOND WOMAN. So fresh and full of life.
FIRST WOMAN. And a virgin too.
THIRD WOMAN. I heard she wanted to follow the example of Paca la Roseta. When she couldn't, she hanged herself.
SECOND WOMAN. No! Not Bernarda's daughter!
FIRST WOMAN. Don't be ridiculous! Pepe el Romano killed her. Everyone knows that.
Daughters enter. Bernarda rises, crosses the room to the table and burns the letter. She turns slowly and addresses her audience.
BERNARDA. Blesséd be God!
ALL, crossing themselves. Forever blesséd and praised.
BERNARDA. Rest in peace with holy company at your head.
ALL. Rest in peace!
BERNARDA. With the Holy Virgin Mary, and her blesséd womb.
ALL. Rest in peace!
BERNARDA. With your holy chastity, and all souls in the sky.
ALL. Rest in peace!
BERNARDA. Grant rest to your servant, Adela Alba Benavides, and give her the crown of your hallowed purity.
ALL. Amen.
The candlelight goes out.
SLOW CURTAIN
Works Cited
Lorca, Federico Garcia. "The House of Bernarda Alba." Three Tragedies. New
Directions Books. New York: 1955.