The Burial of the Sardine (L’Enterrement de la sardine) by Fernando Arrabal - Analysis

 

The Burial of the Sardine (L’Enterrement de la sardine) by Fernando Arrabal - Analysis

Fernando Arrabal’s The Burial of the Sardine is a deeply unconventional play in which the ordinary structures of realistic drama are replaced by a world of confinement, repetition, grotesque behaviour, fantasy, and uncertainty. The play centres on Hieronymus, a dwarf who lives in an enclosed room and whose experience of the outside world is largely limited to what he can see through his window. His restricted existence creates the basic dramatic situation, while the appearances of Altagora and Lis and the strange procession outside gradually transform his isolated life into an increasingly disturbing theatrical experience.

One of the most important features of the play is its absurdity. Events do not always follow the logic expected in conventional drama. Characters behave in unusual ways, conversations and experiences may appear disconnected, and situations frequently acquire an exaggerated or dreamlike quality. The audience is not given a complete explanation of what is happening. Instead, it is placed inside the same uncertain world experienced by Hieronymus. This absence of a stable and rational framework is central to the play's dramatic effect.

Confinement and isolation are also fundamental to the work. Hieronymus is physically separated from the larger world, and his room becomes the centre of his existence. The window is particularly significant because it connects two opposing spaces. Inside is a restricted and repetitive existence; outside is a world of movement, noise, crowds, and spectacle. Hieronymus can observe the outside world without initially being able to participate in it. His eventual movement out of the room therefore represents a major change in his relationship with the world around him.

The relationship between reality and imagination remains deliberately uncertain. The events involving Altagora and Lis, Hieronymus's memories, and the procession outside do not always possess the clarity of ordinary realistic experience. The play repeatedly creates the impression that reality can dissolve into fantasy or hallucination. Rather than explaining every event, Arrabal allows different possibilities to exist simultaneously. This makes the dramatic world unstable and encourages the audience to experience the play rather than simply interpret it as a straightforward narrative.

The two women, Altagora and Lis, contribute strongly to this atmosphere of uncertainty. Their relationship with Hieronymus combines companionship, instruction, control, cruelty, and disturbing intimacy. They introduce him to experiences beyond his limited existence, yet they also exercise considerable power over him. Their presence makes his isolation more complicated because they are simultaneously his visitors, teachers, companions, and sources of unsettling experiences. Their importance becomes even greater when they become connected with the funeral procession that Hieronymus observes.

The Burial of the Sardine itself provides the play with one of its most striking images. The procession is associated with the ending of carnival and therefore brings together celebration and death. The grotesque spectacle outside Hieronymus's window creates a world in which laughter, ritual, death, absurdity, and spectacle exist together. The funeral is not presented as a solemn and orderly ceremony but as a strange theatrical event. This combination of the comic and the disturbing is characteristic of Arrabal's dramatic imagination.

The play also makes extensive use of grotesque theatricality. Its characters, situations, and images are frequently exaggerated beyond ordinary reality. The dwarf, the confined room, the mysterious women, the coffins, and the bizarre procession all contribute to a theatrical universe that is simultaneously comic and unsettling. The grotesque prevents the audience from responding to events in only one emotional way. A scene may appear humorous while also producing discomfort or uneasiness.

Another important feature is repetition. Hieronymus's existence is governed by recurring encounters and routines. The repeated visits of Altagora and Lis create a sense that time is circular rather than progressive. Instead of moving naturally from one event to another, the play repeatedly returns to similar situations. This reinforces the impression that Hieronymus is trapped within a pattern from which he cannot easily escape.

The play's treatment of death is equally unconventional. Death does not appear only as a tragic conclusion; it is incorporated into the carnival-like spectacle of the procession. The presence of coffins and funeral imagery is mixed with movement and theatrical display. The resulting atmosphere makes death appear simultaneously frightening, ridiculous, ritualistic, and mysterious. The title itself establishes this unusual mixture by placing a humble sardine at the centre of a funeral ceremony.

Hieronymus's eventual departure from the room gives the play its most significant movement. For much of the drama, he is an observer, separated from the world outside. By entering the procession, he moves from spectator to participant. The distinction between the private world of the room and the public world outside is consequently weakened. What he had previously watched through the window becomes an experience in which he himself participates.

The ending does not provide a conventional explanation or a neatly resolved conclusion. Instead, it preserves the uncertainty that has characterised the entire play. The audience is left with an unusual image of Hieronymus entering the outside world after a long period of confinement. The play therefore ends not by explaining its mysteries but by extending them.

Overall, The Burial of the Sardine is best understood as an experimental exploration of isolation, absurdity, death, fantasy, repetition, and the instability of reality. Arrabal deliberately avoids the conventions of realistic drama and creates a theatrical world in which grotesque humour and disturbing imagery exist side by side. The play's power comes not from a conventional plot or a clearly stated message, but from the strange atmosphere it creates and from the unsettling journey of Hieronymus from confinement toward the mysterious world outside.