Benarda+Alba+-+Characterisation+-+MARIA+JOSEFA

Maria Josefa- We learn than she is the mother of Bernarda, and the grandmother of the girls. She seems mentally affected because Bernarda has locked her up. The reason she wants her locked up is because she doesn't want her neighbours to see her mother. Although this might be seen as cruelty in contemporary light, this was quite common in those days.

She is depicted as a contradiction against Bernarda because she wants to get married; this can be seen when she says "I can get married, and be happy," which is ironic since none of the girls are married. She also is a representation of what the girls want, their main desire which is to get married and get out of the house.

Maria Josefa is the voice for the forbidden wishes in the house. She says that she wants "to get married at the edge of the sea," which means that she wants to get out. She mentions the sea because Andalucia is a very dry place and their only source of water are wells, so the sea symbolizes fertility, life or sex. This becomes very obvious when Maria Josefa asks for "dishwater," which through symbolism means she wants what the normal people want, partnership, physical contact, children etc. In literature, when characters go mad, they start speaking the truth and becoming totally honest. Maria Josefa is the only one that speaks her thoughts and may seem to be the only sane one in her house which is the opposite of Bernarda's world which is quite insane.

She also symbolizes the possible future or the representation of the fate for the girls, caused by Bernarda. The only people that will be excluded are the maid and Poncia, but it seems that all the girls will be locked up as they are at the moment and will continue to be locked up and slowly become senile, similar to their grandmother.

Maria Josefa and Bernarda Alba