La Casa De Bernarda Alba

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Act I

Reading Check

1. According to the stage direction, what type of paintings are located in Bernarda’s house?

2. According to Poncia, who is “the only one her father loved”?

3. Which animal does Poncia compare herself to?

4. What does Bernarda compare poor people to?

5. Which activities does Bernarda delineate based on gender?

6. Who does Bernarda keep locked up during the funeral?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Who visits Bernarda’s house while the Servant is cleaning? What does she request?

2. Describe how Bernarda interacts with her daughters. Generally, how do her daughters respond to this treatment?

3. What does Angustias overhear the men talking about? How does Bernarda react to her daughter?

4. Describe the conversation between Martirio and Amelia about Adelaida. Why is Amelia shocked?

5. What news does Magdalena share about Pepe el Romano? What does she believe is his motivation?

6. What is the difference in inheritance between Angustias and the rest of her sisters?

Paired Resource

La Casa de Bernarda Alba Trailer

• This resource is Melbourne Theater Company’s 2018 adaptation of Lorca’s play.
• It relates to the same themes of this play: Sexual Repression, Cycles of Oppression and Cycles of Violence.
• After watching the trailer of Melbourne Theater Company’s adaptation, use context clues to determine which actress is playing which role.

“History of Spain”

• La Moncloa’s (the government of Spain) official website provides a timeline of the history of Spain.
• Based on the text, as well as the play, consider how the elements of Spanish history and society are prevalent in Lorca’s play. In particular, in which era did he write his script, and how would this have been relevant to the play as a whole?

Act II

Reading Check

1. According to Magdalena, what are the best things about Angustias?

2. Why are Bernarda’s daughters sewing?

3. What is the stage direction of Adela, Martirio, Magdalena and Amelia as they hear the bells beckoning the men back to work?

4. What comment does Amelia make in regards to the nature of the seasons?

5. After correcting Poncia, what type of action does Bernarda say she does instead of “think”?

6. What is discovered about Pepe’s visits to the house?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Summarize what Bernarda’s daughters and Poncia discuss while sewing. What piece of wisdom does Poncia bestow upon the girls?

2. What does Poncia accuse Adela of? How does Adela react?

3. Why did Poncia give her eldest son money many years ago? Explain her reasoning.

4. What object does Angustias lose? Where is this object eventually found?

5. What advice does Poncia attempt to give Bernarda? How does Bernarda respond?

6. Why does a mob form on the street outside of Bernarda’s house? Describe the women’s different reactions to the mob.

Paired Resource

“Maternal Mortality”

• This resource is University of Oxford’s compilation of global statistics on maternal mortality.
• The discussion of women dying in childbirth connects with the themes Sexual Repression and Cycles of Violence.
• Based on the text and the above resource, in which ways was the possibility of maternal mortality an accepted fact of life? Has this risk changed at all in the century since Lorca wrote?

“Unearthing Gendered Repression: An Analysis of the Violence Suffered by Women During the Civil War and Franco’s Dictatorship in Southwestern Spain”

• Muñoz-Encinar wrote this 2020 article on female victims of violence and repression during the Franco regime.
• This article explores the same themes of the play: Sexual Repression, Cycles of Oppression and Cycles of Violence.
• Based on the text as well as the above resource, compare and contrast the sexual repression women experienced in Spain during the 20th century with what the women characters in the play experience.

Act III

Reading Check

1. What does Lorca suggest in his stage direction for the set design in the beginning of Act III?

2. What is Prudencia’s only remaining comfort?

3. What comment does Martirio make about the darkness?

4. What animal is Maria Josefa serenading?

5. Why does Adela die by suicide?

6. What is Bernarda most concerned with regarding Adela’s death?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Describe the focus on the conversations between Prudencia and the Bernarda women. What comment does Prudencia make about Angustias’s wedding ring?

2. What does Bernarda encourage Angustias to do? What is her motivation for making this suggestion?

3. What does Bernarda make her daughters do after Prudencia leaves? Describe how this action links with her conversation with Poncia.

4. What does Poncia reveal about Pepe in her conversation with the Servant? Does she believe his actions were entirely his fault?

5. Describe the confrontation between Adela and Martirio. What secrets do the sisters reveal to each other? 

Recommended Next Reads

Blood Wedding by Federico García Lorca

• Lorca’s 1932 tragic play centers on the forbidden love and the subsequent violence between a young couple in rural Spain.
• As tragedies, Lorca’s two plays touch on the same themes: Sexual Repression, Cycles of Oppression, and Cycles of Violence.
• Shared topics include forbidden love, rural turn-of-the-century Spain, family feuds and cycles of violence, and Symbolism and Naturalism theatrical movements.
• Blood Wedding on SuperSummary

A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen

• Ibsen’s 1879 play centers on spouses Nora and Torvald Helmer as a secret is uncovered that will harm the future of their marriage.
• Ibsen’s view on marriage and a women’s role in society reflects Lorca’s themes of Sexual Repression and Cycles of Oppression.
• Shared topics include the institution of marriage, the expectation of women and their role in society, the desire to break free from social norms, and women living during the turn-of-the-century.
• A Doll’s House on SuperSummary