Villena 1
Ruth Villena
Period 4B
TITLE
In both A Doll’s House and Blood Wedding the authors use symbols to represent death. In
A Doll’s House Henrik Ibsen uses a black cross, showing readers how taboo it was to talk about
death. In Blood Wedding Fredrico Garcia Lorca utilizes the beggar woman to show how sneaky
death could be, as well as how often it occurred. Ibsen and Lorca use symbols to convey death to
show how the idea of it may vary within each society.
In A Doll’s House a black cross is used to symbolize death and how taboo it is to talk
about death. Dr. Rank explained his situation to Nora and told her how he would be bringing the
news to her when the time comes: “… As soon as I’m absolutely sure that the end is coming, I
will send you my card with a black cross on it. And then you will know that the pain and the
suffering is coming to an end.” (67). This shows readers that it was unacceptable to talk of it.
They would not really speak of death face to face, but instead use a form of letter or mail to tell
each other bad news. When Dr. Rank reaches his time, Torvald finally receives the card: “…
TORVALD: Two of Dr. Rank’s cards.”(102). This relates back to what Dr. Rank said about how
he would send his cards with a black cross on it. It foreshadows that his death is near, and also
explains why he was acting so different at that moment. The way the characters bring up and
acknowledge death conveys that it isn’t very common to speak of it.
In Blood Wedding by Fredrico Garcia Lorca, a beggar woman represents death to show
how sneaky it could be. Lorca introduces the beggar woman: “A very old woman enters,
completely covered in flimsy, dark green garments. Her face can barely be seen under the folds
of cloth. This character does not appear on the cast list.” (83). Lorca’s description of the beggar
woman and her clothing is quite dark, giving readers a very dark mysterious type of feel. The
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author has also includes that she is not on the cast list, making her seem less of an actually
character, but more of a symbol. When the beggar woman speaks to the bridegroom, readers start
to get a sense of her representation as death. “… Beautiful young man! But much more beautiful
if you were asleep!” (86), the beggar woman foreshadows the death of the bridegroom. She says
he would be more beautiful if he were asleep, using the word “asleep” as more of a substitute for
“dead”. Not being an actual character, the beggar woman was able to sneak around freely and
create an unsteady feeling without any other characters acknowledging her presence.
Henrik Ibsen always relates back to the color black giving the whole situation a death like
feel. Torvald receives a card from Dr. Rank in the mail: “There’s a black cross over his name.
Look at that. That’s so disturbing. It looks as if he were announcing his own death.”(102). The
fact that the cross is black, and black is often referred to makes readers think back to what they
already know about death. At funerals it is expected for people to wear black, referring back to
the black cross and death of their dear friend, Dr. Rank. As Dr. Rank was reaching the point
when he was to announce his death, he acted very strange: “I’ll have a big black hat- did you
ever hear of hats that make you invisible? If you put one on, nobody can see you.” (100). He
talks about the big black hat making him invisible, as if death were to be equivalent to it. Readers
can also infer that the big black hat can symbolize death as well. “If you put one on, nobody can
see you”, implies that whoever were to put that hat on were to die.
Fredrico Garcia Lorca also uses the color black as well as other dark colors to relate to
death. In the stage directions, Lorca forms this gloomy scene: “The MOON exits. The stage
lights dim. … The BEGGAR WOMAN sits down and conceals herself in her shawl.” (84). The
directions state that the moon exited the scene, making it seem all dreary and obscure. When the
beggar woman covers herself up and hides herself away, it makes the scene so much more
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uncanny making readers feel like something might occur. “… On the second scream, the
BEGGAR WOMAN appears and stands with her back to the audience. She opens her cloak and
remains center stage, like a great bird with immense wings.” (93), describing the scene where the
bridegroom and Leonardo perish. Looking back at her cloak, it was initially described as a dark
color. In the scene, the beggar woman can be described as a different version of the grim reaper,
as she takes the life of the bridegroom and Leonardo.
Ibsen and Lorca’s views on death are somewhat identical, but they also differ from one
another. Henrik Ibsen’s outlook on death in A Doll’s House shows that it was taboo, hence the
constant allusion to the card, black cross, and mailbox to communicate of it. The characters in
the play often avoided speaking of death, or at least didn’t speak of it face to face to one another,
but instead used indirect ways to communicate it. Fredrico Garcia Lorca’s perspective of death in
Blood Wedding reveals that it wasn’t as uncommon to speak of it as it was in A Doll’s House, but
it wasn’t quite welcomed either. Lorca shows that death can be sneaky as well, because the
bridegroom was clueless that he was actually in direct contact of his death bringer, the beggar
woman. They were in similar in ways referring to the color and mood the authors created. Both
plays associated dark colors, such as black, to apply the idea or aura of mortality. They also
insinuated a morbid feeling throughout the description of death or anything relating to it.
Both plays utilize symbols to convey death, and use identical color schemes to give off a
certain mood. Although the symbols differ in how each author perceives the ideas of death and
how they both acknowledge it, the feeling that is created in relation to the descriptions is
profoundly similar.