Blood+Wedding

=toc = =What does the play mean? Student summaries= Janina and Ashley Loh: The play is about tradition versus free will. Leonardo and the Bride represent the repressed desires of living within a confined society. Nobody has a name except Leonardo, who represents freedom of thought. When Leonardo and the Bride dare to challenge society's traditions, they earn the reader's support, which shows the author's preference for free will.

Ragna, Charlotte VanDamme and Anna: Blood Wedding contradicts what a 'Latin' culture expects. Lorca's archetypal characters allow the readers to relate to the play, allowing them to sympathise with the characters. Lorca portrays the general trend of people conforming to society's desires instead of their own. Leonardo and the Bride show what happens when you don't conform. Through the incorporation of tragic elements and natural imagery and symbols the play becomes also a portrayal of the natural circle of life and the inevitability of death.

Akshay, Dylan and Jeffery One of the main themes of the play is sacrifice. The moon, woodcutters and the girls (spinning the wool) represent fate. When Leonardo and the Bride run away, sacrifices have to be made to re-establish society's norms, and the power of fate is shown.

2A: Jeffrey, Bex, Aileen, Lance, Charlotte, Andrea Through the play's archetypal characters and the elements of tragedy, Lorca creates a social commentary of conformity and non-conformity. The play's underlying meaning is the inevitability of and interconnection between life and death, as well as the power that fate has over our lives.

**Symbols** The function of symbols in the play is that they: develop plot, themes, and characters; create irony through juxtaposition; and contribute to the non-realistic style of the play. Some symbols are unambiguous (such as the knife); some multifaceted (such as blood); some are mysterious.

In Act Three particularly the symbols become more poetic, more concrete, and more important: plot gives way to almost completely symbolic writing, as summarised in the critical excerpt below:

"As the play progresses, the symbolic elements that stress the omnipotence of fate become the central focus of the drama. While earlier acts contain allegorical lines and symbolic metaphors, the first scene in the final act is completely symbolic. García Lorca borrows a technique from medieval morality plays and personifies Death and Fate as an old beggar woman and the moon, respectively. Death, at the instruction of the playwright, does not appear on the character list, as if her appearance is a surprise. In human form, these figures speak with proclamations negating the ability of free will to overcome destiny. What’s more, they conspire to ensure the murderous encounter; the Beggar Woman who is Death gives the Bridegroom directions to find the fleeing couple and then accompanies him down to the river. The Moon, which in medieval texts is often a symbol of fate, shines at the opportune moment to reveal Leonardo and the Bride. Even the choice of the minor characters as woodcutters is highly symbolic: a woodcutter chops down a living tree, killing it. In this sense, the Woodcutters are a perfectly natural choice to report and comment on the pursuit and encounter. "(enotes PDF p12)

Do you agree with this writer's opinion that the symbols emphasise the theme of the omnipotence of fate in the play?

Please post you symbol summary below:

1. The bull (Brenda and Lance, Karen and Inaki)
Bull: Fertility, masculinity, strength, death Symbolize: Either Leonardo or Bridegroom Page 7 "How can it be that something as small as a pistol or a knife can destroy a man who is like a bull?" Page 52 "The wedding looms Like a bull in the ring!" -Wedding can symbolize a bullfight, both men are bulls chasing after a target (Bride). Lorca uses the bull to foreshadow Leonardo’s and the bridegroom’s death. Both die on a duel and using a knife as a weapon, just as the matador uses a spade to kill the bull. Leonardo can be seen as the bull because of his temper and strength, and he even calls himself a hot-blooded person. The bridegroom can also be seen as a bull. This is ironic because the bull represents fertility yet the bridegroom cannot give heritage to his last name.

