Bodas de sangre – Federico García Lorca
The elements of fate:
Even the title points to the inevitability of the fatal outcome by about the end of the
first act
The subsequent action appears as a progression towards the preordained
The three elements of this fatal progression are:
o Heredity – points to the outcome
o Circumstances – offer the means
o Passion – provides the impulse
Heredity:
It is characteristic of Lorca’s Andalusian world
Men tend to follow their fathers and women their mothers
o The Novio’s brother suffers the same fate as his father
o Leonardo inherits the bad blood of all his family
o Leonardo’s wife is cast aside by her husband as her mother was cast aside
Heredity points to the outcome, whilst circumstances provide the means
Circumstances:
The first circumstance comes at the end of Act 1 Scene i: the novia is formerly the
novia of Leonardo
With this discovery three complementary threads of heredity are brought ominously
together
o The novio – father and brother killed in a fight
o Leonardo – family was responsible for the deaths of the novio’s family
o The novia – her mother did not love her husband
The next instance comes when it is revealed that Leonardo’s interest in the Novia is
very much alive
The final scene of Act 1 confirms this and suggests it is reciprocated
Leonardo has ended up married with the wrong person due to his quarrel with the
Novia
This leaves Leonardo married and the Novia soon to be, and Leonardo can no longer
restrain himself
This leads us to the real of passion
Passion:
Passion provides the impulse that drives the principle characters
o “Callar y quemarse es el castigo más grande que nos podemos echar encima”
Passion has its way as they escape together to their doom
That being said, the forces of heredity claim their part in a victory: the woodcutters,
the moon and the beggar woman
The novio is there with the limbs of his dead family
Passion in a way was simply an instrument of heredity, and heredity an instrument
of fate
The elements of fate:
Even the title points to the inevitability of the fatal outcome by about the end of the
first act
The subsequent action appears as a progression towards the preordained
The three elements of this fatal progression are:
o Heredity – points to the outcome
o Circumstances – offer the means
o Passion – provides the impulse
Heredity:
It is characteristic of Lorca’s Andalusian world
Men tend to follow their fathers and women their mothers
o The Novio’s brother suffers the same fate as his father
o Leonardo inherits the bad blood of all his family
o Leonardo’s wife is cast aside by her husband as her mother was cast aside
Heredity points to the outcome, whilst circumstances provide the means
Circumstances:
The first circumstance comes at the end of Act 1 Scene i: the novia is formerly the
novia of Leonardo
With this discovery three complementary threads of heredity are brought ominously
together
o The novio – father and brother killed in a fight
o Leonardo – family was responsible for the deaths of the novio’s family
o The novia – her mother did not love her husband
The next instance comes when it is revealed that Leonardo’s interest in the Novia is
very much alive
The final scene of Act 1 confirms this and suggests it is reciprocated
Leonardo has ended up married with the wrong person due to his quarrel with the
Novia
This leaves Leonardo married and the Novia soon to be, and Leonardo can no longer
restrain himself
This leads us to the real of passion
Passion:
Passion provides the impulse that drives the principle characters
o “Callar y quemarse es el castigo más grande que nos podemos echar encima”
Passion has its way as they escape together to their doom
That being said, the forces of heredity claim their part in a victory: the woodcutters,
the moon and the beggar woman
The novio is there with the limbs of his dead family
Passion in a way was simply an instrument of heredity, and heredity an instrument
of fate
