Feminist Element in “the House of Bernarda Alba and “a Doll’s House”

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words. “at your age, one does not speak in front of one’s elders”. Women were not allowed to have a mind of their own or even allowed to express their opinions nor to select their marriage. “old maids, itching to get married, their hearts turning to dust” Their only purpose in life is to marry, give children and to serve for the husband until they die. Women were treated merely as machines numb with feelings. “all they care about is land, oxen, and a meek little dog to cook for them”. Here the words which compares a wife to a “meek little dog” shows the disgust the woman had for the males who were dominating the society.

“Adele” in the plot “the house of Bernard alba” is the youngest and the most spirited and rebellious of Bernarda’s daughters. Though Bernarda tries to keep all her daughters under a tight rein, Adele has difficulty in submitting to it. she is a naturally a rebel who yearns for social interactions. She craves for love and cannot bear to be locked away from the world. She despites the society she lives in. she shows her anger and her wish to liberate herself from the dungeon she’s living in.

“I can’t be locked up” these words by Adela shows her will to gain freedom rebelling against the restrictions that oppress her. She wants to enjoy her youth despite the tasks assigned to her by the society. Unlike any woman in that society who is suppressed, dominated she speaks aloud her feelings “no! my body will be for anyone I please”. She wants to be the liberated woman who violates the norms of the society. These words express the character’s disgust and envy which had been built for a long time. She doesn’t want to pretend no longer since she has gain self-actualization. She wants to emerge as a free individual from repression.

Adele and Nora, as they eventually develop a sense of individuality and self-expression, emerge as free individuals from repression. The authors attempt to do so allow the audience to gain an insight into the social norms that each protagonist was pitted against. This heighten the tension as the action develops. Both Adela and Nora are inherently individualistic, and their innate nature is especially when they covertly display defiance in occasions of high social expectations. And also they are courageous and passionate, possessing the strength to pursue freedom; they are risk takers who challenge circumstances notwithstanding the uncertainties of future. Their choices of self-expression and freedom through abandonment and death respectively and the characters themselves representationally express the potential energy of women and endlessly protest for independence of women of every era and culture.in

A Doll’s house and the House of Bernarda Alba are two similar plays written in different times. They each reveal a dominant character pitted against a female character who is rebellious to the traditional social order. In a dolls house, Trovald is the dominant character while Bernarda Alba is the dominating figure in Lorca’s play bossing her daughters around and also causing the downfall of her youngest daughter Adela. Thus we see both stories having a single character who pushes less powerful woman around. Both the dramatists had used various techniques in bring out their themes. Symbolism which is highlighted in the title” A Doll’s house “expresses that Nora had been living in a doll house and she itself was a doll, like what she had brought for her daughter. “and here a doll and a cradle for Emmy”. The “house” of Bernarda Alba itself is used as symbolism for a prison house where there is no escape for her daughters. The windows are grilled and the walls had been built high

so that no one inside or outside could have interaction. “thick walls. arched doorways with canvas curtains edged with tassels and ruffles”.

The two play writers Lorca and Ibsen has clearly presented the position women has in their societies through “The house of Bernarda Alba” and “A Doll’s house”. Lorca had even sacrificed his life in expressing his views about the women’s rights. Even Though Norway and Spain had given total freedom to women today there are many other parts in the world where women are still treated the same way or even more inferior.