//Karen and Inaki, I like your last point but otherwise your notes are a little superficial.//

**__Brenda and Lance:__** //Possible Connotations of the Bull:// First, within the literary aspect: leader of cattle, fertility (for women), male sexuality/virility, stability, strength, reliability, provision, and determination Within other cultures such as Indian, African, Egyptian: symbol of sacredness and wealth Greek culture: Minoans from the Minotaur (where the Minoans offered human sacrifices to this man with a bull's head) Zeus & Europa- symbol of passion, transformation, virility, strength, fulfillment Alpha sign: resembles a bull, creation of the universe Celtic culture: strength & power, fertility Astrologically: horoscope for the Taurus, symbolizes abundance, replenishment, subsidy, and fertility (spring time) Chinese: perseverance, longsuffering, hard work Sumerian, Semitic--> protection, guardianship, Hebrew word for harmony resembles the bull Picasso's artwork and Guernica: bull stands for cruelty, brutality and destruction, but ALSO represents protection fertility within other works Stock Market- a "bull run" or a "bull market" symbolizes where most people are participating and buying stock (where the herd gathers)

//References within the play--// p. 7, Act 1 "How can it be that something as small as a pistol or a knife can destroy a man who is like a **bull**?" analysis: this obviously symbolizes the virility and strength of the dead father and brother, thus supporting their characterization, as well as the mother's in her rigid mindset of gender roles; foreshadows death of fertility (the two men like a bull) and thus the son could not possibly have children

p. 30, Act 1 "I wish we could take twenty teams of oxen and bring your vineyards over here" analysis: symbolizes the economic union that was to take place

p. 46, Act 2 "Two oxen and a tumbledown hut are almost nothing" analysis: Leonardo's resentment at his meager amount of wealth versus the Bridegroom's, develops his characterization

p. 52, Act 2 "The wedding looms like a bull in the ring!" analysis: fertility!!! it's very urgent and wild like the bull in the ring and cannot wait.... but then, since it is confined in the ring, the wedding is also constricted, and the bride will constrict the bridegroom by not wanting to be married and also symbolizes death for the bridegroom (if he is the bull) as the bull is usually killed in bullfights

comparisons: p. 30 vs p. 46, contrasts power and wealth between the bridegroom's family (20 teams of oxen) and Leonardo (2 oxen); less strength and wealth, where wealth and power go hand-in-hand p. 7 vs p. 52, develops the theme that the wedding is doomed; bullfighting, the bull is killed with the virility/fertility

Lorca thus uses this symbol as a tactic for foreshadowing and characterization

//Good! Very detailed. See what you think of the extract below:// // The governing metaphor of Blood Wedding is an extended allusion to a ritual enactment that, like the play itself, is elemental in Spanish consciousness but reaches beyond nationality toward archetype: the bull fight. The mother tells the Bridgegroom that he, like his father before him, is a bull−man, and she calls the Felix family matadors. The wedding of the Bride and Bridegroom arises, as the handmaidens sing, ‘‘like a bull,’’ a bull that is destined to be destroyed by the matador, Leonardo. If we pursue this figure we find that it leads to the central thematic pattern of the play. The bull, here as in ancient thought, embodies the principle of natural order. It symbolizes human fertility within a natural cycle of fertility. Those characters who are associated with the bull have no individual identity. They are that which their position within the cycle of fertility demands—‘‘the Mother,’’ ‘‘the Son,’’ ‘‘the Bride's father.’’ The matadors, on the other hand, do have individual identity; they are the Felix family, their name expressing the irony of their destinies. Leonardo // // Felix, still more precisely identified, is the matador, a solitary figure who is the antagonist of the natural order, or the individuating principle in human consciousness. At the moment of truth the matador confronts nature, challenges it with his singularity, defines his manness in resisting, rather than in cooperating with it. Yet his very individuation contains death. Like the bull fight to which it alludes, Lorca's play imitates the elemental conflict in man's nature. **Source:** R. A. Zimbardo, ‘‘The Mythic Pattern in Lorca's //Blood Wedding//,’’ in// Modern Drama//, Vol. 10, No. 4, February, 1968, p. 364.//

