Yerma de García Lorca

Yerma is one of the most applauded works by Federico García Lorca and, also, one of the most studied in schools and institutes. For this reason, in this lesson from a TEACHER we are going to offer you a summary of Yerma so that you can better understand the plot of this play and, furthermore, discover what happens act by act. A detailed summary that will bring you closer to this great work by Lorca so that you can learn the story of a woman traumatized by not being able to have children. We started the lesson!

Index

1. Brief introduction to Yerma by Federico García Lorca
2. Yerma Summary: Act One
3. Second Act Summary of Yerma
4. Yerma Summary: Act Three

Before starting with the summary of Yerma we are going to make a brief introduction to this creation of Federico Garcia Lorca, one of the most prominent authors of the well-known Generation of 27. This play was premiered in 1934 and presents us with a plot divided into three acts in which we are told a tragedy in a rural environment starring a woman who cannot have children. It is one of the works that are integrated into the

On Yerma we find a main topic: the fight for instincts. Yerma is the protagonist of this tragedy, a woman who has the instinct to be a mother but she cannot. This fight for what she needs and what she does not get is the driving force behind this work that makes the protagonist herself end up hating herself.

This work was written by the author because in Spain at the time there was great success around the rural drama. With the works that make up the Lorquiana Trilogy, the author wanted to make a portrait of life in peoples but, above all, the role of women in these more closed societies and traditional. For Yerma's narration, Lorca uses a lots of symbols that help us to better understand the emotions and psychology of the characters; the most interesting are the following:

• The Water as a symbol of fertility
• The flowers as a symbol of hope and joy
• The rock and the sand are the symbols of sterility, the conflict that the protagonist lives

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We started this summary of Yerma de Lorca talking about Act One. Here we will meet Yerma, the protagonist of this tragedy, a woman married to Juan, a man who is distant and unloving. In the first conversation that there is in the marriage we guess the cold relationship that they have with each other; They talk about the fact of having children and how much it is costing them and we clearly see the attitude of each one of them. On the one hand, Yerma is sad and desperate for not being able to conceive and, on the other, Juan shows a more impassive and serene attitude. Therefore, we find that Yerma suffers from two types of infertility: that of her love with her husband and the inability to not be able to have children.

Juan works in the fields and Yerma stays home every day, alone and singing. Her attitude is very maternal, she speaks as if she were already a mother who communicates with her son when her husband leaves home. She spends the day sewing clothes for her future child and singing to that desired fruit that she has not just arrived.

All the characters that the protagonist meets along the way they recommend to Yerma that she have a child so that she, thus, she may have more joy in her house and in her marriage. The protagonist will define herself as a woman who is "dry" and she will show her her constant concern for the fact that she cannot be a good wife.

We will also know that her marriage to Juan is a marriage arranged by her parents and that true love has never existed between them. But in this first act of Yerma we will also meet a girl whom she meets in the field. She defends that she is better off without children and also questions the need to marry if being a couple is already fine.

In the encounters between Yerma and Víctor It is when we will know that there is a special bond between them. The two are singing in the field but he will sing of joy and she will sing of sadness. This meeting is interrupted by Juan who asks his wife why he is not at home and forces him to go home to prevent people from talking too much.

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We continue with this short summary of Yerma to focus now on the knot of history, that is, what happens in Act Two of this play. This part begins with the announcement that Juan's sisters they have gone to live with the couple; the reason is that they want to take care of Yerma since she is ill.

Juan's sisters talk behind their backs about Yerma and they speculate on whether she is seeing another man. They are very devout and faithful women to the church who believe that Yerma's infertility must have some divine justification. Juan wants her sisters to take care of her wife and to ensure that she never goes out alone because, if he does, her evil tongues speak ill of her and her family.

Juan gets angry with Yerma her when she finds out that he has gone to the source to look for water. She will reproach him for going out so much and she will defend herself against it by telling him that she is tired of being alone at home and that he is always in the field. The two attitudes of the couple are very clear, she submissive and obedient and he that the only thing she wants is to live freely without having to worry about anything and anyone. She blames him that his tragedy is that he lacks a child in his life and Juan shows that the fact of being a father does not matter too much to him.

Victor arrives to Yerma and Juan's house to say goodbye to them. He goes to live with her siblings and Yerma asks him why is she leaving if there is no one there who loves him. The three say goodbye and the strong tension that exists between the woman and Victor is felt.

The scene goes totally dark. One of Juan's sisters appears with a candle because she is looking for yerma. The other sister also appears on the scene with the same attitude. They are both looking for Yerma. Act Two ends.

And we conclude the summary of Yerma to talk about the events that occur in Act Three, the end of the play. We meet now in the house of the conjurer Dolores, here is Yerma who has come to visit her to try by all means to conceive a child from her. This is a clandestine visit since it was not well seen that women go to the services of fortune tellers or sorceresses to be able to solve her worries, therefore, they recommend Yerma to leave before she she dawns.

At this moment, Juan and the two sisters-in-law appear on the scene. Juan, very angry, wants Yerma to leave and return home. He is tired of the murmurs of the townspeople and does not want them to continue talking about them. Yerma, repentant, will throw herself into the arms of her husband but he will push her away from her so abruptly that he will end up throwing her to the ground.

We changed the scene and now we find ourselves in a hermitage located in the mountain. This is where Yerma is located. We learn that María has been the woman who has recommended Yerma to take refuge in this hermitage to overcome all the pain and sadness with which she lives in her day-to-day life. A woman who meets the protagonist asks her motivation for taking refuge in the hermitage and Yerma is silent. The woman asks him about her husband and Yerma answers him coldly. Then, the woman encourages him to speak freely, that she say everything she wants to say and that she is not to blame for anything, that it is her husband's fault that she is not of good caste. This woman will encourage Yerma to leave and live with her son, a single man who needs a good woman but Yerma will accept that she is dry and that she does not want to continue fighting anymore.

At this time Juan, her husband appears. He explains that he does not need children, that he is already comfortable with the life they have. He explains to her that with his marriage she is already happy, that he does not need anyone else to be well but Yerma cannot bear this explanation and continues to complain because she wants to be a mother. Juan will want to calm her down and he will want to kiss her, but then Yerma will give a cry and he will kill Juan by squeezing his throat.

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