Federico García
Lorca
Blood Wedding
(Bodas de sangre)
1933
A tragedy in three acts and seven scenes
Act
II
A. S. Kline © 2007 All Rights Reserved
This work may be freely reproduced, stored, and transmitted, electronically or otherwise, for any non-commercial purpose. Permission to perform this version of the play, on stage or film, by amateur or professional companies, and for commercial purposes, should be requested from the translator,
Contents
(The hallway of the Bride’s house.
The doorway is at the back. It is night. The Bride appears wearing a white
petticoat heavy with lace and embroidery, and a white bodice. Her arms are
bare. The Maid is similarly dressed.)
MAID: I’ll finish doing your hair here.
BRIDE: I can’t stand it inside, it’s so hot.
MAID: In
this place it’s not even cool at dawn.
(The Bride sits on a low chair and
gazes at herself in a hand mirror. The Maid combs the Bride’s hair.)
BRIDE: My mother came from a place where there were
many trees. Rich land.
MAID: She
was so full of life!
BRIDE: But she wasted away here.
MAID: Her
fate.
BRIDE: As we all waste away. Even the walls are on
fire. Ay! Don’t tug so hard.
MAID: It’s
so I can get this wave right. I want it to fall over your brow. (The Bride gazes at herself in the mirror.)
You’re so beautiful! Ay! (She kisses her
passionately.)
BRIDE: (Gravely)
Finish my hair.
MAID: (Combing her hair) You’re
fortunate. You’re going to embrace a man, and kiss him, and feel his weight!
BRIDE: Hush.
MAID: And
the best is when you wake and feel him beside you, and his breath brushes your
shoulders, like a nightingale’s feather.
BRIDE: (Sharply)
Will you hush?
MAID: But,
child! A marriage. What else is it? A marriage is such
and nothing more. Is it sweetmeats? Is it sprays of flowers? No. It’s a shining
bed and a man and a woman.
BRIDE: You shouldn’t say it.
MAID: Perhaps
not. But that’s the true joy of it.
BRIDE: Or the true bitterness.
MAID: I’m
going to place the orange-blossom here, so that the garland sets off your hair.
(She tries out a spray of orange-blossom.)
BRIDE: (Gazing
at herself in the mirror.) Give it me. (She
takes the orange-blossom and looks at it and lowers her head disconsolately.)
MAID: What’s this?
BRIDE: Leave me alone.
MAID: This is no time for sadness. (Animatedly) Give me the blossom. (The Bride throws it to the floor.) Child! That’s tempting fate,
throwing your garland on the ground. Raise your head! Don’t you want to be
married? Speak. You can still say no. (She
rises.)
BRIDE: It’s clouded. An ill wind at the heart of it:
who does not feel it?
MAID: You love your man.
BRIDE: I
love him.
MAID: Yes, yes, it’s true.
BRIDE: But
it’s such a huge step.
MAID: You have to take it.
BRIDE: I’ve promised
I would.
MAID: I’ll fix your garland for you.
BRIDE: (Sitting
down) Make haste, because they’ll soon be here.
MAID: They’ve been on the road two hours already.
BRIDE: How far from here to the church?
MAID: Two miles by the river bank, double that if you go
by the road.
(The Bride rises and the Maid gazes at her admiringly.)
MAID: Let
the bride wake
on her wedding day.
Let
the world’s rivers
carry her garland!
BRIDE: (Smiling)
Let us go.
MAID: (Kissing
her warmly and dancing round her.)
Let
her awake
beneath the green branch
of flowering laurel.
Let
her wake
to the branch and spray
of the laurel flowers!
(A loud knocking is heard.)
BRIDE: Open the door! It must be the first guests.
(She goes inside. The Maid opens
the door and expresses surprise.)
MAID: You?
LEONARDO: Yes. Good morning.
MAID: The first!
LEONARDO: Was I not invited?
MAID: Yes.
LEONARDO: So I came.
MAID: And your wife?
LEONARDO: I am on horseback. She’s coming by road.
MAID: And you didn’t meet up with anyone?
LEONARDO: I overtook them.
MAID: You’ll kill that beast, over-riding it.
LEONARDO: When it’s dead, it’s dead! (Pause)
MAID: Sit down. Nobody’s about yet.
LEONARDO: And the bride?
MAID: I’m going to dress her myself, now.
LEONARDO: The bride! She must be happy!
MAID: (Changing
the subject) And the child?
LEONARDO: What child?
MAID: Your son.
LEONARDO: (Recalling
himself as if from a trance) Ah!
MAID: Are they bringing him?
LEONARDO: No.
(A pause. The
sound of singing far off.)
MAID: Let the bride wake
on her wedding day.
LEONARDO: Let the bride wake
on her wedding day.
MAID: There they are. But they’ve still a way to come.
LEONARDO: (Rising)
The bride will wear a large garland, no? It shouldn’t be too large. A little one
would suit her much better. And has the bridegroom brought orange-blossom yet,
for her corsage?
BRIDE: (Appearing
in her petticoat and wearing the garland of orange-blossom) He has brought
it.
