La Casa De Bernarda Alba

Set in an unnamed village in the remote countryside of Spain, the play opens in the house of a well-to-do, if somewhat faded, genteel family. Bernarda and her five unmarried daughters—Angustias, Magdalena, Amelia, Martirio, and Adela—are out attending the funeral of Bernarda’s late second husband. La Poncia (the family’s housekeeper and Bernarda’s confidant) and an unnamed Servant prepare the house for the return of the funeral party. While they work, they bemoan the demands of their overbearing mistress, who controls the entire household—daughters and staff alike—with an iron will.

While La Poncia and the Servant talk, María Josefa—Bernarda’s elderly and mentally infirm mother—calls several times from offstage, begging for someone to free her from her room. Bernarda has ordered the Servant to locked her mother up while the family is out, as Bernarda fears that her confused ramblings will embarrass the family.

La Poncia exits, and the Servant continues to clean. A Beggar Woman and her daughter enter the house to beg the Servant for scraps leftover from the funeral. The Servant turns them away, declaring that any leftovers will be for her alone. She admonishes them for dirtying up the house and drives them away. Once they are gone, the Servant is alone with the ringing church bells. She speaks to the bells as if they are Antonio María Benavides himself, cursing his name and declaring, “Take what’s coming to you! You’ll never again lift my skirts behind the corral door!” (160). 

The family and 200 women in mourning arrive back at the house. Bernarda demands that the men stay outside on the back patio to take their refreshments separate from the women. When the wake is over and the funeral guests finally exit, Angustias slips away to eavesdrop on the men through the back door. Adela reveals this fact to Bernarda, who confronts Angustias and beats her for her disobedience. La Poncia talks Bernarda down and calms her by telling her gossip overheard from the men during the wake. The two discuss what will happen now that Benavides is dead: Angustias will inherit a fortune left to her by her father (Bernarda’s first husband), and the rest of the four daughters will inherit next to nothing. La Poncia tells Bernarda, “Your daughters are of an age when they ought to have husbands” (168), but Bernarda only snaps in return, “None of them has ever had a beau and they’ve never needed one! They get along very well” (168).

Meanwhile, Martirio and Amelia sit together and discuss their prospects. When Martirio mentions her plainness and sickliness, Amelia chides her and reminds her that she attracted the attention of Enrique Humanes, a young man who sought to court Martirio years prior but then failed to show on the night he promised to be at her window. Magdalena interrupts their conversation and tells them about Adela, who has put on her green dress and gone out into the yard. She calls her back inside to tell her the news: the rumors from town say that Pepe el Romano will come to ask for Angustias’s hand, knowing she has just inherited a sizable fortune. Upon hearing this news, Adela falls into despair and threatens to put on her green dress the next day and walk around town.

The Servant interrupts the sisters to tell them that Pepe el Romano is passing on the road outside the house. Magdalena, Martirio, and Amelia run off to get a look at him from upstairs; Adela stays behind. When the Servant tells her that she can get a good view of him turning the corner from her room, she exits to go get a look.