The use of color as a technique of foreshadowing in Blood Wedding
Authors frequently use setting to establish the overall theme or mood of a scene, which is a useful strategy to develop the plot and enhance the effect a scene has on its audience. Federico Garcia Lorca has taken a unique approach to utilize setting, particularly color, as a foreshadowing element in the play Blood Wedding. The symbolism of color is evident throughout the play, and is extremely significant right from the color of the bridegroom’s house in Act 1 Scene 1 to the white room in Act 3 Scene 2. Lorca uses the colors of the rooms, the blue light of the moon, the red of blood and many other colors to foreshadow overarching themes of morbidity, death and violence as the play progresses.
The significance of color is seen in the opening scene, which is set in the bridegroom’s house in a room painted yellow. This yellow is not only representative of the opulence of the bridegroom’s family, but is also symbolic of life, zest and vitality. The rich irony in this setting foreshadows the two deaths, including his own, as the color yellow is made synonymous to death in the final scene –
“Left two men stiffening …show more content…
However, given that in the play colors suggest more than one thing, it also portends to the coldness of death and the ensuing emptiness of the Bride’s life, as she doesn’t love the bridegroom. When the ‘Bride flings the blossoms aside’ (pg 24) it shows a violent action and may also be an indication of the Bride’s purity and innocence being destroyed and abandoned, foreshadowing her going against society and eloping with Leonardo on the day of her wedding. The contrast between the white walls, and the Mother’s black dress and the bridegroom’s black suit is also an indication of hope and purity being
Authors frequently use setting to establish the overall theme or mood of a scene, which is a useful strategy to develop the plot and enhance the effect a scene has on its audience. Federico Garcia Lorca has taken a unique approach to utilize setting, particularly color, as a foreshadowing element in the play Blood Wedding. The symbolism of color is evident throughout the play, and is extremely significant right from the color of the bridegroom’s house in Act 1 Scene 1 to the white room in Act 3 Scene 2. Lorca uses the colors of the rooms, the blue light of the moon, the red of blood and many other colors to foreshadow overarching themes of morbidity, death and violence as the play progresses.
The significance of color is seen in the opening scene, which is set in the bridegroom’s house in a room painted yellow. This yellow is not only representative of the opulence of the bridegroom’s family, but is also symbolic of life, zest and vitality. The rich irony in this setting foreshadows the two deaths, including his own, as the color yellow is made synonymous to death in the final scene –
“Left two men stiffening …show more content…
However, given that in the play colors suggest more than one thing, it also portends to the coldness of death and the ensuing emptiness of the Bride’s life, as she doesn’t love the bridegroom. When the ‘Bride flings the blossoms aside’ (pg 24) it shows a violent action and may also be an indication of the Bride’s purity and innocence being destroyed and abandoned, foreshadowing her going against society and eloping with Leonardo on the day of her wedding. The contrast between the white walls, and the Mother’s black dress and the bridegroom’s black suit is also an indication of hope and purity being