Lorca Journal 4

1.   Which characters appear to be miserable in the play and why?  When and how do the characters express their misery?  What do the characters desire and what stops them from going after what each desires?

One of the characters with an obvious misery is the Bride. The Bride is caught between her desire to stay with Leonardo, despite his lack of wealth, or marry the rich Bridegroom to preserve the family status. The Bride's desire to be with Leonardo creates a conflict with what her family wants; to maintain a high family status. Unfortunetly, the Bride feels obligated to go along with the marriage of the Bridesgroom because of the pressure and responsibility she felt. "They are dark clouds-an ill wind inside me. Who hasn't felt that?" (Lorca 41).

Another character who found himself in misery is Leonardo. Leonardo's misery oriented around morals, and the situation the Bride was in. Leonardo and the Bride loved eachother, but Leonardo had a wife and children. To be the The Bride, Leonardo would have had to abandon his family, creating a conflict between his morals and his desires. Also, the difficult situation the Bride was in: trying to decide whether or not to follow her desire for Leonardo, also thickened the tension between his conflicting ideas.

The last character that is burdened with misery is the Mother. The mother had to deal with, not only the deaths of her husband and son, but also the idea of the Bridesgroom leaving for the marriage. Ever since the death of her husband and son, the Mother had a fear of being alone: "would you hide be under the vine leaves?" (Lorca 7). The Mother's misery comes from the inability to let go of the past and move on, she constantly holds onto the idea of death, and fears the possibility of being abandoned by her son.