2. The flowers (Anika & Charlotte V.D.)
Flowers: jasmine, dahlia, vineyard, weeds, geraniums culturally: National flower, pride. Our initial thoughts: - fertility, rebirth, nature - Affection between lovers, - religious symbols, - sensuality, - celebration (birth, marriage, holidays, graduation, illness, death) - happiness and empathy - virginity (deflowered) - Page 7 "covered in weeds" (mother's husband and son) - bad connotations. - Page 7 "two men like two geraniums" (mother talking about father and son) - geraniums associated with true friendship, stupidity, foolishness, and childishness. The two men are lively and young - didn't deserve to die. - "don't fill the wedding with flowers" - woodcutter 1. woodcutters foreshadow and know the future, they know the wedding will not be innocent - therfore not worthy of flowers. - "their eyes like crushed flowers", "their eyes are like broken flowers" - beggar woman. - loss of innocence, loss of fertility, their eyes are dead, broken flowers are of no use, dead bodies wasting away. - Orange blossoms symbolize: innocence, marriage, eternal love, fruitfulness. They are made of wax, will burn and melt. - "i am going to set the orange blossoms from here to here...", maid. "Give it to me! //looks at them dejectedly//" - Bride. - bride rejects blossoms: rejects marriage, doesn't believe she deserves them (because she is not innocent) - Golden Flower: wealth, bridegroom=rich + young - Jasmine symbolizes: attachment, sensuality, grace, modesty, elegance, hindu symbol for love - pg 49 "silver leather slippers and jasmine on her forehead" (about the bride) - she is elegant, graceful, beautiful. - pg 28 "a plant called Jupiter, with blood red flowers, but it died" (mother talking about her late husband) - possibly poppy flowers which symbolize death, or just a representation of her husband, who died. - Dahlia symbolizes: dignity, elegance, forever thing - it is intricate and feminine - pg 20 "today he is like a dahlia" (wife talking about her baby) - innocent and pure, not influenced. - pg 6 "a beautiful man with life like a flower in his mouth" - mother about her husband - he was at the prime of his age, shouldn't have died.

//Good, but you're missing a piece connecting the live and dead nature. It's important that we see flowers as not only a representation of life and fertility, but also as a representation of death and decay; the quotes above show both uses. In this way we can see one of the archetypes of the play: the life cycle. We are all born and die in blood, our bodies decay and return to the earth, in a never ending process that really was summed up best by The Lion King :).//

3. The settings, particularly colour (Joel and Andrea)
Yellow (Act 1, Scene 1, Bridegroom's House) - frustration (depicts the mother) - life/vigor (ironic because the house is full of previous deaths, and deaths to come) - wealth (color of gold and wheat, which are signs of prosperity)

Pink (Act 1, Scene 2, Leonardo's House) - love (ironic because Leonardo does not love his wife, but the Bride; shows how love is faked in society) - calming effect (ironic because Leonardo is anything but calm when he comes into the scene)

White (Act 1, Scene 3, Bride's House) - purity (the Bride is assumed a virgin waiting for her husband) - bland (the Bride's character and house both give emphasis on other characters...because of her lack of emotion around Bridegroom, it puts much more emphasis on his expression of love for her)

Gray (Act 3, Scene 1, Forest) - mysterious (the forest is the perfect place for the Bride and Leonardo to share their love for each other) - evokes murky tensions (building up to the death of Leonardo and the Bridegroom)

Black (character costumes) - death (foreshadows the deaths to come in the play as the Bridegroom wheres black clothing in the beginning) - malice/evil (throughout the play the Bridegroom is a nice/caring character; yet when Leonardo steal the Bride he shows his true hidden murderous nature)

Blue (Act 3, Scene 2, Bride's House) - male dominated color (the girl are wearing blue which represents that the men are dead so the women must take their roles) - evokes sadness (each family lost something by the end of the play)

//A good overview but perhaps more reflection on the effect of these colours on stage and on the audience's experience. See also the notes below for more detail://

The final scene takes place in a stark white dwelling, as if to suggest a place bleached of life and hope. The stage directions say that the room's white lineaments should resemble the architecture of a church. A church is the place where the rituals of birth and death are routinely commemorated; hence, it is an appropriate place for the Mother to learn of her last son's demise and to accept her future drained of happiness. (Enotes to Blood Wedding, page 16).

