Initial 'Blood Wedding' exploration

The story of Blood Wedding was based off a local crime story about a wedding which ended tragically. He took a clipping of the story, then found it 5 years later and finished the play within a week.

None of the character's in Blood Wedding have conventional names, apart from Leonardo, but instead have names of roles or elements of nature, such as The Moon or Death. The Moon is a common theme in Lorca's work, for example a famous poem written by him titled 'Ballard of the Moon, Moon'. This also relates to Greek and Roman mythology which states stories of the moon coming down to capture a young man and take him away- this is a key inspiration in the story of Blood Wedding.

In a lot of Lorca's work he uses the Moon to symbolise Death which is interesting as Death is a separate character in Blood Wedding. The Moon also represents a world of intense cold, with the absence of the sun the only way to warm itself is with the sacrifice of blood. Death plots with the Moon to end the men's lives violently so that she can get her death and the Moon can receive it's blood. Death/the Beggar Woman also represents human nature, and as the bad choices of the other character's start to affect their community she uses that to her advantage.

The fact that Leonardo is the only character with a name could suggest either that he is the most important character in the play, and therefore has a name so that the audience can relate to him and understand him more, or perhaps that he is the least important/represents the most criticism. The fact that Leonardo is the only one with a name suggests that unlike the others he is no more than just Leonardo - this could be a statement on the 'modern' Spanish man. Also by having only the Felix family names allows the audience to define them from the Protagonists, and their individuality and exceptions from Lorca's rules could reflect how the Bride and Bridegroom see them in the play.

Another reason why the characters may not have specific names is to make them more vague and to make the audience less emotionally involved with the characters as opposed to the actual story. This way, similar to Brecht's style of theatre, Lorca makes the audience reflect on what the characters are supposed to represent rather than a naturalistic tale of a tragic wedding.In contrast their vagueness could give them a universality allowing the audience to relate to each character on a personal basis. Also as they each have quirky personalities, their broad names gives them more opportunity to be related to by the audience.