Blood Wedding

Blood Wedding Character List

Bridegroom

The Bridegroom is a wealthy and virtuous young man. As the last surviving child of his Mother (both his father and brother were murdered), he is subject to a certain level of overprotectiveness from her. However, he accepts this with good nature and for most of the play is cheerful and excited about the prospect of marrying the Bride. The Bridegroom owns a vineyard and believes that this will provide a healthy income for his new wife and many children.

Mother

The Bridegroom's Mother is elderly and arthritic, but she is still one of the most vocal characters in the play, always seeking gossip and announcing her concerns about the impending marriage. She believes that women should cloister themselves away from society and focus on raising children and pleasing their husbands. Since the death of her husband and son (the Bridegroom's brother), she is slightly overprotective of him and is given to sudden fits of hysterics. She blames the existence of knives for the murders and often complains about them.

Neighbour

The kindly Neighbour appears to be Mother's best friend, dropping by her house to share news and gossip, and accompanying her after she hears of the Bridegroom's death.

Leonardo Felix

Rash, bitter, and plagued by a short attention span, Leonardo Felix is the primary antagonist of the play. For most of his childhood and adolescence, he was in love with the Bride, but she seems not to have accepted his advances, and encouraged him to marry her cousin instead. Reluctantly, Leonardo did so, but is unhappy in his marriage and still longs for the Bride.

Mother-in-Law

Leonardo's Mother-in-Law is also the Bride's aunt. She shares Mother's conservative views about the proper role for women in society, but she is a supportive figure to Leonardo's Wife and helps them to take care of their young son.

Leonardo's Wife

Possibly the most down-to-earth character in Blood Wedding, Leonardo's Wife is only slightly aware of his infatuation with her cousin. She is a naïve if well-intended woman, frequently praising the virtues of both the Bride and her husband.

Girls

The stage directions suggest that four to five girls are used in the play, although their exact number is unclear. The girls often appear as bearers of news, and their frequent speculation about their own futures drives home the urgency of García Lorca's critique of women's rights in rural society.

The Maid

The Bride's Maid has a very small speaking role, and often receives guests at their farmhouse.

Father

The Bride's Father works hard to grow alfalfa even though the soil on his farm is bad. Like the Bridegroom's Mother, he appreciates that the geographical isolation of their farm prevents the Bride from having much of a social life. His wife has been dead several years, although it is rumored that she did not love him even when she was alive.

Servant

A chatty, generous spirit, the Bride's Servant attends to all of her most personal chores and serves as a confidante for her mistress. Although the Bride is often bitter about her impending marriage, the Servant believes she will be happy once the ceremony is over and does her best to cheer the Bride up.

The Woodcutters

The three woodcutters appear only once, at the beginning of Act III, Scene I. They speculate about the Bride's dramatic flight with Leonardo from her wedding reception.

The Moon

After the woodcutters suggest that moonlight will betray the Bride's whereabouts, the Moon, personified as a young woodcutter, recites a monologue about how it longs for blood to warm its cheeks.

Beggar Woman

Frightening and possibly insane, the Beggar Woman speaks directly to the Moon and hopes for violent, horrible deaths for Leonardo and the Bridegroom. She seems to predict that they will murder each other, and brings tidings of the events to the town girls the next day. Although she is called "Beggar Woman" in the script, the character list refers to her as "Death as Beggar Woman," hinting at her possibly supernatural significance.