The play is formed by Lorca's sense of social justice, warning society at large about the tragic cost of repressing any of its members. Adela's dilemma is Lorca's central concern. She has more to lose than the others in the dashing of her two hopes, men and freedom. Her optimism is irrational because of the isolation in which Bernarda keeps her and her sisters, and because she should be able to see from the society around her that men and freedom are mutually exclusive possibilities for a Spanish woman. But even servitude to a husband would likely provide Bernarda's daughters with more freedom than they have under her tyrannical authority. The land, which produces wealth, also serves as a metaphor for procreative power and other freedoms. The fields are a source of refreshment and escape for Bernarda's daughters. They see the men who work the land as free and independent, as having everything the women who are prisoners in the house do not have.

Honor Honor is closely related in the play with themes such as status, money, and gossip. Bernarda feels she has a social position to maintain in the town; she won't let her daughters marry beneath this imagined station, and she won't give up her social airs. The tyranny of Bernarda is fueled by her own sense of honor and tradition. The desire to act honorably— to mourn her husband's death for eight years— ruins the lives of Bernarda's daughters. Bernarda's sense of honor is formed by her awareness of the judgmental opinions of her neighbors. However, she has only herself to blame for her fear of what the neighbors think, because she has manipulated them by gossip in the past. Adelaida, for example (a character never seen), is afraid of Bernarda because the woman knows her sordid past, and throws it in Adelaida's face every chance she gets. Part of La Poncia's job is to keep Bernarda informed of what is going on in the town. When the neighbors awaken at the end of the play, however, it appears there will be no more controlling them (although Bernarda is desperately trying to keep up appearances).

Sex Roles Lorca's primary identification was always with female characters, and all the plays in his late trilogy are about the plight of Spanish women. The House of Bernarda Alba bears the explicit subtitle, "Drama about Women in the Towns of Spain,'' and there are more frustrated women in it than in any other Lorca play, perhaps than in any other modern play in the world theater. In Lorca's view, men and freedom are mutually exclusive for Spanish women. Although no male characters appear in the play, it is clear that the women's feelings of isolation are largely the consequences of men's actions and attitudes. In depicting sexual frustration, Lorca maintains the masculine mystique by keeping Pepe from appearing. Pepe acts only on instinct, his desires pit mother against daughter, sister against sister. Magdalena curses womanhood if it consists of nothing more than being bound by tradition. A woman has little control in achieving personal satisfaction and in determining the course of her own life, and therefore must often resort to desperate measures. The three plays of the trilogy dramatize tragic attempts by women to free themselves from impossible situations: the Bride runs off with Leonardo in Blood Wedding, Yerma kills her husband, and Adela kills herself.

Wealth and Poverty Angustias suffers because she knows Pepe is only marrying her for her money, that even when they are together his thoughts are far from her. Land is the source of wealth throughout the three plays of the trilogy, and wealth creates stature. When Bernarda judges the men of the area as unfit for her daughters, she does so not on their individual merits, but because as shepherds and laborers they are all beneath her economic ideal. In such circumstances, wealth controls fate. Not only does Pepe become engaged to Angustias because of it, but the play is rich with other symbolic battles over money. Prudencia's family, for example, is torn apart by a struggle over money: a disputed inheritance.