| There has been a recent increase in scholarship on the connections between classic
English and Spanish literature. Initiatives like the UCLA-based “Diversifying the Classics” and
bilingual journals like the Bulletin of the Comediantes are beginning to normalize this dialogue,
demonstrating the benefits of examining these traditions side by side. A comparative analysis of
Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Pedro Calderón de la Barca’s La vida es sueño is a particularly
fruitful example of the ways in which the early modern theatre of England and Spain informed
each other and can continue to bring more enrichment to students together than apart.
Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Calderón’s La vida es sueño are among the best-known plays
of the early seventeenth century. Both have prompted numerous translations and performances
up to the current day, and both exemplify the best of their respective literary traditions.
Shakespeare, like most of his English contemporaries, wrote his plays to follow a classical, five-
act structure and conform to clear genre classifications. Calderón, on the other hand, followed
the tradition established by Lope de Vega’s comedias, three-act plays that defy genre
conventions unless we place them somewhere on the nebulous spectrum of the “tragicomedy.”
Despite their formal differences, Macbeth and La vida es sueño share a theme that implies both
English and Spanish audiences at the time were deeply concerned with the nature and power of
fate. Contrasting the religious and political climates in which these plays were written yields a
fresh and enlightening perspective on their parallel development of such a theme, creating a
perfect microcosm for the ways in which studying English and Spanish drama and literature
from the period together can enhance the value of each for students.
Keywords: Ambiguity, Calderon, Comparative, Fate, Shakespeare, Spanish |