World Literature Assignment 1: Compare and Contrast
Feminine and Masculine Styled Responses to Change of the Major
Female Characters in “The House of Bernarda Alba” and “The Cherry
Orchard”
A human is defined not by the problems and troubling situations they face, but their approach
to them. Portrayed in The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov and The House of Bernarda Alba by
Federica Garcia Lorca, both realistic stories of female’s in powers of position in their homes who have
been stricken with tradegy, are feminine and masculine responses illustrated by the two female
protagonists. A feminine response, assosciated with Lyubov Ranevskaya of The Cherry Orchard, is
universely defined with characteristics such as a stress and openness of emotion, depending on men,
instinctual thinking and a melodramatic attitude. Almost a complete opposite, a masculine response,
assosciated with Bernarda Alba of The House of Bernarda Alba, is universely defined with characteristics
such as a low tolerance of open displays of emotion because it symbolized weakness, stressing family
honor and image, and logical thinking. Ranevskaya and Bernarda Alba’s response to the major changes
in their lives illustrate the contrasting feminine and masculine approaches to change, despite being both
female, in The Cherry Orchard and The House of Bernarda Alba.
Raneveskya’s feminine and Bernarda Alba’s masculine responses to change are illustrated by
their stage actions and their attitude to open displays of emotion. Throughout The Cherry Orchard,
Chekhov has written dramatic cues for Ranevskaya to demonstrate her lack of emotional control. After
hearing the news about her beloved cherry orchard being sold to Lopakhin, Ranevskaya is described as
“overcome. Almost falls,” and that “nobody [was] left [in the room] but Lyubov, sitting, crying,” (72,73).
According to the set defintion of what a feminine response would be, Ranevskaya’s openness of
exemplifying her despairity in a very melodramatic way illustrates her weakness to contain her emotions
and thus her feminine response to change. Unlike Ranevskaya, Bernarda Alba’s masculine response
World Literature Assignment 1: Compare and Contrast
Feminine and Masculine Styled Responses to Change of the Major
Female Characters in “The House of Bernarda Alba” and “The Cherry
Orchard”
exemplifies her stern grip on her emotions and her negative attitude to open displays of emotion.
Discovering the hanging corpse of her youngest daughter Adele, Bernarda showcased a similarity with
Ranevskaya when she “screams and steps forward,” into the morbid room (288). The cry of emotion is
short-lived compared to Ranevskaya’s therefore epitomizing Bernarda’s self-control which is a
characteristic of a masculine response. Once the horror of Adela’s death strikes the other daughters
and their cries began to fill the silence, Bernarda yells that there will be “no weeping. We must look
death in the face,” and that “Tears [are for] when you are alone,” (288). By specifically referring to tears
are to be wept when you are alone, it stresses Bernarda’s negativity towards open displays of emotion
because it symbolized self-weakness.
Ranevskaya and Bernarda Alba’s plans that are made after the change also illustrate their
contrasting feminine and masculine responses by demonstrating the basis for their plans – logic versus
instinctual. Ranevskaya’s plans are soley based on her instincts and are feminine in the sense that she
needs to depend on a man and to act without thinking of consequences. Despite describing her lover to
be like a stone wrapped around her neck, Ranevskaya’s solution is to go to him “in Paris [and she’ll] be
living on the money your grandmother sent to buy the estate. It won’t last long...,” (81). Therefore,
because her first response was to depend on a man, it proves the typical feminine gender role of being
weak without a man. Furthermore, Ranevskaya is aware that the money won’t last long yet she decides
to spend it anyway on a lover who takes advantage of her wealth which exemplifies even more her
dependency on having a male figure for moral support in her life. Her lack of judgement in her decisions
is illustrated when Gaev asked “Why did you do that, Lyuva?” and she responds that she couldn’t help
but give the villagers a large portion of her money before leaving the estate (75). Although she is clearly
World Literature Assignment 1: Compare and Contrast
Feminine and Masculine Styled Responses to Change of the Major
Female Characters in “The House of Bernarda Alba” and “The Cherry
Orchard”
aware that her finances are dwindling to nothing, she instintively gives out her money with no claimed
reason thus exemplifying her feminine response. In comparison to Ranevskaya, Bernarda’s main concern
when deciding on a plan of action is to uphold family honor which is defined as a very masculine
approach. Aware of Adela’s sexual affair with her eldest sister’s fiance and the connotations of women
who’ve engaged in pre-marital sex, Bernarda’s first concern is to make it clear that her “daughter has
died a virgin. No one is to say a thing,” and that Poncia should “send word for the bells to toll twice at
dawn,” to commemorate the death of a virgin (288). In a moment of utter emotional chaos, to have the
ability to think logically about mainting a good image for the family by denying Adela’s indecency and
prohibiting any emotion to be shown is characterized as a very masculine approach .
