“Life is a Dream” is one of Calderon’s best drama. The play focuses on the instability of life and illusions of the world. It also concentrates on the issues of the society and politics during the golden age era in Spain. The play is set in Poland’s countryside. At the time, Basilio, the King of Poland puts his son, Segismundo, in jail all his life because there is a prophecy that states that his son will bring disaster to the country 1 . At first, the King tells the public that his son died at birth but later reveals that his son lives. He even allows the court to vote on whether his son should be the heir. Unfortunately, his son turns into a violent man who even attempts rape. The son, Segismundo, is dragged back to prison. Upon waking up the next day, Segismundo is told that the earlier events were just but a dream. However, his jailer reprimands him for his actions making Segismundo remorseful. At the same time, revolts begin against the king after people find out how he was treating his son. The rebels win over the King’s army. However, Segismundo is still confused on whether it was a dream or reality 2 . Life is a Dream is a work written in three acts with each plot and characters having similar tales. The story has a moral diction of that good always triumphs over evil. Therefore, the play is able to bring out its influence from the Spanish society, about its values, social morals, expectations, and the political culture.
Values
Values in the Spanish culture are essential. The text was written at the time of the Spanish Golden Age which as between 1590 and 1681. The values of the people were vastly influenced by religion and the belief in fate. The main religious concept appears in free will against the fate. In the Catholic Spain, the church favored the counter-reformation that defined the human ability to choose good and God’s grace against the protestant notion of the total evil of the human drive unless predetermined by God to be renewed by his grace. However, Segismundo chose the pardon in contrast to the Oracle. The tension within Segismundo is evident given the decision he has to make at the final speech. Throughout the play, Calderon gives the audience a depiction of how each character fights with internal demons presented in the hard decisions they have to make when they are confronted with competing values.
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Clotaldo who is also Segismundo guardian and educator questions his loyalty to the king against his loyalty to his daughter. Clotaldo also doubts his loyalty to the man who saved his life but dishonored his daughter. Clotaldo then chooses all the three relationships. “With this chosen solution, I am loyal to the kingdom, and I am generous with you [Rosaura] and grateful with Astolfo” 3 . Clotaldo is mainly concerned with loyalty as a value. He is the only one that questions the inevitability of destiny. At the end of the play, Clotaldo is seen telling the king that it is not a Christian proclamation that people cannot escape the cruelty of fate. On the other hand, Segismundo views fate in a different perspective. Segismundo uses fate in a different way by not being against fate and God’s will. He is also not helping fate to succeed by uses a human agency to refute prejudice and revenge against his fate, but instead, submits his life to his father and thus he finally overcomes fate of the doom prophesy.
Expectations
Expectations in the play happen in the form of dreams and reality. The play brings out a dilemma that surrounds the characters in the real world and in a dream. The play appears to be a derivation of the Christian legend of Balaam and Josaphat regarding the concept of reality an illusion. The characters seem not to understand the difference between a dream and reality. The main dilemma is whether the dream comes before waking up of does waking up happen before the dream. The use of these characters aided the author in expressing the opinion about the significance of the upbringing and the faith as well as expectations in life. Segismundo is battling between dream and reality 4 . Illusions happen in the unreal world and do not look objectively to the real world clouding the expectations of the characters.
The illusion happens in a dream that remains in our memory but does not happen in the real world. Instead, the person feels as if they are alive as expected, but they are alive in the memory only. Segismundo feels like he is living in a real world, but the only real thing in his world is Rosaura’s beauty. The other characters in the text feel as if they are dreaming because their conception of reality appears almost as real. Segismundo dreams that his teacher thought that he was honest and a good person and that is what helped him achieve his purpose in life. Segismundo had spent his childhood surrounded by chains and darkness with his only friend being the Jailor and Clotaldo, an elderly educator. Due to the problems he faces throughout his childhood, Segismundo concludes that life is just a dream and that he will wake up when he dies. Clotaldo even states “Even dreaming it’s a good idea to treat me well. . . Even when you’re dreaming, the good you do is never lost” (65)
Political Structure
The text “Life is a Dream” was written when Spain’s powers were diminishing. It was the time of the Golden Age when wealth and gold could not be enough for the people, and so the church stepped in. The Catholic Church acted as a pillar of the government and culture of the people during this era 5 . Additionally, Spain was also marred by the inequities in the government. The Christian church influenced the political structure of Spain at the time. Notably, the author of “Life is a Dream,” Calderon was a Catholic man in a commanding position at the time when one’s inclination to religion or their gender was a matter of life and death. Calderon was born in 1600 and died in 1681 in Spain. At that time, Calderon spent most of his time with Phillip IV who was the reigning monarch at the time. He also spent time with the priest and chaplain of the Catholic church, and it was at this time of the Spanish golden age that he wrote his text a “Life is a Dream”. Calderon’s early life allows him to portray the political culture in the play from a Christian view as it was during the golden age. Notably, Spain was a very religious country at the time and very proud. However, the religious conflicts of the Catholic and Protestants took over leading to religious wars and revolts all over the territory.
