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''Life Is a Dream'' ( (:la ˈβiða es ˈsweɲo)) is a Spanish-language play by Pedro Calderón de la Barca. First published in 1635 (or possibly in early 1636),〔( Introduction to Pedro Calderon De La Barca's, "The Wonder-Working Magician" on barca.classicauthors.net ) Retrieved 23 July 2010〕 it is a philosophical allegory regarding the human situation and the mystery of life.〔Brockett & Hildy, p.145〕 The play has been described as "the supreme example of Spanish Golden Age drama". The story focuses on the fictional Segismundo, Prince of Poland, who has been imprisoned in a tower by his father, King Basilio, following a dire prophecy that the prince would bring disaster to the country and death to the King. Basilio briefly frees Segismundo, but when the prince goes on a rampage, the king imprisons him again, persuading him that it was all a dream. The play's central theme is the conflict between free will and fate. It remains one of Calderón's best-known and most studied works. Other themes include dreams vs. reality and the conflict between father and son. The play has been adapted for other stage works, in film and as a novel. ==Historical context== Catholic Spain was the most powerful European nation by the 16th century.〔Cowans, Jon (ed). ''Early Modern Spain: A Documentary History'', University of Pennsylvania Press (2003), p. 15〕 The Spanish Armada was defeated by England in 1588, however, while Spain was trying to defend the northern coast of Africa from the expansion of the Turkish Ottoman Empire, and the gold and silver that Spain took from its possessions in the New World were not adequate to sustain its subsequent decades of heavy military expenses. Spain's power was rapidly waning by the time Calderón wrote ''Life Is a Dream''.〔Payne, "Spanish Society and Economics in the Imperial Age" (Ch. 14)〕 The age of Calderón was also marked by deep religious conviction in Spain. The Catholic church had fostered Spanish pride and identity, to the extent that "speaking Christian" became, and remains, synonymous with speaking Spanish. Another current that permeated Spanish thinking was the radical departure from the medieval ideal that royal power resided in God's will, as noted in Machiavelli's ''The Prince'' (1532). Francisco Suarez’s treatise ''On the Defense of Faith'' (''De defensio fidei'', 1613) stated that political power resided in the people and rejected the divine rights of kings, and Juan Mariana's ''On Kings and Kingship'' (1599) went even further by stating that the people had the right to murder despotic kings.〔Mariana, Jaun. ''On Kings and Kingship'' (1599)〕 Amidst these developments, and despite the repression of the Spanish Inquisition, during the 16th and 17th centuries, Spain experienced a cultural blossoming referred to as the Spanish Golden Age.〔Brockett & Hildy, p. 134〕〔Payne, Stanley G. ("The Spanish Empire" (Ch. 13) ) in ''A History of Spain and Portugal'', vol. 1, The Library of Iberian Resources Online (1973), accessed December 7, 2013〕 It saw the birth of notable works of art: ''Don Quixote'', by Miguel de Cervantes (1605), played with the vague line between reality and perception.〔Constantakis,p.186〕 Lope de Vega, in his play ''Fuente Ovejuna'' (1619), talks about a village that rebels against authority. In a time of proportion and perfection in the arts, the painter El Greco puzzled his contemporaries with exaggerated proportions and unsettling brushstrokes that embodied the terror and struggle of humanity.〔Constantakis, p.186〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Life Is a Dream」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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