The House of Bernarda Alba Character Analysis

Bernarda Alba

The play’s central character is the 60-year-old mother of Angustias, Magdalena, Amelia, Martirio, and Adela. She is the matriarch of the house where the action takes place. Preoccupied with tradition… read analysis of Bernarda Alba

Angustias

Thirty-nine-year-old Angustias is Bernarda’s oldest daughter and the only one whose father is Bernarda’s first husband (and not her second, Antonio, who dies just before the play begins). Angustias inherits all of her… read analysis of Angustias

Magdalena

Thirty-year-old Magdalena is Bernarda’s second daughter and the eldest of her children with Don Antonio. Caring and perceptive, she is the only person to truly mourn her father’s passing, and she tries to… read analysis of Magdalena

Amelia

Twenty-seven-year-old Amelia is Bernarda’s middle daughter. Compared to her sisters, she is agreeable, conventional, and relatively uninterested in men and marriage. As a result, she does not play a significant part in the play’s… read analysis of Amelia

Martirio

Twenty-four-year-old Martirio is Bernarda’s fourth daughter. She deeply resents her mother and sisters because she once had a suitor, Enrique Humanas, whom Bernarda secretly turned away because his father was a common fieldhand. (In… read analysis of Martirio

Adela

Twenty-year-old Adela is Bernarda’s youngest, most beautiful, and least cynical daughter. She falls in love with Pepe el Romano, who makes plans to marry her older sister Angustias but seduces and sleeps with… read analysis of Adela

Maria Josefa

Maria Josefa is Bernarda’s senile 80-year-old mother who lives in an interior room of the house and deliriously tries to escape several times in the play. She accuses Bernarda of locking her away and… read analysis of Maria Josefa

The Maid

The Maid is the lower-ranking servant in Bernarda’s house. Her duties consist primarily of cooking and cleaning, announcing visitors, and looking after of Maria Josefa. Except in the first scene, where she reveals… read analysis of The Maid

Poncia

Poncia is the head servant in Bernarda’s house, the TK. She is the voice of conscience throughout the play, which makes her a foil to Bernarda. Although Poncia has worked for Bernarda for three… read analysis of Poncia

Pepe el Romano

Pepe el Romano is Angustias, Martirio, and Adela’s love interest, and seemingly the only man in their village whom Bernarda deems high-class enough for her daughters. While he never appears onstage, Pepe… read analysis of Pepe el Romano

Antonio María Benavides

Antonio María Benavides is Bernarda Alba’s second husband and the father of Magdalena, Amelia, Martirio, and Adela. He dies shortly before the events of the play, much of which deals… read analysis of Antonio María Benavides

Prudencia

Prudencia is a neighbor who visits Bernarda Alba’s house for dinner at the beginning of Act 3. She is 50 years old, a decade younger than Bernarda, but she is similarly conservative, religious, and… read analysis of Prudencia