4. The horse (Spencer and Ashley, Anna and Abie)
General symbolic meanings for the horse include:
 * Power
 * Grace
 * Beauty
 * Nobility
 * Strength
 * Freedom
 * Wildness
 * Love
 * Carrier of Burdens
 * Devotion
 * Coping under difficult circumstances

The many allusions to horses in the play seem to always refer to **“love”** or **“missing love”**. 1. **Lullaby (pg. 17-27):** “Go to sleep, my flower, the horse begins to drink. (Weeping, supporting herself on the table) Go to sleep, my rose, the horse begins to cry.” **Possible Connotations:** 1. Missing love between Leonardo and Wife 2. Leonardo The reference to the horse in the lullaby is the most important one throughout the play, since the horse is a direct symbol for Leonardo. The horse/Leonardo helps the audience understand the non-existing love between the wife and Leonardo, through lines like “the horse does not want water” which is repeated several times in the lullaby. Also, in the lullaby, there is a fair share of foreshadowing happening, especially about the dramatic ending of the play, in the lines “a silver dagger. They went to the river… the blood was flowing”, which is in fact the whole death scene, or at least what happens off-stage later on. In addition, since it is the wife who is singing this song and she ends up crying, we can infer that she is aware from the very beginning (and not at the wedding) that Leonardo is cheating on her with her cousin, the bride, due to references of a “mare” that the horse wants to see. Additionally, the lines “Don’t come! Don’t enter! Go off to the mountain” indicates a clear rejection of the Wife to Leonardo, possibly because she knows that he is cheating on her, this would also explain if not even foreshadow her harsh reaction towards Leonardo at the wedding. 2. **Tired Horse (pg 22):** “Who is riding that horse so hard?…” **Possible Connotations:** 1. Carrier of burden of love 3. **Leonardo’s Horse (pg.** 37): “Maid: Did you hear a horse last night? Bride: It must have been a horse that strayed from the herd. Maid: No it had a rider. Because I saw him. He was standing under your window. It really surprised me. **Possible Connotations:** 1. Desperate Love between Leonardo and Bride 4. **“I rode the horse” (pg. 44):** “Maid: Where’s your wife? Leonardo: I rode the horse. She’s coming along the road. Maid: Didn’t you come across anyone? Leonardo: I passed them on my horse. Maid: Your going to kill that animal with so much hard riding! Leonardo: When he dies he’s dead.” **Possible Connotations:** 1. Love between Leonardo and Bride rather than Wife 2. Allusion to death due to love 5. **“A man on his horse knows a lot” (pg. 47):** “A man on his horse knows a lot, and he has the power to squeeze the life out of a lonely girl stranded in a desert.” **Possible Connotations:** 1. Power of love 6. **Good Horse (pg. 80):** “3rd Woodcutter: He’s riding a good horse. 2nd Woodcutter: But he is carrying a woman!” **Possible Connotations:** 1. Love weighs people down 7. **Untied Horse (pg. 89):** “Who untied the horse? I did. I did. It’s true.” **Possible Connotations:** 1. Bride’s love for Leonardo 8. **Dead men (pg. 98):** “Two men at the feet of the horse dead in the splendor of the night.” **Possible Connotations:** 1. Death because of love
 * References:**

//Some good ideas here; what do you think of the quote below?// As the bridegroom and his father are bulls, Leonardo is the ‘snow−wounded’’ horse, more specifically the horse who ‘‘won't drink from the stream.’’ The bridegroom' s father watered the land and drew forth its life, and the bride's father wept over it to pierce its barrenness, but Leonardo //refuses// to drink from the stream of life, the stream of birth, begetting, death and rebirth. In //Mañana// Lorca says of water,

For some good reason Jesus Realized himself in water For some good reason Venus In its breast was engendered.

The stream of life for Leonardo are his wife and son, the tribal promise of immortality, but he turns away from them in pursuit of personal passion. He is Felix because he wants his own happiness, his own desire and it is this that threatens communion, the harmony in nature that the bridegroom promises. The ballad of the horse, which Campbell says is meaningless, contains the whole idea of Leonardo, the principle of individuation so crucial to the theme. The horse is wounded by winter, the death of nature; his hooves and mane are frozen because he will not be reborn in the stream of life. Moreover we are made to understand why he cannot drink: “deep in his eyes stuck a silvery dagger.’’ Leonardo, the horse, cannot look outward to the harmonious whole; he can only look inward to the self. The horse must die in his own blood because he will not be reborn in the stream of life. //**Source:** R. A. Zimbardo, ‘‘The Mythic Pattern in Lorca's //Blood Wedding//,’’ in// Modern Drama//, Vol. 10, No. 4, February, 1968, p. 364.//

