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Drama Ancient, Classical & Medieval

Allegories of Kingship

Calderón and the Anti-Machiavellian Tradition

by (author) Stephen Rupp

Publisher
Penn State University Press
Initial publish date
Nov 1995
Category
Ancient, Classical & Medieval, Drama, History & Theory, Semiotics & Theory, Medieval
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780271026671
    Publish Date
    Sep 1995
    List Price
    $58.95
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780271014562
    Publish Date
    Nov 1995
    List Price
    $71.95

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Description

This study examines issues in politics and political theory in selected works of Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600–1681), the major dramatist of the middle and later decades of the seventeenth century in Spain. By analyzing secular dramas (comedias) and religious plays (autos sacramentales), Stephen Rupp demonstrates Calderón's awareness of the ideas and institutions of power in Hapsburg Spain and explores the terms of his intervention in the long debate over the principles of Christian statecraft. Through references to Rivadeneira, Saavedra Fajardo, and Quevedo, Rupp describes the anti-Machiavellian theory of kingship that informs Calderón's political theater.

Rupp's argument proceeds from abstract principles of political theory to particular institutions and events at the Hapsburg court. Discussion of two comedias (La vida es sueño and La cisma de Inglaterra) and five autos (La vida es sueño, A Dios por razón de Estado, El maestrazgo del Toisón, El nuevo palacio del Retiro, and El lirio y la azucena) demonstrates Calderón's assimilation of true reason of state to providence, his attitudes concerning the conciliar system and the regime of the royal favorite or valido, and his allegorical treatment of significant state occasions.

 

About the author

Stephen Rupp is an associate professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Toronto.

Stephen Rupp's profile page

Editorial Reviews

“An important addition to the critical literature on the relationship of drama to kingship in Golden-Age Spain. Its consistently clear elucidation of Calderón’s political theatre deserves a wide readership.”

—M. L. R.

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