Реферат: Life Lessons

The reader, or audience, assumes that fate is at work and the

prophecy will come true; however, Pedro Calderon de la Barca

subtly foreshadows the reversal of our expectation in Clotaldo s

lesson to Sigismund:

But you would do well, even in your dreams,

To honour those who care for you each day.

Kindness is never wasted, even in dreams,

And gentleness is never thrown away,

(II, ii, 81).

Because of this subtle foreshadowing, we are pleased to discover

that Sigismund has, in fact, learned from his dream and his

advisor, Clotaldo. His remark shows that he denies his own

selfish desire for revenge; thus, not only does he change his

fate by free will, but he manages to restore honor to Poland s

royalty: My soul cries out for vengeance but I see my victory

must be my own surrender (III, ii, 222).

But what does all of this really mean? What are we to learn

about fate and free will? The lessons are in the text, and there

are several embedded in the speeches of various characters.

Pedro Calderon de la Barca must have been a wise man to answer

such puzzling questions in a solitary piece of literary art. I

believe that his assertion, and my own, is that life is a gift,

much like our dreams, and a window to the bigger picture of

eternity, which is our fate:

In this strange world to live s a kind of

dreaming

And each of us must dream the thing he is

Till he awakes. The King dreams he s a King…

For every King that rules men in his King-dream