5. Blood (Terrence and Charlotte M., Ashley and Akshay- AILEEN!)
Wine is red, as is blood: In the beginning the bridegroom is seen cutting the grapes, which produce the wine, with the knife. (foreshadowing of bloodshed. Bridegroom and Leonardo are later killed by knives. Of course the wounds produce blood which is no different than the wine) Blood as life: hot-blooded, bloodlines, Hot-Blooded- full of life. Act on impulse rather than act logically. Passionate lover and quick to anger. Used to describe Leonardo. Bloodlines- Meaning that someone shares the same blood as their ancestors. They inherited their blood (both literally and figuratively) and must continue it. "Ambush of lead aims to be agony of blood" -Moon Ambush refers to the battle between Leonardo and Bridegroom, which leads to both deaths. Because blood symbolizes death, and blood symbolizes life, and since there was death through blood shed, blood is in agony. Madeja, Madeja: (as seen by picture above): Symbolizes thread is cut. Thread is also red. Shows that the life/iives has ended. Bride- returns with blood on her dress -This symbolizes that the death of Leonardo and Bridegroom is HER fault even though she didn't even raise her sword. Directly related to Blood on her hands for the murder of husband and Leonardo Tells mother not kill her with her[Mother] hands so that mother doesn't get any blood on her self. Meaning that the mother should kill her but not be responsible for Bride's death. Instead she tells her to kill her with a sickle, or an axe or break her bones (which in all fairness does require mother's hands but doesn't spill blood). 104- Lips are turning yellow, blood is leaving Blood on mud (after Leonardo and Bridegroom die) showed that their lives are now mixed with soil. They both died in the act of murder -Akshay Verma

Symbolism of blood in literature - Religious significance Christ’s blood sacrifice is one of atonement and purification (hence the symbol of Jesus as Lamb of God), offered to God for the reestablishment of order and fertility, but it differs from other notions of sacrifice insofar as Christ is considered to be both human //and// divine.

However just like Macbeth, blood can be a symbolism for sin in blood wedding. The mother emphasizes that blood must be shed by those that killed her husband. So in otherwords, their sins can only be cleansed by bloodshed.

In blood wedding- blood can also support the theme of death in the play. There are two ways the theme of death is developed in this play. First, there is death as the end, and the enemy, of mortal life. Death as an inevitable end that must be accepted is developed through the character of the Mother, who often laments the deaths of loved ones, while stoically enduring these painful losses nevertheless. ( feel free to change- aileen)

//This is ok Aileen, you're just missing a strong and controlled sense of the mutifaceted nature of the symbol of blood in the play.//

__**Blood by Terrence Chu and Charlotte Moeyens**__

//Connotations of Blood in general 1. love and passion 2. relationships AND heritage (blood relatives...) 3. death 4. slaughter//

We found that in literature, blood usualy symbolizes 1. **fertility** and **passion**, 2.**death**, 3. **destiny/fate and heritage** which ties into how you may be judged (such as good blood and bad blood). In Blood Wedding, there are many references to these symbols of blood. But first, the title: __Blood Wedding (Boda de Sangre__)
 * This title can give two interpretations
 * 1: the bride and groom will finally bond and "share blood," they'll become family
 * 2: wedding causes slaughter/death
 * References in the text to blood:**
 * 1) pg. 26, "The blood was flowing stronger than water" (Mother in law). To have strong blood indicates strong love or passion towards something is (to be hot blooded is also a common way of describing someone who is very passionate). This quote suggests that passion is stronger than water whihc is also a neccesity of life, but that blood (passion) is stronger, more persistent and important.
 * 2) pg. 60 "What blood could he have? -- That of his whole family, beginning with his great-grandfather who started the killing, and on through the whole evil clan! Men who use knives! People with false smiles!" (Mother). Here, blood sybmolizes heritage. The Mother judges Leonardo badly because of his parents. She believes because they share the same blood are related, he'll be and do the same as his parents.
 * 3) pg. 61 "That's why it's so terrible to see your own blood spilled on the ground. A fountain that flows for a minute -- and takes years out of our lives! When I got to see my son, he was lying in the middle of the street. I wet my hands with blood, and licked them with my tongue. Because it was mine! You don't know what that is! I would place the earth soaked with his blood in an urn of crystal and topaz." (Mother). This refers to heritage as well. The Mother complains about how hard it is to bear children (how long it takes) but then how easy it is to kill those children, just as her son was murdered. She mentions how she licks the blood because it was HERS which further suggests that blood bonds are stronger than anything out there.
 * 4) pg. 77 "It has come once again - the hour of blood."
 * 5) pg. 79 Conversation between first, second and third woodcutter. The first woodcutter says the following, "...blood was stronger!" "You must follow the course of your blood." "Better to be dead with no blood than alive with it festering." The second woodcutter says this, "but blood that is spilled is soaked up by the earth." The first woodcutter refers to blood as passion. He's arguing that passion is stronger than wealth and everything else. Love is most important. In the third quote which he says, he's telling the others how its better to live passionately and to die passionately, then to have no passion at all and to live longer. The second woodcutter is saying how the passion isn't everlasting, in the it's soaked up by it's surroundings.
 * 6) pg. 80 "But their blood will have mingled by then! They will be like two empty water jars, like two dry rivers!" This is referring to the bond between Leonardo and the bride - they died, but at leat they did so together.
 * 7) pg. 81. The moon sings about blood on its cheeks,

