| Life is a Dream | |
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Detail from bronze relief on a monument to Calderón in Madrid, J. Figueras, 1878. |
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| Written by | Pedro Calderón de la Barca |
| Characters | King Basilio Prince Segismundo Rosaura Clotaldo Violante Astolfo, Duke of Muscovy Princess Estrella Clarion |
| Mute | Soldiers Guards Musicians Attendants Servants |
| Date premiered | 1635 |
| Original language | Spanish |
| Subject | Free will, Fate |
| Genre | Spanish Golden Age Drama |
| Setting | Poland |
Life is a Dream (Spanish: La vida es sueño) is a Spanish language play by Pedro Calderón de la Barca. First published in 1635 (or possibly early in 1636),[1] it is a philosophical allegory regarding the human situation and the mystery of life.[2] Focusing on Segismundo, Prince of Poland, the central argument is the conflict between free will and fate. The play remains one of Calderón's best-known and most studied works.
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The King of Poland has kept his son Segismundo secretly imprisoned since birth because an oracle prophesied that the prince would bring disaster to the country. Telling his subjects that the boy died soon after childbirth, he manages to keep his son hidden until he has grown to be a man. When Segismundo reaches maturity, the King wishes to reveal his son at last, restoring the Prince as rightful heir to the throne. The King brings Segismundo to court and tells him about his Princely heritage. This discovery makes him violent, however, and he rages, killing a servant, attempting to rape a woman, and injuring the King's advisor.
Horrified and certain of the truthfulness of the prophecy, the King has Segismundo drugged and returned to his tower prison. Upon waking he mourns, believing the previous day's events had been nothing more than a dream.
Though he remains oblivious in his cell, the people have discovered Segismundo's plight and break him out of prison. Though Segismundo rejoices, he cannot be sure whether this new development is, in fact, reality or still just a dream.
The rebels persist, though, and Segismundo raises an army of the people. Together they defeat the king, but Segismundo cannot take his father's life. Moved at this gesture, the King proclaims Segismundo heir to his throne. As ruler, he resolves to live by the motto that "God is God," acknowledging that one must strive for goodness whether he is asleep or awake.
Rosaura, disguised as a man and accompanied by her squire, Clarín, heads for the royal court of Poland to take vengeance on Astolfo, who had promised to marry her, but abandoned her. She carries a sword that belonged to her father, whom she had never met. Upon arriving in Poland, at nightfall, she falls from her impetuous hippogriff, which runs away, leaving her to trek down the mountain on foot. She glimpses a light in the distance and follows it to a tower, where Segismundo has been imprisoned since birth. At this point, Segismundo delivers his famous monologue, “Ay! Misero de mi, ay, infelice,” expressing his unhappiness. He asks why he has been deprived of liberty all his life, when birds, beasts, fish, and even streams are free.
Clotaldo, Segismundo's jailer, discovers Rosaura and Clarín, and detains them to bring them before the king since nobody can know about the existence of Segismundo. Clotaldo recognizes Rosaura’s sword as his own, and struggles with fulfilling his duty to the king and saving his son, but does not disclose his dilemma to Rosaura.
Astolfo proposes to Estrella. He wants to marry her since they are both children of the king's sisters. And since the king has no children, the two of them united would be the clear choice for the heir.
The king, Basilio, announces to his court that he does have a son who was supposed to be a wicked ruler, so he had locked him away, but that he wants to give him a chance to clear his conscience. He says if this does not work, he will lock his son away again and give the throne to the children of his sisters since they have decided to wed to unify their power.
Clotaldo brings the charges of Rosaura and Clarín before Basilio, who pardons them since he has already decided to reveal the secret of Segismundo.
Rosaura reveals to Clotaldo that Astolfo is the one she has come to kill. Clotaldo is torn again between helping her and his loyalty to his country.
In the second day, we know why Segismundo is imprisoned in a dungeon since birth: an oracle predicted that he would be a cruel king, so his father, Basilio, enclosed him. Basilio has devised a trap to discover whether Segismundo is really cruel: he is drugged, taken into the palace, and presented with his rightful position, reserving the possibility of making him believe that everything is a dream lest he behave unjustly.
Rosaura is safe, and enters as an attendant of Estrella.
Segismundo acts like a tyrant prince, throwing a servant from the window shortly after waking up, attempting to rape Rosaura, hurting Clotaldo when he comes to help his daughter, and involving himself in a sword fight with Astolfo. In light of his behavior, the king decides to drug him again and take him back to the tower.
Astolfo courts Estrella, since with their union they would share the succession to the throne instead of competing for it once Segismundo is out of the picture. Astolfo recognizes Rosaura (who is going by the name Astrea), and they break off for good.
The day finishes with Segismundo, once again in the tower, asking himself if it could all have been a dream, and closes with the famous verses that give name to the play:
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The people of Poland, at finding out that they have a prince, organize a revolt and liberate Segismundo from his tower (after first mistaking Clarín for the prince). Segismundo frees Clotaldo, allowing him to go with the king, and displaying that he has returned to his senses.
Rosaura wants to kill Astolfo, and tells her reasons to her father first, and then to Segismundo.
