Memory is the kernel of a human being, and without it, worlds are reduced to nil more than empty vass. This construct is seen in Anton Chekhov ‘s drama The Cherry Orchard that was written after the Russian Emancipation Declaration of 1861 and Federico Lorca ‘s The House of Bernarda Alba after the Spanish Civil War. As both dramas were written after a clip of great alteration, they reveal the authors ‘ contemplation on the history of the undermined power of aristocracy, and the battle for freedom from subjugation. The significance of memory in determining one ‘s individuality is illustrated through the actions of Ranyevskaya and Lopakhin who struggle to bury certain facets of their yesteryear. Similarly, Lorca ‘s frequent allusion to Bernarda ‘s yesteryear and Maria Josefa ‘s aspiration to get away repression besides conveys that memory is the beginning of motive for the characters ‘ actions and ideas. Therefore, through researching the importance of each person ‘s memory, audiences are able to see how individualities are depicted in the two dramas.
In The Cherry Orchard, Chekhov portrays Ranyevskaya as a adult female who is invariably seeking to contend the flow of clip, as she tries to get away her beleaguering memories of her tragic grownup life by seeking for a safety in her memories of an idyllic childhood. Ranyevskaya ‘s first word upon her entryway into the scene is “ the baby’s room ” , which suggests how she is traveling towards the past since the beginning of the drama ( Chekhov, 4 ) . Furthermore, she claims to see her “ dead Mama, walking through the grove in a white frock ” when she looks out of the window at the blossoming grove ( 15 ) . For her, the “ bally grove ” is a symbol of the yesteryear, the position that she sees through her baby’s room window when she was a kid. The window symbolizes the model of her universe. And as she stands by the same window, Ranyevskaya is trapped within her guiltless yet childly paradigm. The “ dead mamma ” emphasizes Ranyevskaya ‘s disjunction from world, as the enunciation “ dead ” illustrates withdrawal with the present clip. She is person who is believes in pleasant semblances and the security of her “ guiltless childhood ” that has non yet been tainted with painful memories ( 15 ) . And this changeless psychotic belief shapes Ranyevskaya ‘s individuality as a adult female who is trapped in denial, and refuses to practically look at the world of her current status.
On the other manus, the character Maria Josefa from the drama The House of Bernarda Alba is possessed by the semblance of vernal romanticism. Similar with how Ranyevskaya seeks safety in her childhood memories, Maria Josefa tries to deny the world of her age and the parturiency of Bernarda by get awaying into the memory of being a married woman and a female parent. She reveals a strong desire for a lover, as she invariably claims how she wants “ to acquire married to a beautiful adult male from the border of the sea ” , and she nurtures a lamb as if it was her ain kid ( Lorca, 224 ) . This aspiration illustrates the thirst of freedom, as “ [ acquiring ] married ” is the inhumed desire of Bernarda ‘s girls. The imagination of “ border of the sea ” suggests a sense of freedom with no obstructors. And this liberating imagination of the sea is contrasted with the restricting scene of the closed doors and Windowss in Bernarda ‘s house. Yet this stepping down into memories causes Maria Josefa to be unable to grok with the world. She calls her granddaughters “ old amahs ” whose “ Black Marias are turning into dust ” , without recognizing that she herself is a shriveled amah ( 224 ) . Furthermore, her visual aspect as an old adult female “ decked out with flowers on her caput and at her chest ” illustrates the image of a bride, and therefore farther emphasizes the impulse desire to return to her yesteryear when she was a married woman and a female parent of “ small kids ” ( 224, 281 ) . The hyperbole of the “ decked ” flower imagination highlights the unnatural nature of her yearning, and therefore portrays Maria Josefa ‘s individuality as a adult female who is trailing the unachievable semblances of the memory of freedom and the chase of love.
