Pedro Calderon De La BarcaThree Plays: The Mayor of Zalamea, Life's a Dream, & The Great Theatre of the World: 1

Having read "Don Quixote" by Cervantes and a number of plays by Lope de Vega, I was interested to study the three works by Pedro Calderon de la Barca contained in this collection. It is easy to understand how they formed part of the "golden age" of Spanish literature (Habsburg Spain of the seventeenth century). "The Mayor of Zalamea", written in 1651, fully illustrates the importance of codes of honour in this period. Isabel, for example, begs Pedro Crespo to kill her after she has been assaulted by the captain, Don Alvaro. In common with other literature of the later Renaissance there is much emphasis upon moral values, Crespo, for instance, urging his son Juan to treat others with courtesy, generosity and restraint. Questions of judicial procedure arise when Crespo is elected mayor of the town and has the responsibility of judging Alvaro, while the general, Don Lope, claims that only a military court can do this. There is furthermore the moral dilemma in any such trial of balancing justice and revenge. Surprisingly, the King (Philip IV, I assume) is a weak character and not the fount of wisdom and justice which one might expect of a play from this era. The story, of course, is a good reminder of the brutal way in which soldiers of the period treated the common people. Throughout, I enjoyed the verbal humour, e.g. Crespo's use of "respectfully" in giving instructions for the captain's arrest. (p.83). The second play "Life's a Dream" (1629-35) I found to be rather unrealistic, bereft of humour and somewhat overloaded with sub-plots. The essence is that Basilio, King of Poland, influenced by his reading of the stars, has ordered his son, Sigismund, to be imprisoned in a grim fortress and guarded by a tutor, Clotaldo. When Basilio is too old to continue ruling his people he has the boy drugged and brought to him so that he can form some judgement of his character by granting him temporary political powers. Sigismund in the course of a single day proves himself to be a seventeenth century version of Caligula and is consequently drugged again and restored to his prison, being told that his experience as ruler of Poland was merely a dream. Elements in the army, however, prefer the legitimate heir to the Muscovite prince Astolfo who has been chosen to succeed Basilio. Civil war erupts and Sigismund, rescued from imprisonment, is offered the crown. Incredibly, he now appears as a reformed personality, castigating his father for his absurd belief in astrology and blaming him for warping his character by confining him to such a grim environment. The experience of his "dream" (as he believes it to be) has totally changed his outlook on life and he is determined to be the model ruler. Honour and prestige are once again dominant themes. "The Great Theatre of the World" (1635) is a morality play, more akin to the Middle Ages than the later Renaissance. The World is a stage manager who allocates the various human actors their roles - rich man, king, peasant, beggar, etc. At the end of the day rewards are to be granted in proportion to the quality of each performance. During the play each of the characters dies and faces Judgement Day. In a conclusion which reminded me of the medieval story of "Everyman" and Dante's "Divine Comedy" the actors are allocated to heaven, purgatory or hell in accordance with Christian theology, a rather predictable finale. Overall, I enjoyed the volume as it added to my insight of Iberian literature of this period. The first play, I feel, is the most realistic, Pedro Crespo being the idealised symbol of the peasantry who in Habsburg Spain had limited protection against the provocative behaviour of the soldiers employed by the state. I am slightly concerned that the Oberon edition states that the plays have been "adapted" by Adrian Mitchell. Hence, I am not quite sure to what extent I have been reading a reliable translation of Calderon's writings. The font size varied frequently and, as my eyesight is not what it used to be, I found this rather annoying. There were also a few misprints ("alter" for "after" on p. 46 and "he" for "be" on p. 145).