The king's troops and the prince's troops meet, and Segismundo wins. The two encounter each other face to face, and the king throws himself at Segismundo's feet, allowing the prophecy to be fulfilled, but instead of killing him Segismundo forgives him. In light of the generous attitude of the prince, the king grants him the throne.
As king, Segismundo decides that Astolfo must keep his promise to marry Rosaura to preserve her honor. At first Astolfo is hesitant because she is not of noble origin, but Clotaldo then publicly reveals that she is his daughter, so Astolfo consents. Segismundo then promises to marry Estrella himself.
The Rosaura subplot has been subjected to much criticism in the past as not belonging to the work. Menéndez y Pelayo saw it as a strange and exotic plot, like a parasitical vine. [3] Rosaura has also been dismissed as the simple stock character of the jilted woman. With the British School of Calderonistas, this attitude changed. A. E. Sloman explained how the main and secondary actions are linked [4]. Others like E. M. Wilson and William M. Whitby consider Rosaura to be central to the work since she parallels Segismundo's actions and also serves as Segismundo's guide, leading him to a final conversion.[5][6] For some Rosaura must be studied as part of a Platonic ascent on the part of the Prince. Others compare her first appearance, falling from a horse/hippogryph to the plot of Ariosto's Orlando furioso where Astolpho (the name of the character who deceives Rosaura in our play), also rides the hippogryph and witnesses a prophecy of the return of the mythical Golden Age. For Frederick de Armas, Rosaura hides a mythological mystery already utilized by Ariosto. When she goes to Court, she takes on the name of Astraea, the goddess of chastity and justice. Astraea was the last of the immortals to leave earth with the decline of the ages. Her return signals the return of a Golden Age. Many writers of the Renaissance and early modern periods used the figure of Astraea to praise the rulers of their times. It is possible that Rosaura (an anagram for "Dawns") could represent the return of a Golden Age during the reign of Segismundo, a figure that represents King Philip IV of Spain.[7]
Life Is a Dream is one of Calderón's most well-known and well-studied works. This interest not only hails from the play's complex philosophy, but also from its notable dramatic structure. However, ever since Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo's 1910 classification of Life Is a Dream as a philosophical drama, criticism has largely dwelled on the existential issues of the work, often at the cost of paying specific attention to its formal dramatic characteristics.
A few central ideas constitute the major philosophical themes of the play: the opposition between destiny and liberty, the topic of life as a dream, and the theme of free will. These central themes overshadow other themes present, like the education of princes, the model ruler, power, and justice.
Focusing on Segismundo's line, "Y los sueños, sueños son", a more accurate English translation, better representing Calderón's poetic and philosophical intent, may be given as: "And dreams themselves are merely the dreams of dreams", implying and underscoring the ephemeral nature of human life and physical existence.
There have been many different interpretations of the play’s ending, where Segismundo condemns the rebel soldier who freed him to life imprisonment in the tower. Some have suggested that this scene is ironic – that it raises questions about whether Segismundo will in fact be a just king. Others have pointed out that Calderón, who lived under the Spanish monarchy, could not have left the rebel soldier unpunished, because this would be an affront to royal authority.
It is worth considering that Segismundo’s transformation in the course of the play is not simply a moral awakening, but a realization of his social role as the heir to the throne, and this role requires him to act as kings act. For some, the act of punishing the rebel soldier makes him a Machiavellian prince. [8] Others argue that, while this action may seem unjust, it is in keeping with his new social status as the king. Daniel L. Heiple traces a long tradition of works where treason seems to be rewarded, but the traitor or rebel is subsequently punished. [9]
It may well be that, rather than intending his audience to see this action as purely right or wrong, Calderón purposefully made it ambiguous, creating an interesting tension in the play that adds to its depth.
The conception of life as a dream is a very ancient one, found in Hinduism and Platonism. It is found in writers from Lope de Vega to Shakespeare.
Key elements from the play may be derived from the Christian legend of Barlaam and Josaphat, which Lope de Vega had brought to the stage. This legend itself a derivation of the story of the early years of Siddharta Gautama, which serves as the basis for the film Little Buddha that illustrates so the Hindu-Buddhist concept of reality as illusion.
Another religious concept is that of free will against predestination. Catholic Spain favored the Counter-reformation that defined the human will as able to choose the good (in cooperation with God's grace), against the Calvinist conception of the total depravity of the human will unless it is predestined by God to be renewed by grace. Segismundo chooses pardon against the oracle.
Catholicism is melded with "pagan" astrology in this play, as Segismundo's horoscope, as interpreted by Basilio, becomes the cause of his incarceration. Calderón would have known of the malefic qualities of Saturn, here associated with Basilio. He would have also known Lope de Vega's Lo que ha de ser (1624), a play that also includes the incarceration of a child and the importance of astrology.
One of the major conflicts of the play is the opposition between father and son, which may have biographical elements. [10] This conflict is also modeled on classical mythology. It parallels the struggle of Uranus vs. Saturn or Saturn vs. Jupiter. [11]
Many other motifs and themes derived from a number of traditions can be found in this rich and complex drama: the labyrinth, the monster, the four elements, notions of freedom vs. predestination, original sin, pride, disillusionment, the Oedipus myth, etc. [12][13][14][15]