Blood Wedding: Journal #3

What some of the more prominent symbols and their meaning/effect in the drama?

Lorca uses many symbols in his play Blood Wedding, almost everything has a meaning or symbol attached to it. Through the understanding of these symbols the reader can decipher the story and decide correctly on what meaning of the whole is exactly. The three main objects that I analyzed were the moon, the beggar woman and the trees.

The moon was only brought up at the end of the play when they were looking for the Bride and Leonardo. I figured that the moon would represent truth because there is only mention of it when the people are looking for truth and what is right. The people that are looking for those two people are also searching for the truth of what really happened and why. Through this knowledge one can see that the moon would only logically mean truth or something similar. At one point the Woodcutters say: "First Woodcutter: When the moon comes out we will see them" (78). One can see clearly that the moon must mean truth or wisdom.

The next symbol was the beggar woman. I found this person to symbolize death. She seems to be deceiving the people she meets into committing suicide or killing themselves in some way. Also Lorca describes her as death a couple times so it would make sense that is what she is. Another point to make is that in the character list it shows no beggar woman but instead there is death, although in the play itself there is no death as a character and there is a beggar woman. In the stage directions there is also a part where they write "The Bridegroom goes rapidly toward the left and stumbles upon the Beggar Woman: Death" (86). Through these two instances I see that there is a definitely a connection between this Beggar Woman and the object of death.

Finally the last object that is clearly symbolized are the trees. I thought the trees were a symbol for the deceit and lies that continue throughout the play. At one point the woodcutters are looking for the Bride and Leonardo in the forest and they mention cutting down trees as if they were set out to do such a task as that. "Second Woodcutter: A tree with forty branches. We'll soon cut it down" (81). The forty branches would be the forty lies or many lies of the Bride and Leonardo's family.

Through the analysis of these objects as symbols the reader can understand the story or plot line of the play so much better. Every thing makes more sense when one knows exactly what the author is talking about.