MAID: (Sharply)
You mustn’t show yourself like that.
BRIDE: Why not? (Gravely)
Why did you ask if he’d brought the orange-blossom? Have you a reason?
LEONARDO: None. What reason should I have? (Approaching her) You, who know me, know
I’ve no reason. Tell me, then. What did I mean to you? Try exercising your memory.
Oh, a pair of oxen and a miserable shack weren’t enough for you. That’s the
trouble.
BRIDE: Why are you here?
LEONARDO: To witness your marriage?
BRIDE: Just as I witnessed yours!
LEONARDO: Forced to it by you, tied by both hands.
They may kill me, but now they daren’t show me contempt. Though with their
silver, that shines so bright, they show contempt for everyone.
BRIDE: That’s a lie!
LEONARDO: I don’t want to discuss it, because I’m a hot-blooded
man, and I don’t want the whole place to hear my voice.
BRIDE: I can shout louder.
LEONARDO: It’s pointless. You can’t have what’s gone.
(The bride looks at the door, full of
anxiety.)
BRIDE: You’re right. I shouldn’t even be speaking to
you. But my spirit’s angered that you’ve come to spy on me at my wedding and
deliberately ask about the orange-blossom. Go and wait for your wife, outside.
LEONARDO: Can’t you and I even speak to one another?
MAID: (Angrily)
No you can’t.
LEONARDO: After my marriage I thought, day and night,
about who was to blame, and every time I thought about it the guilty one
altered; for there’s always a guilty party!
BRIDE: A man on horseback can go anywhere, and knows
how to put pressure on a woman lost in a wasteland. But I have my pride. This
is my wedding. And I’ll lock myself away with my husband, whom I must love
above all other things.
LEONARDO: Pride won’t serve you. (He draws nearer.)
BRIDE: Don’t come near me!
LEONARDO: To be silent and consumed by fire is the worst
punishment on earth, of those we inflict on ourselves. What use was pride to
me, not seeing you, and you alone, lying there night after night? None at all!
It served to stoke the flames higher! Because one thinks time is a cure, and
the walls will shut things out, and it’s not true, it’s not true. When flames
reach the heart, they can’t be quenched!
BRIDE: (Trembling)
I must not listen to you. I must not hear your voice. It’s as though I
drank a bottle of something sweet and lay on a carpet of roses. And I’m dragged
down, and know I’m drowning, but I slip backwards.
MAID: (Seizing
Leonardo by the lapels) You must leave, right now!
LEONARDO: This is the last time I’ll speak to her.
Don’t you worry.
BRIDE: I know it’s madness,
and I know it causes me pain deep in my heart, and here I am listening meekly,
watching him throw his arms about.
LEONARDO: No peace until I’ve said the words. I married. Now you marry.
MAID: (To Leonardo)
And she will
be married!
VOICES: (Singing,
drawing closer)
Let the bride wake
on her wedding day.
BRIDE: Let the bride wake! (She runs off to her room)
MAID: There they are now. (To Leonardo) Don’t you come
near her again.
LEONARDO: Don’t worry. (He exits stage left.)
(It is
daybreak.)
A GIRL: Let
the bride wake
on her wedding day;
let the wheel turn,
our
garlands display.
VOICES: Let the bride wake!
MAID: (Animated) Let her awake
beneath the green branch
of love in flower.
Let
her wake to the branch and the spray
of the laurel!
SECOND GIRL: (Entering)
Let her
awake
with floating hair,
a singlet of snow,
shoes gleaming with silver,
and on her brow jasmine.
MAID: Ay,
the sweet girl
while the moon shines!
FIRST GIRL: Ay, now her lover
comes to the olive-grove!
A BOY: (Entering,
with his sombrero held high)
Let the bride wake,
let her wedding spill
out over the fields,
with dishes of flowers,
and loaves of delight.
VOICES: Let the bride wake!
SECOND GIRL: The
bride
has put on her white garland,
the bridegroom
ties on her ribbons of gold.
MAID: For a lemon grove
the bride shall not sleep.
THIRD GIRL: (Entering)
For an orange grove
the bridegroom brings silver and cloth.
(Three
guests enter)
FIRST BOY: Let
the dove wake!
Dawn
clears
the fields of shadow.
FIRST GUEST: The
bride, the white bride,
a maiden today,
tomorrow a wife.
FIRST GIRL: Come,
dark-haired girl
with your silken train.
SECOND GUEST: Come
little dark one,
let the chill dawn rain dew.
FIRST BOY: Awake,
bride, awake
blossom fills the air.
MAID: A
tree I’d embroider
with gems and ribbons
and love in each gem
with joy all around.
VOICES: Let the bride wake!
FIRST BOY: The
wedding is come!
THIRD GUEST: The
wedding is come,
when you will love,
come, flower of the mountains
the captain’s daughter.
FATHER: (Entering)
The
captain’s daughter
I
give to the bridegroom.
Here
he comes with oxen as dowry!