//Good! Except, the Bride doesn't die! Very detailed though.

Ashley: Blood has many different symbolic meanings throughout the play. In Act One, blood represents heritage and fertility. "That's good stock, good blood!" (pg 8) - Mother "Left a son on every corner" Blood can be seen as a person's trait and symbol, something they can leave around to mark their territory.

"The blood was flowing stronger than water" (pg 18) - Mother in law The references to blood throughout the nursery rhyme was from the wounded horse. The horse was bleeding more than the water was flowing and the horse refuses to drink the water. This creates a violent image and it contradicts with the context because it is meant to be a nursery rhyme sung to a child. Therefore, blood has violent connotations here and it foreshadows that something bad will happen in the family. The child is a symbolism for innocence, and therefore harm/violence will come to the innocence. The nursery rhyme is then repeated after Leonardo leaves, leaving the audience with the impression that he is in love with someone other than his wife. If Leonardo is symbolized by the horse, then the blood flowing from his "wounds" would be his loyalty or his love for the bride. There is also a repetition of the line "The blood was flowing stronger than water", which could suggest that the blood is passion, and passion is flowing stronger than traditions for Leonardo. However, it could also be interpreted that the blood in the rhyme symbolizes the wife's sadness because the horse bleeds from it's eyes.

Lastly, humans are born in blood and they die in blood. This adds to the idea of duality, the theme of life and death as discussed in class. //

Julien and Teddy
Mysterious, high up in the air and sees everything.
 * Connotations of the Moon (what we think): **

l All knowing and all seeing l light within the darkness
 * Conventional use of moon as a symbol (researched): **

l A feminine symbol (symbol of the virgin mary)
l //A feminine symbol// (symbol of the virgin mary) l Pg 82 Moon is personified, showing its desire to get Leonardo and the bride killed. // “And so tonight my cheeks // // Will fill with crimson blood” // // “Allow no shade, no shadow – // // They will not get away!” // The personified moon is very blood-thirsty. This may have some connections with death. It is interesting that it sounds like that the moon is hunting for Leonardo and the bride, as the goddess of moon in Greek myth, Artemis, is also the goddess of hunt. It is also notable that her tone is determined and certain – constantly using strong words like “will”. All in all, considering that the moon in this situation is a potent goddess with a strong determination, it can be considered as the symbol of fate.
 * The use of moon in the //Blood Wedding// **

l Pg 98 “//Two men at the feet of the horse / Dead in the splendor of the night”// The two men died in the “splendor of the night”, which is apparently, the moonlight. [splendere: shine, be bright] As two men die in the moonlight, it adds to the symbol of the moon. It further proves that the moon symbolizes fate and that the two men were fated to die, adding to the argument that the author's message is about the role of fate in the play.

