Life is a Dream II

You fall asleep a prisoner and wake up a prince. Your new servants tell you that everything you remember about your life was just a dream. A very bad dream. How do you behave? How do you test your new reality? Act II of Life is a Dream plunges Segismundo into this scenario. Does he end up fulfilling his father's fears?

Podcast Lecture: The Somniloquy

Reading:

Calderón, Life is a Dream: Act II

Questions:

1. How does the king's plan unfold the next day?

2. What does the king mean by "Everyone who lives is dreaming?"

3. How does Segismundo behave when he awakens and learns he is a prince?

4. Why does Rosaura now dress as a woman? What does she seek from Astolfo? How does she manage to complicate his wooing of Estrella?

5. What happens when Segismundo "wakes up" the second time? How does he come to process his experience? What has he learned about life and dreaming?

Activities:

Dreams are Only Dreams: The final line at the close of Act II is:

"For the whole of life is just a dream. And dreams... dreams are only dreams."

How does Segismundo's statement resonate with Buddhist beliefs about the dream world and the material world?