Lasty, Ranevskaya and Bernarda Alba’s juxtapositioning feminine and masculine defined
responses are epitomized through their different attitudes and grieving towards the change.
Ranevskaya’s attitude towards the selling of her cherry orchard reflects a very weak image of an
incapability to move on with her life without it, therefore defined as feminine. When discussing the
probability of being able to buy the estate back at the city auction, Ranevskaya claims that her orchard
had been in her family for generations and “without [the] orchard what is [her] life? And if they must
sell it, let them sell [her] too,” (62). With this grand connection between her will of life and her orchard,
it exemplifies her dependence on the estate and her melodramatic interpretation of a situation that
only effected where she lived, thus creating a very feminine response. As she is vacated from her estate,
she comments that it was her “dear precious beautiful orchard...[her] life. [Her] youth. [Her] happiness.
Goodbye,” and set off to Paris (90). Associating her happiness to her estate clearly illustrates her
unneccassary excess of emotion towards something that was only material which is characterized as a
World Literature Assignment 1: Compare and Contrast
Feminine and Masculine Styled Responses to Change of the Major
Female Characters in “The House of Bernarda Alba” and “The Cherry
Orchard”
very feminine act. Bernarda Alba’s attitude and grieving towards the two recent deaths in her family is
very closely linked to following family traditions. Grieving during the heat-stricken summer of rural
Spain, Bernarda asks for a fan from one of her daughters and is handed a very colorful one. Appalled at
its absurdity, she yells “Is this the fan you give to a widow? Give me a black one, and learn to respect
your father’s memory!” (205). Therefore, because Bernarda is clearly angered by the prospect of using
something that wasn’t adorned in grieving colors, as simple as a fan, it demonstrates her importance of
respecting her elders but more importantly her low tolerance of breaking from universal tradition of
wearing black in the wake of a death. Furthermore, her exceeding stress on following tradition
epitomizes the characteristic of a masculine response to change. As the daughters gather after their
father’s wake, Bernarda claims that “during our eight years of mourning, no wind from the street will
enter this house,” because “ that was how it was in my father’s house, and in my grandfather’s house,”
(205). By implementing a torturous eight year mourning period to the aging girls, with most of them
passed the ripe and preferred age of marriage, with only the reason of following what generations of
family before did to illustrate mourning illustrates a characteristic of a masculine approach. Even more
so, in comparison to Ranevskaya’s emotional reasoning behind her mourning, Bernarda exemplifies her
stagnant and bland emotion even in the wake of her husband’s death to portray her strength and
control over herself, which also demonstrates the masculinity of her response.
In conclusion, a female approach to change includes being open in expressing emotions, being
dependent on men, relying on instincts to make decisions and a melodramtic attitude which are all
portrayed in Ranevskaya’s approach to the selling of her cherry orchard. In contrast, a masculine
response includes having a low tolerance of expressing emotion because it symbolizes weakness, a
World Literature Assignment 1: Compare and Contrast
Feminine and Masculine Styled Responses to Change of the Major
Female Characters in “The House of Bernarda Alba” and “The Cherry
Orchard”
stress on family honor and its image and using logic as a basis of decisions and thinking, which is
illustrated through Bernarda Alba. Although to generations today, the response to these changes could
appear to be absurd, it needs to be remembered that these character’s reponses apply to their
generation of time where eight years of mourning was practiced among many rural Spanish families and
being overly devasted over the lost of home was being experienced by many in Russia. Overall, the
juxtapositioning of these responses symbolize the incredibly vast emotional spectrum that can be
experienced by the human mind and the possibility of evolving intellectually in years to come.