A Critical Analysis of Blood Wedding (1933) / Bodas de Sangre by Federico Garcia

Lorca

Lorca’s style has come to be known as “neo-population” or New Popular Literature. It

consists of a refined and highly stylized treatment of folk-lore. He aims to make literature
more “Spanish” than before, thus opposing Modernist cosmopolitism.The very title of the
play combines two antithetical concepts of wedding and blood, happiness and death. The
Mother acts as the chorus.

The Plot

The Mother, a widow whose husband and older son had been killed in a feud with the Felix
family, is preparing for the marriage of her only living son. However, she becomes
pessimistic about the marriage when she learns that the fiancé was once in love with a
member of the Felix family, Leonardo, who is now married. In a conversation with a servant,
the fiancé reveals that she has been secretly visited by Leonardo.

On the morning of the wedding day, Leonardo arrives at the fiance’s house and by declaring
his continued love for arouses her passion. In the name of honour, she rejects his love and
marries her fiancé. However, during the wedding celebration, her desire overcomes her sense
of duty, and she secretly flees with Leonardo.

The bridegroom sets out in pursuit of the fugitives and is led to them in a forest by Death
disguised as a beggar-woman. In a conversation with the Moon she reveals the imminent
death of both the bridegroom and Leonardo. In the final scene, the bride returns to tell the
Mother that her son’s honour has been preserved, not only by the death of Leonardo but also
by the purity of the bride, who remains a virgin. The three women, the Mother, the bride and
Leonardo’s wife, who are left alone by the tragedy, ironically are united in their lamentations.

Honour, tradition and the consequences of not respecting them form the thematic basis of
Blood Wedding.

Passion and Eroticism

The unsuccessful union of a man and a woman is the root of tragedy.

The Bride does not want to marry the Bridegroom; her only desire is to forget her old love.
During the whole drama she shows her sadness and her anger with herself for not having
been able to do so.

The eroticist elements that were prevalent in the literature of the early 20 th century find
expression in this play too. Sensuality is felt throughout the play.

The servant is aroused by the idea that the Bride is going to be married, and tries in vain to
transmit to her this enthusiasm: “O lucky you- going to put your arms around a man; and kiss
him; and feel his weight… And the best part will be when you’ll wake up and you’ll feel him
at your side and when he caresses your shoulders with his breath, like a little nightingale’s
feather.”

Leonardo’s feelings are much more intense. He is so obsessed with his passion for the Bride
that he finds himself unable of thinking about any other matter. Yet he doesn’t feel guilty.
Repeatedly he states that he has done his best to forget her, without results. The physical
attraction is too much for him. The Bride defines the same feeling:

“I can’t listen to your voice… It pulls me along, and I know I’m drowning, but I go on
downwards.”

The concept of physical love acquires great relevance, as the end of a whole process. So,
instead of being a means as before, sex becomes an end in itself. As the Woodcutter rightly
defines their love, “they would have already mixed their bloods”, thus showing the
culmination of their relationship.

Fatality and Destiny

During the play, the Mother incites her son to son to take revenge on her husband’s
murderers. This revenge will lead the Bridegroom to his death and the Mother does know it
very well. Here we see a clear acceptance of fatality. Humans, says Lorea, have to meet their
fate. Hatred and revenge keep alive a character who does not have any other incentives to
live.

The Mother feels an irrational dislike towards her future daughter in law: “When I say her
name I feel as though someone has hit me on the forehead with a rock.”

The Bride has to admit that her own passion, and not fate, has compelled her to escape with
her lover. The Woodcutter agrees. According to him, the lovers acted well, since one should
follow his own will and there is no point in trying to fool oneself.

Poetry and Surrealism

Lorca is essentially a poet. He utilizes his poetical abilities to embellish his plays. The most
dramatic situations of his plays are written in verse.

After Leonardo and the Bride runs away, the realistic approach ends and the play becomes a
poetical fantasy. Lorca escapes to an unreal world where Moon and Death appear as
characters thus radically altering the thematic mood of the play.