Dreams vs. Reality Theme Analysis

Pedro Calderón de la Barca’s Life is a Dream tells the story of Basilio, King of Poland, who imprisons his son, Segismundo, after a prophecy claims it is the young prince’s destiny to kill his father and divide his country. Years pass, and Basilio begins to doubt his decision to imprison Segismundo and deny the people their rightful prince. He decides to free his son, but just in case Segismundo really is a monster who will only bring ruin to his country and people, Basilio tricks Segismundo into believing he is dreaming so that, if need be, he can easily be placed back in prison without knowing his true identity. After being drugged with opium, poppy, and henbane, Segismundo, in a slumber resembling death, is brought from his prison cell to the palace in Warsaw and placed in his father’s luxurious bed. When he wakes, Segismundo indeed finds himself part of an unbelievable world that surely must be some sort of dream. Through the blending of dreams and reality in Life is a Dream, Calderón effectively argues that like dreams, life itself is an illusion.

Throughout much of Calderón’s play, reality turns out to be something other than what it seems, which suggests that reality itself is merely perception. When Rosaura, one of the play’s main characters, is first introduced, she is dressed as a man, and when she next appears, Rosaura is disguised as a lady-in-waiting at court. In reality, Rosaura is really Clotaldo’s secret daughter and Astolfo’s jilted lover, but she appears to be something else entirely. After Rosaura, disguised as a man, is apprehended by Clotaldo for unwittingly wandering into Segismundo’s prison cell, Clotaldo is convinced that Rosaura is his long-lost son. Rosaura carries Clotaldo’s sword, which he had left, many years before, to be given to his unborn son. In reality, Clotaldo has a daughter, not a son, but his perception is that Rosaura is his son. Furthermore, Astolfo, the Duke of Muscovy and Basilio’s nephew, believes that his uncle is without children and that he is next in line for the throne. In reality, Basilio’s secret son, Segismundo, is the rightful heir, but Astolfo nevertheless believes that he will be king, which again implies that reality is only a matter of perception.

When Segismundo wakes up as the Prince of Poland after spending his whole life in prison, his new existence is completely unbelievable. Even though he doesn’t quite believe it, this new perception is still Segismundo’s reality. In short, that which is real feels like a dream, just as that which is false often seems to be real. “To say I’m dreaming is mistaken,” Segismundo cries when he wakes in a lavish bed surrounded by servants, “I know very well I’m awake.” Segismundo is used to prison and isolation, not luxury and indulgence, and he is dubious from the beginning, but he still accepts his dreamlike new reality. As the Prince of Poland, Segismundo is overwhelmed and unsure of himself. “As for me,” he says to his servants, “all of this is making me angry. / Nothing seems right to me.” However, when Basilio attempts to convince Segismundo that his experience as the prince was all just a dream, Segismundo refuses to believe him. “I’m not dreaming,” Segismundo claims, “because I feel and believe / that which I was and that which I am.” Segismundo makes it clear here that humans have little choice but to accept perception as reality—even when that reality feels like a dream.

Once Segismundo wakes up back in his prison cell, he decides that it doesn’t matter if his experience was all a dream or not. “Living is merely dreaming,” he claims. Through Segismundo’s experiences, Calderón suggests that life is only “an illusion, / a shadow, a fiction,” and one can never be fully certain that their perception is in fact reality.