Life is a Dream

1
Life is a Dream

• By
• Caledrón de la Barca

2
Pedro Calderón de la Barca

• Early life reveals a good education at a Jesuit
  school, studies at Salamance, military service,
  and recognition as a dramatist.
• After death of a brother and a mistress, Calderón
  entered the priesthood.
• The rest of his life is marked by a routine but
  success as a playwright and chaplain at the royal
  court.

3
The theater of Calderón

• 120 comedias, 80 autos sacramentales and 20 short
  pieces.
• The same basic themes as Lope de Vega and the
  general adherence to the structure of the comedia
  and other traits of the the Golden Age theater.
• The influence of the Counter Reformation is
  evident
• The themes are more profoundly philosophical,
  idealogical, and theological

4
The theater of Calderon continued

• Style is more conceptual raher than emotional,
  intellectual rather than lyrical, abstract rather
  than concrete.
• The Baroque expression within the comedia
• A brilliant series of stylistic devices aimed at
  a select minority
• The comedia is more directed to a courtly,
  aristocratic, and intellectual audience
• Conceptismo and culteranismo characterize the
  approach

5
Life is a Dream

• Calderóns masterpiece and the most philosophical
  play in Spanish Literature.
• Three famous soliloquies
• Is he as a man not worthy of more freedom
• Is not life a dream and perhaps dreams are only
  dreams
• Is it not the path of wisdom to behave in an
  exemplary manner in case of a divine judgment and
  because the good, honest life is better than a
  bad life.

6
Life is a Dream continued

• The Catholic answer that man has free will and
  his reason can be the master of his fate.
• The political answer, with reference to the
  decline of the Hapsburgs, that the perfect
  Christian prince governs by good sense, kindness,
  and sacrifice
• The problem of appearance and reality , mind over
  emotion, and honor
• Seriousness of the drama is the death of the
  gracioso, Clarín, at the end of the play