THIRD GIRL: The bridegroom seems
a flower of the sun.
Under
his feet
carnations are springing.
MAID: Oh, my fortunate child!
SECOND BOY: Let
the bride awake.
MAID: Oh, and her lover!
FIRST GIRL: The
wedding bells ring
on the morning breeze.
SECOND GIRL: Let
the bride come forth.
FIRST GIRL: Let
her come, let her come!
MAID: Let
the bells peal
Let
the bells ring!
FIRST BOY: Forth
she comes! Now she is here!
MAID: Like
a bull
the marriage is risen!
(The
bride appears. She is wearing a black dress, of around 1900, tight at the hips,
with a long train with gauzy pleats and stiff lace. On top of her hair rests a
garland of orange-blossom. Guitars sound. The girls kiss the bride.)
THIRD GIRL: What
have you perfumed your hair with?
BRIDE: (Laughing) Nothing at all.
SECOND GIRL: (Gazing
at the dress) That material is something special.
FIRST BOY: Here is the groom!
BRIDEGOOM: Good health to all!
FIRST GIRL: (Placing
a flower behind his ear.)
The
bridegroom seems
a flower of the sun.
SECOND GIRL: Calm
breezes
flow from his eyes.
(The
groom goes to stand beside the bride.)
BRIDE: Why are you wearing those shoes?
BRIDEGOOM: They’re shinier
than the black ones.
LEONARDO’S
WIFE:
(Entering and kissing the bride.)
Bless you both. (They talk together
animatedly.)
LEONARDO:
(Entering like
someone performing a chore.)
This
day of the wedding,
we garland your brow.
WIFE: So
the country is bright
with your river of hair.
MOTHER: (To the father.) Why are those two here?
FATHER: They’re family.
Today is a day of forgiveness!
MOTHER: I’ll tolerate it, but I don’t forgive.
BRIDEGOOM: How the garland
brings a glow to you!
BRIDE: Let’s go quickly to the church!
BRIDEGOOM: You’re in a hurry?
BRIDE: Yes. I want to be your wife, and be alone with you, and hear no
voice but yours.
BRIDEGOOM: I want that too!
BRIDE: And I only want to see
your eyes. And for you to hold me so tight that even if my mother, my dead
mother, called me, I could not break free of you.
BRIDEGOOM: My arms are strong. I’m going to hold you
for the next forty years.
BRIDE: (Dramatically, taking his arm.) Forever!
FATHER: Quickly now! Bring
the horses, and the carts! The sun’s already risen.
MOTHER: Take care! Let’s not bring ill on the day.
(The
large door at the back opens. They begin to leave.)
MAID: Leaving your house,
young girl so white
you seem to sail
like a star through the air.
FIRST GIRL: Pure
in body and soul,
leaving your house, to be wed.
(They
prepare to leave.)
SECOND
GIRL: Now you leave your house
to pass to the church!
MAID: The breeze strews
flowers on the sand.
THIRD GIRL: Ay! The white bride!
MAID: A dark breeze
the lace of her veil.
(They
leave. The sound of guitars, wooden triangles and
tambourines. Leonardo and his wife remain, alone.)
WIFE: Let’s go.
LEONARDO: Where?
WIFE: To the
church. But don’t ride there. Come with me.
LEONARDO: In the cart?
WIFE: How else?
LEONARDO: I’m not the man to go by cart.
WIFE: And I’m not
the woman to go to a wedding without my husband. I can’t take much more!
LEONARDO: Me neither!
WIFE: Why do you
look at me like that? With daggers in your eyes.
LEONARDO: Let’s go!
WIFE: I don’t know
what’s happening. But I think, and don’t wish to think. I know one thing. It’s
over already. And I have a child. And another on the way.
Let’s go you say. The same fate overtook my mother. But I’m not moving from
here.
(There
are voices.)
VOICES: Leaving
your house,
to go to the church
you seem to sail
like a star through the air!
WIFE: (Weeping) You seem to sail
like a star through the air!
I flew from my house too, just like that. With the whole world before me.
LEONARDO: (Rising.) Let’s go.
WIFE: But
together!
LEONARDO: Yes. (Pause.)
Come on! (They leave.)
VOICES: Leaving
your house,
young girl so white
you seem to sail
like a star through the air.
The Curtain falls slowly
(Exterior
of the Bride’s house. An atmosphere of grey-whites
and cold blues. Large cacti. Everything
sombre and silvery. A panorama of brownish plateaux, hardened, as though
they formed a country moulded in ceramics.)
MAID: (Arranging glasses and trays on a table)
Turning,
the wheel, turning
and the water passing by,
as the wedding day arrives,
parting the branches,
and the moon gleaming
on the white verandah.
(In a loud voice) Lay out
those tablecloths!
(In a voice full of pathos)
Singing,
the lovers, singing
and the water passing by,
as the wedding day arrives,
glowing with the frost
and coated with the honey
of the bitter almond-trees.
(In a loud voice) Get the wine
ready!
(In a voice full of pathos)
Lover,
lover of the earth.
Watch
the water passing