Social, Cultural and Historical Factors Flashcards
When is Yerma set?
In the 1930s, in Andalusia, Spain.
When was Yerma written?
1934
Andalusia
- A rural region in Spain - very hot, with suffocating heat.
- Play takes place in a small, rural village, where everyone knows everyone (tight-knit), explaining why Yerma cares about her reputation so much, and why Juan worries about how people perceive him and Yerma.
- A culture of agriculture, pastoral farming, and nature -> a cycle of life and death (pertinent to Yerma’s story as she is constantly surrounded by birth and growth in animals and nature).
Lorca’s Poetic Diction
- Play is described as a
‘tragic poem. - Hard and sharp imagery/objects used to describe bitterness and pain that Yerma feels.
- Flowers, which represent fertility and life.
- Warm vs cold.
Duende
- A heightened state of emotion, expression and authenticity, often connected with flamenco.
- Lorca describes it as a feeling of emotional intensity, even when we know death is inevitable.
- Said to surge up with you from the soles of your feet - a renewed connection with nature.
Lorca’s ‘dark struggle’
- Said to be the inner conflict between socialised self, and passionate/inner self.
- Perhaps originated from Lorca’s own personal conflict with his sexuality that went against Catholic morals and tradition.
- Identified in Yerma in her inner conflict between being a reputable woman vs her desire for mother hood and personal fulfilment.
The role of women in 1930s Andalusian Spain
- Set in a patriarchal society, where women’s only role/purpose was to have a child -> Yerma’s desire to have a baby is so that she can feel like she has fulfilled her role in society as a woman.
- Women subordinate to men, as seen in Juan’s controlling behaviour.
Reputation
- Play is set in a tight-knit village where gossip spreads quickly and everyone knows everyone’s business.
- An oppressive and judgemental society that forces Yerma to feel the desperate need to comply.
- Yerma becomes obsessed with reputation and how she is perceived - she is obsessed with having a baby in order to validate her reputation amongst society.
- Strict Catholic morals governed society, and going against these would tarnish Yerma’s reputation - even when she is offered another man to have a baby with, she refuses because of how it will affect her reputation: “what will become of my name?”
Rural Tragedies
Yerma is one of three plays in a triology called ‘The Rural Tragedies’.
Paganism
- Religion that believes that nature is sacred and that the natural cycles of birth, growth and death observed in the world around us carry profoundly spiritual meanings.
- Opposes Catholic morals that the play is governed by.
- The Pagan Woman acts as a foil to Yerma in her disregard for morality and her free-spirited nature.
Catholicism (Religion)
- Catholicism was the main religion followed in the 1930s.
- Yerma’s life is governed by the strict morals of her religion.
- Lorca uses the strict rules of Catholicism to illustrate how Yerma is unable to act upon human drives
- She is only focused on morality.
- The religion orders against infidelity, which explains why Yerma refuses another man when offered by the Pagan Woman.
Romería
An Andalusian festival that mirrors that of Act 3 Scene 2.
- a religious affair, but one fuelled with alcohol and sex.
- men wear striped trousers, a short jacket, suspenders and riding boots.
- women wear flamenco costumes that enhance movement e.g. frills, ruffles, flowers worn in the hair, fringed shawls, tight bodices that exaggerate an hourglass shape.
- call and response singing
- takes place in May = very hot and
suffocating.
Movement/Flamenco
Style of dance originating in Andalusia - very passionate, fiery and strong.
Plante = stamp on ball of foot
Tacon = striking heel to the floor
Golpe = downwards stamp of
whole foot.
Lorca’s Assassination
It is believed that Lorca was assassinated by Nationalist military on 19th August 1936, but nobody really knows why his body was never found. His socialist outspoken views or homosexuality may have played a part in his murder. Attempts have been made to excavate and find Lorca’s body, but to no avail. From 1939 until 1953, there has been a ban placed Lorca’s work in Spain under Dictator Francisco Franco’s regime.
Significance of the time in which Yerma was written
There was a lot of political and social unrest, and the events during this period would eventually lead to the Spanish Civil War of 1936. Between 1925 and 1930, there are many debates, discussion and votes in an attempt to reform and recreate political systems in Spain - stability was lacking and the Spanish were going tired of the dictatorship.
The years 1933-1934 were known as the black years. There was a fierce conflict between liberals and conservatives; there was disagreement over the legalisation of divorce, the resistance against the Catholic Church had become violent, and as radicals became more aggressive, the government began to take military action. The number of assassinations rows into the hundreds, as did the number of general strikes. Due to the actions taken by the government in favour of landowners, the rural South suffered great poverty and hardship.
