Calderón de la Barca’s Theater & Semantic Shifts

Posted on Mar 13, 2025 in Social Anthropology

Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600-1681)

Pedro Calderón de la Barca was born in Madrid in 1600. He studied at Alcalá and Salamanca. King Philip IV appointed him in charge of the court theater. From 1651, when he was ordained a priest, his work focused on the production of religious plays. In 1663, he was appointed chaplain to the king. He died in Madrid in 1681.

Calderón’s Dramatic Works

All of Calderón’s work belongs to the dramatic genre, including approximately 80 comedies and 120 *autos sacramentales*. His theater builds upon the innovations initiated by Lope de Vega, with certain distinctive features:

  • Protagonist’s Centrality: The protagonist gains increased importance, with the action and other characters subordinate to them.
  • Internal Conflict and Monologue: Calderón specializes in showcasing internal conflicts, primarily through monologues. These monologues express the characters’ inner turmoil and doubts, often using rhetorical questions.
  • Concise Settings, Elaborate Language: There is limited variety in scenes and anecdotes, but the language is highly elaborate and sophisticated.
  • Complex Stagecraft: Stage compositions are intricate and visually rich.

Thematic Classification of Calderón’s Plays

  • Philosophical Dramas: Life is a Dream
  • Dramas of Spanish History or Legend: The Mayor of Zalamea
  • Dramas of Honor: The Physician of His Honor, Secret Vengeance for Secret Insult
  • Religious Dramas: The Wonder-Working Magician
  • Comedies of Manners: These plays, set in a “cloak and sword” environment, revolve around intricate love entanglements. Examples include: The Phantom Lady, A House with Two Doors is Difficult to Guard
  • Mythological Comedies: These often feature complicated and dramatic scenery, such as Echo and Narcissus
  • Autos Sacramentales: Short, one-act allegorical plays that develop a religious theme related to communion. Calderón mastered this genre with works like The Great Theater of the World and Belshazzar’s Feast.

Semantic Change

Semantic change refers to the process by which words expand or reduce their meaning.

Metaphor and Metonymy

  • Metaphor: Based on a perceived similarity between two terms or realities.
  • Metonymy: Based on a relationship of contiguity or proximity between the realities they represent.

Variations of Metonymy:

  • The part for the whole (Synecdoche).
  • The object for the user.
  • The brand or the creator for the product.
  • The container for the content.
  • The material for the object.
  • The place for the institution.
  • The place or time for the event.

Ellipsis

A word takes on the meaning of another word that usually accompanies it but is omitted.

Semantic Relations

Similarity of Meaning: Synonymy

  • Partial Synonymy: When words coincide only in some of their meanings.
  • Total Synonymy: When a word can be replaced by its synonym in any context.

Opposition or Difference of Meaning: Antonymy

  • Binary Opposites or Complementaries: The affirmation of one word implies the negation of the other (Antonyms of denial, formed by adding a prefix with a negative value).
  • Inverse or Reciprocal Antonyms: They express a reciprocal relationship between two things or people.
  • Antonyms of Degree: They represent opposite ends of a scale that can gradually include other meanings.

Value of Inclusion: Hyponymy

The meaning of one word (the hyponym) is included within the meaning of another (the hypernym).