Edward Fitzgerald, best-known for his version of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, began his career as a translator with Spanish Golden Age drama. In 1853 he published Six Dramas of Calderón, including the four-act version of Life Is a Dream. The play had already been translated into English several times, most recently by the Irish poet Denis Florence MacCarthy, whose attention had been drawn to Calderón by references to his plays in the writings of Shelley. However, MacCarthy’s version is very different from Fitzgerald’s, partly because he attempts to reproduce the complex rhyme and meter of the original, and partly because the two are based on different texts.

The two major versions of Life Is a Dream were both published in 1636, and it is not clear which of them was written first. One may have been composed as early as 1629. Although one version of the play has three acts and the other has four, it is the former, translated by MacCarthy, which is more complex and diffuse. Ironically, given that MacCarthy was inspired by Shelley’s writings on Calderón, it is Fitzgerald’s translation of the four-act version that immediately calls to mind Shelley’s verse dramas, such as The Cenci and Prometheus Unbound. Like these works, Fitzgerald says that his version of Life Is a Dream “is not for acting.” It is a philosophical poem, or even a religious one.

The four-act version of Life is a Dream is pared down to focus on the central question. It is less dramatic and sensational, more reflective and questioning, than the three-act play. The focus is more completely on Segismund, the existential hero, and Segismund is a more introspective and less violent character. Although his long monologues are not technically soliloquies, being delivered in the presence of other characters who are listening, Segismund often appears to be talking to himself as he grapples with the nature of reality. The play is sometimes called “the Spanish Hamlet,” and it is true that no one in Golden Age Drama so closely resembles Shakespeare’s prince of Denmark as Calderón’s prince of Poland.

The subplot involving Rosaura, Clotaldo, and Astolfo is altered in various ways. In the three-act version, Clotaldo discovers that he is Rosaura’s father, whereas in the four-act play, he is merely a friend of her father and beneficiary of his kindness. Astolfo appears in the three-act version as a cynical seducer, whereas in this one his relationship with Rosaura is mentioned so briefly that his motives are difficult to ascertain. When he first appears in the three-act play, he is courting Estrella and professing his love for her, a sharp contrast to the carefully calculated political alliance he enters into in the four-act play. In any case, the effect of the difference is evident: the drama of the wronged woman has a prominence in the three-act play which it lacks in the four-act one.

It is not clear which of these versions Calderón wrote first in the seven-year period between 1629 and 1636 in which both were composed. Perhaps he wrote a relatively conventional and sensational Golden Age drama, then felt that the philosophical questions it raised deserved deeper consideration. However, it is equally possible that he composed what is essentially a poem about the nature of reality and then turned it into a play that could be staged. Any dogmatic insistence on the precedence of one version over the other probably tells the reader more about the personal prejudices of the critic than anything else.

One important similarity between the two versions is the way in which...

Comedia

Life Is a Dream is a comedia, a genre of Spanish drama that reached its peak at the start of the seventeenth century, thanks to the eminent Spanish playwright Lope de Vega. He formalized this style in his 1609 treatise El arte nuevo de hacer comedias en este sieglo (The New Art of Playwriting in This Century). A comedia is a verse drama composed of three acts. The first act introduces the main issues, the second act develops them, and the third act resolves them. This genre blends comedic and serious elements and often includes intrigue, disguise, swordplay, and battles.

Conflict between Characters and Ideas

The plot of Life Is a Dream is driven by two types of conflicts: those between characters and those between ideas. Character conflicts include the clashes between Basilio and Segismundo, Astolfo and Rosaura, and Astolfo and Estrella. Additionally, there are ideological conflicts, such as the struggle between free will and determinism, self-interest and forgiveness, and illusion and reality. These ideological tensions are more influential in shaping the play's action than the character conflicts themselves. For instance, the conflict between Astolfo and Rosaura revolves around themes of honor versus selfishness and justice versus greed. The father-son conflict between Basilio and Segismundo serves as a vehicle to explore the broader themes of free will versus determinism and illusion versus reality.

Gongorism

Gongorism, named after the poet Luis de Góngora y Argote (1561–1627), refers to the elaborate style of verse used by Calderón. This style is notable for its allusions to mythology, stylistic extravagance, and complexity in language and thought. While readers of an English translation may not fully experience this style, they can sense it in passages such as the play's opening lines: "Wild hippogriff, running swift as the wind, flash without flame, bird without color, fish without scales, unnatural beast, where are you wildly rushing in the intricate labyrinth of these bare rocks?" Another example is Segismundo's first speech in the play's opening scene: "The bird is born, with the gaudy plumage that gives it unrivalled beauty; and scarcely is it formed, like a flower of feathers or a winged branch, when it swiftly cuts the vaulted air, refusing the calm shelter of its nest."

The Golden Age in Spain

The era from 1580 to 1680 is known as the Golden Age in Spain, a time when art and literature thrived. Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) published the first part of Don Quixote in 1605. This novel explores the fluid boundaries between reality and perception, introducing Don Quixote, a character whose consciousness is heavily influenced by literature. Lope de Vega's Fuente ovejuna, or The Sheep Well (performed in 1614), depicts a village's uprising against a tyrannical governor, highlighting both collective and individual identities. In 1630, Tirso de Molina (ca. 1580–1648) introduced the character of Don Juan in his play El burlador de Sevilla, or The Love Rogue. Don Juan epitomizes Renaissance passions, characterized by his desires and his defiance of societal norms.

Between 1597 and 1614, the year of his death, El Greco (1541–1614) created over a dozen masterpieces, including Laocoon and View of Toledo. From 1620 to 1660, Diego Velázquez (1599–1660) produced works of such exceptional quality that he is considered Spain's greatest painter. The works of El Greco and Velázquez capture the human condition's terror, the struggle of existence, and the profound vision and depth of character humanity can achieve.

