A Question of Values: The Spiritual Education of Segismundo in Calderón's La vida es sueño

Abstract

Calderón's La vida es sueño has been subjected over the years to a variety of scholarly interpretations. These range from the Platonic to the mythological, the epistemological, the psychoanalytical, the political, and the feminist, to name but a few. The present study proposes that Calderón's masterpiece might also be profitably interpreted as a coming-of-age story. The drama, in short, is about civilizing values and how they are instilled in each new generation. In the case of young Segismundo, heir to the Polish throne, Calderón shows how a wide range of moral values—some theological, some political, and others more social in design—are successfully instilled in the brutish young man through some rather extraordinary life experiences.