Abstract

This essay studies two myths that have been proposed as sources for La vida es sueño: the myth of Uranus castrated by Saturn and the story of Saturn dethroned by Jupiter. While both have to do with the confrontation between father and son (Basilio and Segismundo), each brings different themes and motifs to the work. The first has to do with the retention of power and the opposition to freedom; while the second appears in its astrological sense. Basilio is related to the malefic influence of Saturn that leads to incarceration. In its positive aspects, the saturnine influences that fall upon Segismundo allow him to eventually conceive a broader vision, thus pardoning the father and becoming part of a new Golden Age presaged by Rosaura/Astraea. Ruben’s painting, Saturn Devouring his Son, help us to visualize the complementarity that exists between the two major myths that are at the basis of the conflict in Calderón’s work

Abstract

This essay looks at pagan disguises utilized in plays and courtly entertainments of the Golden Age, focusing on El burlador de Sevilla. Don Juan and all those who surround him, turn to mythology, pretending to be deities and thus reflecting the theatrical culture of the court where the nobility often assumed such pagan guises. When he metamorphoses himself into Jupiter, don Juan reminds us that this particular guise was common in most European courts of the times were courtiers and kings imagined themselves as abiding in a new Olympus. Don Juan, then, defies society, utilizing the same symbols of power that served to exalt the Habsburgs. Don Juan’s power of metamorphosis is seen most clearly in Tisbea and Isabela who both play the part of Europa to the god/bull.