//Good summary, clear and succinct.//

(Dylan writes in blue (just incase this is checked. I will be adding onto Teddy and juliens)

//What do you mean, just in case this is checked?! Cheeky boy. I ALWAYS check your wikiposts. But I'm confused. Did you add in the blue comments above and the ones below? Are those yours and Jeffrey's?//

**Circle of Fate- In the beginning Felixs kills the son and husband of the Mother. At the end Leonardo kills the bridegroom. (Foreshadowing?)**
Appearance of a personified Moon may symbolize how fate is taking over, the characters are losing control of their fate to nature (links with woods/junle, where human order/laws can be ignored). What Leonardo decided in (eloping) is an act that is forbidden by nature, deemed to end in tragedy from the beginning. //But the act of love and passion is PART of nature - its society that forbids it when it takes place outside of the 'rules'.//

If moon is the shadow of the sun, lightness it the dark, it can be interpreted as the judge of morals in the dark. The moon acts in place of the sun to seek out immoral acts, such as the act of elopement in this play. It casts judgment upon Leonardo, and leads the bridegroom to the eloping couple. As a shadow of the sun (which represents morals, light, goodness), it make sure light prevails in places that the sun cannot reach. (maybe?) //I like that point! An interesting idea.//

7. The forest (Ragna and Connie)
The forest serves to be another contradicting aspect of the play, one critic claims that the play is about dualities and oppositions, which the forest is part of. A forest is a place of rebirth, and growth. Where nature grows, flowers blossom... Yet, ironically, in the play, Leonardo and the Bridegroom are murdered there.

__General Research:__ Tree symbolism and forests contain multiple mythic qualities. The deep-rooted symbolism of trees is apparent in common metaphors such as "The Tree of Life" and our ancestral heritage depicted in family trees. Family trees and the corruption in society/families is symbolic. It is the primal material of the universe (without them, we wouldn't be alive) Forests and trees, because of their size and sometimes longevity and vividly, it affects imagination (again-archetype of our fears) The tree has become the witness and often the center of mythical happenings. In some mythologies trees are a living reminder of events too terrible to contemplate or so wondrous as to be beyond our comprehension. We [society] are unable to grasp the complexity of these feelings [murder] and for this reason we bow to the superiority for the trees above us.

"LIFE VS. DEATH"
__**Death:**__ -Literal natural forest decay of animals and plants-The murders take place in the forest-Forests are often seen as eerie archetype of our fears.-The setting in the forest forebodes that something bad is going to happen.-Darkness all around, unaware of surroundings (builds up tension and suspense) -Quote on page 88 (juxtaposes death and love and nature) //"Death! Death is coming. Beneath the giant leaves!" "Don't start the flow of blood" "Death, lonely death, beneath the withered leaves" "Don't cover the wedding with flowers!" "Death, mournful death, leave a green branch for love" "Death, vicious death, leave a green branch for love"

A conversation between the two woodcutters, juxtaposes this idea of blood and leaves, nature and death, and reenforces this theme of life vs. death in the forest. // -The trees are the only witnesses, they hold the secrets. __**Life:**__-Trees symbolizes the deep rooting of family heritage. -"Family Tree" "Tree of Life"--trees are in the forest, ironic because they die there, and the family falls apart. -The forest serves to protect the Bride and Leonardo in the sense that they are able to escape and hide amongst the trees.-"Natures gladiators"-they are the only witnesses -Act III, scene 1 //"The blood that soaked up by the earth"//, suggesting that the forest forgives, and learns to live on after all it's unfortunate events.-Family trees-hint that something bad is going to happen to the family.-Page 85, //"Be quiet! I am sure I'll find them here! See this arm? Well, it is not my arm-it is the arm of my brother and my father and of everyone in my family who is dead! And it has so much power that it can pull this tree up by the roots if it wants! And let's hurry, because I feel the teeth of my whole family digging into me-here! In a way it makes it impossible for me to breath easily"//

This quote is said by Leonardo, and he is describing his arm as the tree and how his arm is his fathers, and brothers and everyone who has died. Suggesting that he is holding on to his "family tree" and because of the sinful crime he is doing, he feels that he is ripping out the branch of the tree-in other words, tearing apart his own family [tree].

//Good! The only thing you've missed here is the idea of the forest as a place where a man can go to be away from society's rules: In contrast to these dwellings is the forest to which the lovers flee. The forest has long been that setting in literature where society's rules mutate, change, break down, or no longer apply. It is a wild place, beyond human−made, communal order. These lovers, clearly, cannot be together within their community, and so their only recourse is to attempt to escape its bounds. Their true home, in some sense, therefore, is this forest. (Enotes p.16) //