Analysis of Blood Wedding by Federico Garcia Lorca - Essay Example

Analysis of Blood Wedding by Federico Garcia Lorca Introduction Federico Garcia Lorca’s Blood Wedding is a tragic play written in three acts. The play commences with a man, the bridegroom, struggling to find a woman of his dreams to marry. However, the woman being sought after was formerly in a romantic relationship with a man named Leonardo. Consequently, the bridegroom is fixed in a quandary since Leonardo comes from the Felix family. This worsens the situation further since the two families have been in a long lasting and brutal family dispute (Lorca). The feud led to the demise of the bridegroom’s father and brother, an incident that the bridegroom’s mother has never forgotten. The scar left by their deaths is one that can not disappear forever. The play gets entertaining when revelations come to light that the bride is still in love with Leonardo. She still madly loves Leonardo despite him marrying her cousin and having a son with her. Realistically, the bride is getting married to the bridegroom just to forget her undying love for Leonardo. However, her love for Leonardo gets out of hand when she elopes with him on her wedding day, prompting a manhunt led by the bridegroom to bring the bride back. Engulfed with hatred of the Felix family, the bridegroom is set to revenge on Leonardo all the despicable crimes the Felix family has committed (Lorca). When the bridegroom catches up with Leonardo; a duel ensues, and they both stab each other to death. The two deaths leave the bride and the bridegroom’s mother suicidal and emotionally unstable. Thus, the play Blood wedding is unique in a manner that it captures the dramas of human interactions and manifests them into magnificent and entertaining portrayal of the Andalusia and Spanish culture. Discussion Having learnt about the play in my Literature class, I could not resist the urge to attend its presentation in the local drama theatre. The interest that my Literature lessons had aroused couldn’t let me stay at home. At the theatre hall, the audience was made up of a mixture of young people and the elderly. However, a majority of the audience were young couples. It is beyond any doubt that the play’s underlying theme of love could have attracted most of the young couples to go watch the play. The playwright, Federico Garcia Lorca, used his play to reveal all the dramas that unfold as a result of the human interactions. He was inspired to write his play after reading the story of how a bride’s cousin was shot by the bridegroom’s brother for running off with his brother’s bride. In Blood wedding, the playwright has managed to develop the conflict between Leonardo and the bridegroom using the bride as a catalyst. The families of the two main characters have had family squabbles that had resulted in the death of the bridegroom’s father and brother (Lorca). When he falls in love with the bride, he does not know that Leonardo was her childhood friend and sweetheart. This aspect further catapults the conflict further since Leonardo can not accept his rival marrying the woman he has always loved (Lorca). He goes and convinces the bride that he still loves her and that he had made a mistake marrying her cousin. The conflict is heightened when Leonardo elopes with the bride on the wedding day. Filled with feelings to revenge, the bridegroom sets to look for him in order to bring his wife back. When they meet in the forest, the conflict is resolved when they fight each other to death. The resolution of the conflict is so tragic that it leaves the bride and the bridegroom’s mother emotionally disturbed. Its resolution is melancholic since the bridegroom was not supposed to die; he had not done anything wrong and was right to go in pursuit of his love. The characters in the play also played vital roles in developing the plot. Jack Burke was exceptional as the bridegroom. His heavily-built physique and body gait made him a perfect fit for the character. I admired the way he moved on stage making sure that his presence was felt. His desire to marry the woman of his dreams was his motivation throughout the play. He did everything to please her bride, despite her having feelings for Leonardo (Lorca). He managed moving the plot of the story as he was the center of focus. His actions played a vital role in developing the conflict of the play. This is best illustrated in the way; he decided to look for his bride after she eloped with Leonardo. This portrayed him as a real man who would go to extreme extents to protect the one he love. His demise, however, brought much sorrow to the audience and some characters as a whole. Mary Angela as the bride also played her character role remarkably well. Her emotional nature clearly brought out the confused state expected of the bride as a character. Her facial expressions when she talked to Leonardo clearly showed the perfect example of a woman in love. The way she looked at Leonardo’s eyes while responding to his questions could not go unnoticed. She efficiently brought out the perfect picture of a woman in despair when she was mourning the deaths of her two ‘husbands’. She threw herself all over the stage wailing frantically for Leonardo’s and the bridegroom’s death. At one point she even threatened to commit suicide since she did not see any reason to live (Lorca). Jimmy Dawson, the director of the play did an extraordinary job in making the play a success. To commence, his choice of characters was superb; they were both up to task and knew their lines extremely well. The characters were organized and followed the stage directions to the latter. All the elements of the play seemed coherent as they fit in one another in a perfect way. The story line was flowing, and the audience seemed to enjoy the play as it progressed. In instances where the characters experienced emotions, the audience also felt with them. The production appeared to be so real that I wished it did not come to an end. The costume worn by the characters also enhanced the quality of the performance. The characters were dressed according to their personality and social status. For instance, the bridegroom was clad in expensive attires characteristic of the Spanish wealthy people. On the other hand, Leonardo had put on a cowboy hat in some scenes to symbolize his love for riding horses. He also wore boots characteristic of Spanish cowboys (Lorca). During the wedding, all the characters were smartly dressed for the occasion. In this scene, the bride’s costume was a mantilla. She maintains the same costume up to the time she was mourning deaths of the bridegroom and Leonardo. In Spanish culture, mantillas are worn during weddings or mourning. This shows that, the director was keen on his choice of costume and décor. He wanted to make his play a success. Furthermore, the right costume clearly showed the setting of the play in terms of; time and place it was written. The various scenes in the play were portrayed differently according to the mood and script. In scenes where the characters experienced happiness and joy, the lighting seemed a little brighter unlike scenes portraying sadness. In sad scenes the dim light brought somber mood, and silence could be felt all over the theatre room. The shift in lighting occurred slowly, and this had a significant effect in the audience. They could feel with the characters. Conclusion In conclusion, the play was a success; I liked the way the characters played their roles throughout the entire play. Their collective responsibilities made the entire audience understand the play more as well as enlighten them on the dramas involved in human interactions. Work Cited Lorca, Garcia. “Blood Wedding”. In Grade-Saver (nd). Web 13 March 2012 from http://www.gradesaver.com/blood-wedding/study-guide/short-summary/ Read More