However, while Ranyevskaya and Maria Josefa are seeking to take safety in their past memories, it is the resentment of the childhood memory that drives Lopakhin in The Cherry Orchard into working on “ all the hours God have [ and ] invariably managing money ” ( Chekhov, 32 ) . In a glimpse, Lopakhin seems to be the dynamic character who possesses the necessary accomplishments such as the practical mentality on life, and work wont to go on prosecuting his dream to go a rich adult male. Yet as he “ can non acquire by without work ” , these accomplishments are simply a tool that he uses to deflect him from remembering his yesteryear and get the better ofing his lower status composite of being a provincial kid ( 56 ) . However, the description “ all the hours ” connotes to a sense of fatigue that he possesses, while the enunciation “ managing money ” simply conveys plants and does non bespeak his sense of ownership towards the wealth. Hence, it suggests that his work is unable to redefine his individuality, and liberate him from the memory of a hapless male child. Hence, through his relentless yet conceited chase of wealth, Lopakhin ‘s individuality is portrayed as a workaholic adult male whose aspiration is driven by the lower status composite from his childhood reminiscences.
It is a similar force of resentment of Bernarda ‘s childhood memory that motivates her to quash her girls. In the drama The House of Bernarda Alba, Bernarda recalls the subjugation in her childhood, and claims how the doors and Windowss are “ sealed up with bricks ” in her “ male parent ‘s house, and in [ her ] gramps ‘s house ” ( Lorca, 205 ) . This dictatorship that she experienced when she was a kid drives her to lock her girls up, and forbids them to “ travel beyond [ the ] walls ” of her house ( 248 ) . In this context, bricks and walls are metaphors of a adult female ‘s confined life, which besides motivates Bernarda to be a oppressive female parent. However, what distinguish Lopakhin and Bernarda is how they deal with their insecurity. On one manus, Lopakhin seeks to prevail over his past by psychologically piquing the Ranyevskaya ‘s household members. He purchases the cherry grove to demo off his wealth, and intentionally telling the auction with hilarity in forepart of his heartbroken, and belly-up friends. Bernarda on the other manus, efforts to get the better of her ain experience of repression by commanding her family with physical force. She strikes her girl Martirio with “ her cane ” to show her choler, and repeatedly reminds her girls that she has “ five ironss ” to bind them up ( 248, 251 ) . Therefore, this motive of arm causes her character is frequently associated with strength, force, and force.
Memory contributes to the defining of a character ‘s peculiarity by functioning as a blindfold that distorts world from the individual who recalls it. For case, Ranyevskaya admits that she has “ lost her sight ” in seeing what Trofimov believes “ is truth and which is falsity ” , because what is more of import for her is that one ‘s memories should reflect one ‘s vision of how the universe should be, instead than any nonsubjective set of facts about how it is ( Chekhov, 43 ) . The pleasant memory of her lover in Paris has blinded her from recognizing how he has used her and ran off with her money. Similarly, Bernarda believes that “ eight old ages of bereavement ” is necessary “ to esteem [ her hubby ‘s ] memory ” , and is unable to see her girls ‘ torment of being sexually repressed under her dictatorship ( Lorca, 205 ) . By esteeming the abstract and obscure remembrance of her hubby, Bernarda is unable to see the present world of her girls ‘ status. The reminiscence that she has on the tradition of the house that her “ male parent [ has ] built ” has caused her to set “ a blindfold on herself ” , and makes her believe that locked doors and Windowss are adequate to coerce her girls to obey her ( 251, 276 ) . What she does non recognize is “ the power a adult male can hold over alone adult females ” , and that as eight old ages have passed, her girls have grown into immature adult females who yearn for romantic chases. ( 276 ) . Therefore this limbo has shaped her character to be a commanding female parent who ne’er listens to what her girls have to state, and to the danger that Poncia has warned her about.
The geographic expedition on the significance of memory in the drama The Cherry Orchard and The House of Bernarda Alba provides the audiences with a farther apprehension on the different individualities of the characters. Ranyevskaya and Maria Josefa ‘s changeless phantoms of the past cause them to be portrayed as delusional adult females who are unable to grok about the world of the current clip. While conversely, Lopakhin and Bernarda ‘s haunting memories are what drive them to be workaholic and oppressive persons. Therefore, as the dramas revolve around the subject of remembrances of the yesteryear, and the battle to bury or the wish to return to one ‘s memory, the audiences are able to see how memory is in fact the beginning of personal individuality, while at the same clip, it is the load that prevents the attainment of felicity.