Politics

The century between 1550 and 1650 was characterized by power struggles that intertwined political and religious issues, occurring both within and between nations. In Spain, the Roman Catholic Church's authority was upheld by the courts of the Inquisition, which punished deviations from accepted doctrine, and by the Index, a list of banned books deemed threatening to religious truth. These measures reinforced religious power but also fostered underground Protestant and humanist resistance.

Protestant leaders like Martin Luther (1483–1546) criticized the pope's authority and the Church's practice of selling indulgences, which were believed to reduce the purchaser's time in purgatory. Reformers like Luther argued that the Bible should be accessible to all Christians in their native languages, rather than only in Church Latin or the original Greek. They asserted that the Bible, not Church authorities, should be the ultimate religious guide.

Protestant reformers often had close ties with humanists, scholars such as the Dutch-born Desiderius Erasmus (1466–1536). Humanist philosophy emerged from studying Greek and Latin classics, valuing their literary qualities, elegance, and structure. Humanists sought excellence in humanity itself, focusing on the study of human nature and the natural world, in contrast to Scholasticism, which concentrated on divine phenomena and the nature of God.

Spanish influence reached England in 1553 when Queen Mary I, aiming to restore Catholicism after Henry VIII's split from Rome in 1534, married Philip II of Spain. She passed away four years later, and her Protestant sister, Elizabeth I, ascended to the throne. Elizabeth's navy famously defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588. During this period, Spain was also defending its European territories, which included parts of Italy and the Netherlands, while establishing itself as a significant colonial power in the New World and contending with the Turkish Ottoman Empire for control of North Africa.

Cultural Changes

The era in which Calderón lived was notably significant due to the clash between two worldviews. The medieval societal and intellectual structure was based on strict adherence to clearly defined religious and secular orders. The Renaissance, characterized by the revival of classical learning, global exploration, individualism, and challenges to established religious doctrines, disrupted and threatened medieval values and truths. "Man," who had lived under strict authority in the Middle Ages, emerged in the Renaissance as the measure of all things.

Sources

Calderón de la Barca, Pedro, Life Is a Dream, translated by Edward and Elizabeth Huberman, in The Golden Age, selected and introduced by Norris Houghton, Dell, 1963, pp. 86-89.

De Armas, Frederick A., The Return of Astraea: An Astral-Imperial Myth in Calderón, University Press of Kentucky, 1986, p. 122.

Pico della Mirandola, Giovanni, Oration on the Dignity of Man, available online at http://cscs.umich.edu/∼crshalizi Mirandola (August 31, 2005).

Sloman, A. E., "The Structure of Calderón's La vida es sueño," in Critical Essays on the Theatre of Calderón, edited by Bruce W. Wardropper, New York University Press, 1965, pp. 90-91.

Further Reading

Cascardi, Anthony J., The Limits of Illusion: A Critical Study of Calderón, Cambridge University Press, 1984.

Cascardi examines Calderón's work in the context of the literary and philosophical movements of his era, delving into his exploration of illusion and skepticism across his plays.

Freud, Sigmund, The Interpretation of Dreams, edited and translated by James Strachey, Avon Books, 1980.

First published in 1900, Freud's seminal work on dreams is one of the most significant and impactful books of the twentieth century. In it, Freud proposes that dreams are essentially disguised wishes, crafted to circumvent the censorship imposed by internalized societal norms.

Fulton, J. Michael, "In Defense of Clotaldo: Reconsidering the Secondary Plot in Calderón's La vida es sueño," in Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature, Vol. 56, No. 1, Spring 2002, pp. 11-23.

Fulton challenges the prevailing criticism that labels Rosaura's father as cowardly, deceitful, and self-serving. In contrast to Basilio, Segismundo's father, Fulton contends that Clotaldo embodies an honorable and loyal father figure.

Hofmannsthal, Hugo von, Der Turm, translated by Michael Hamburger, in Hugo von Hofmannsthal: Poems and Verse Plays, Bollingen Foundation, 1961.

The Tower is a German adaptation of La vida es sueño. Published in 1925 and first staged in 1927, it mirrors the tumultuous state of Germany during its creation. Sigismund is released from his tower prison at twenty-one, fails in his rebellion against his father, and is condemned to death. On the day of his execution, the nobility overthrows Basilius and elevates Sigismund to king, only for him to be assassinated during a peasant revolt.

Honig, Edward, "The Magnanimous Prince and the Price of Consciousness: Life Is a Dream," in Calderón and the Seizure of Honor, Harvard University Press, 1972.

Honig explores the dynamics between Segismundo and Rosaura in Life Is a Dream, analyzing their shared quests for vengeance and honor, as well as considering earlier characters in some of Calderón's previous plays.

Parker, Alexander A., The Mind and Art of Calderón: Essays on the Comedias, Cambridge University Press, 1988.

Parker's book offers a comprehensive examination of Calderón's secular dramas, emphasizing how they mirror societal and political life as well as myths. In his analysis of Life Is a Dream, Parker explores themes such as the father-son conflict, the significance of the tower, the influence of horoscopes, and the tension between destiny and personal responsibility.

Strother, Darci L., Family Matters: A Study of On- and Off-Stage Marriage and Family Relations in Seventeenth-Century Spain, Peter Lang Publishing, 1999.

Strother examines family dynamics in seventeenth-century Spain through the works of Calderón and other contemporary playwrights, highlighting how family life was portrayed on stage. Her study delves into topics including consensual and arranged marriages, the roles of women, child-rearing practices, and alternatives to traditional marriage.