Spanish culture
The Spanish culture at the time was flourishing in arts, and the Habsburg dynasty supported it. Additionally, the Spanish culture was also surrounded by profitable campaigns, religious undertones, and political propaganda. The Spanish culture at the time of the text was embedded in the Catholic Church, which provided for the people’s pride and identity. Therefore, being Christian in the country became equal to speaking in the Spanish language. Morals and values were also part of the Spanish culture at the time. Marriage was a culture that had to be followed, for instance, Rosaura promise of marriage from Astolfo happens in the end even with significant obstacles 6 . When Segismundo attempts to kiss Rosaura, he is thrown back into prison. Additionally, the Spanish culture took the prophesies seriously as seen when King Basilio imprisons his own son to try to avert the prophecy from happening in the country. The concept of gender is also depicted in the Spanish culture. Rosaura has to dress as a man in disguise for her to speak to Segismundo. Women are not mentioned a lot in the play, Therefore, making Rosaura a hero given the setting and time of the play.
Social morals
The moral choices of the characters add to the complex nature of the central theme in the play. The social morals in the play are mixed up. The characters seem to have clashing morals between the public lives and the private lives. Rosaura, one of the main characters and hero in the story is depicted as having a conflict between love and honor. Rosaura looks for honor through revenge, However, that in not the only battle she faces. As the story develops Rosaura’s conflicts begins to become unclear as Duke who had promised to marry her dishonors her. Rosaura then vows to either marry Duke or kill him.
At the beginning of the story in a countryside between Russia and Poland, the character Rosaura, a noble woman, dresses as a man to disguise herself, as she embarks on a journey with her 7 servant on foot after they lose their horses 8 . By dressing as a man, Rosaura depicts honor, but as a woman, she is passionate and emotional. However, she feels tormented by a moral dilemma, which she tells to her father. Her father instead replies in a diagnostically jealous manner. On the other hand, Astolfo is politically ambitious and deeply superficial. Astolfo has done nothing wrong to Rosaura, but his social values forbid him to marry her. He feels he is morally wrong for the actions he has done especially the pain and deception. Clotaldo also has mixed social morals, whereby he is in a conflict between the love for his daughter and duty to the king. Basilio, who is seen as a philosopher King acknowledges Segismundo’s freedom when he releases him from prison but does not make any outright claims.
In conclusion, “Life is a Dream” is an intriguing text that cuts across the pillars of Spanish society, its values, social morals, expectations, and the political culture. Throughout the drama, the reader is presented with many issues surrounding Spain at the time. All these issues help in understanding the play from various perspectives. The central theme of the play is centered on fate and will. Each character seems to have an inevitable fate with is stemmed by the Christian belief at the time. Notably, at the time the Catholic Church and Protestants were at a conflict, and each had different beliefs. The Catholic Church that influences the governance of Spain was of the belief that people could make their own destiny. This notion is fulfilled when Segismundo overcome his original fate and becomes a good and noble ruler. The church also influenced most of the Spanish culture, and thus their social morals were expected to be on par with the church. However, each character has conflicting morals. Nevertheless, in the end, the text depicts that, good triumphs over evil.
Bibliography
Bentley, Eric, ed. Life is a Dream and Other Spanish Classics . Vol. 2. Hal Leonard Corporation, 1985.
