Acceso usuarios
Clara Monzó Ribes
Pedro Calderón de la Barca and the philosopher Baruch Spinoza manifested, each in their own way, that profound interest in the intricacies of the human being that was so characteristic of early modern mentalities. The playwright and philosopher each delved into the exploration of passions and affections, construed as being in constant conflict with reason. These pages analyze the common ties between Spinoza’s Ethics and some of the touchstones of Calderon’s dramatic corpus, including La vida es sueño, El médico de su honra, La dama duende, and El mágico prodigioso. The correspondences between Spinoza and Calderón will help us understand conceptions of emotions in early modernity, whether in scientific inquiry or in literature and theater. In this sense, Calderonian characters present striking examples of complex psyches whose twists and turns are physically translated. Their actions, gestures, and speeches also reveal a relentless pursuit of recognition from a rational point of view.
