Etudes Epistémè (Dec 2016)
La vida es sueño de Calderón (1636). Rêver la vie, l’éducation du prince chrétien
Abstract
Calderon's La vida es sueño deals with various forms of (sleeping) dreams, but above all it confronts the main character, Prince Sigismond, to a false dream which forces him to question reality and to question himself, in the hope of establishing what is the truth and eventually forging his social and moral identity. This false dream, which is caused by a fraudulent stratagem of his father’s is a way for him to place the senses at the heart of the process of self-knowing. Hearing, sight and touch are assessed, but the subject realizes how insufficient they are in comparison with more permanent sensations rooted in the soul. The critical and moral approach staged in the play becomes the way for the son to teach his own father and the victim triumphs overs sheer force: wisdom makes him a free man and an exemplary prince.
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