Riassunto
Trama e riassunto di La vita è sogno
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A chi è rivolto
Readers who enjoy intricate plots joined to big questions will love this play of disguises, prophecies and sudden reversals.
Che cos’è questo libro
A man wakes in a golden bed. Lords kneel around him and call him Prince of Poland. Only last night he lay chained in wolf skins at the bottom of a mountain tower. Was that the dream, or is this?
Life Is a Dream is a verse play by Pedro Calderón de la Barca, a Spanish dramatist of the seventeenth century. It asks how much of our life is written for us, and how much we choose. A king who reads the stars has locked away his own son because they foretell a monster. Then he doubts himself and stages a test.
In questo riassunto
- 1A storm drives two strangers into PolandFree
- 2A chained prince asks heaven what he has done
- 3A king who reads the stars stakes his crown
- 4Segismund wakes in a palace and doubts his senses
- 5Power meets anger and the first test begins
- 6Fate and free will pull against each other
- 7Dream, reality and the test of self-control
- 8A play that looks like a dream on a stage
Punto chiave 1 di 8
A storm drives two strangers into Poland
The play opens on a rocky mountain pass at sunset. A rider in man's clothes comes down the rocks, cursing a horse that has bolted and thrown her. This is Rosaura, a lady from Muscovy, who has dressed as a man for a purpose she keeps close. Behind her comes Fife, her servant, cursing his own mule.
Fife jokes and grumbles at every step. Rosaura stays grave. She says it is better to die on Poland's stony threshold than to live unrevenged in Muscovy. That line tells the listener she has come to settle a wrong. Fife often says aloud what the nobles will not admit.
As the light fails, they notice a dark opening and a light, hear a chain, then see the lamp and its bearer. A giant figure wrapped in animal skins comes out with a torch. He is a prisoner, and he is speaking to the sky. Two people with different griefs meet by chance, and their meeting will tie one woman's private wrong to the fate of a kingdom.
A stormy night and a stranger's pity can open a door that kings have kept shut.
That’s 1 of 8 key points.
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Who’s who
- Segismund
- The prince chained in a mountain tower since birth, who wants to know why he was condemned and whether his life is real.
- Basilio
- The king of Poland, a student of the stars, who locked away his son from fear of a prophecy and now tests him.
- Rosaura
- A Muscovite lady in man's clothes who comes to Poland to win justice from the man who deserted her.
- Fife
- Her comic servant, who rhymes, jokes and complains, and who tries to escape danger while remaining loyal to her.
- Clotaldo
- A loyal general who guards the prisoner and serves the king, while owing a private debt to Rosaura's family.
- Astolfo
- The Duke of Muscovy, Basilio's nephew, who hopes to win the crown of Poland through his cousin Estrella.
- Estrella
- Basilio's niece, a princess with her own claim to the throne, courted by Astolfo and then by Segismund.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 17,900 words
- Reading timeAbout 1 h 15 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 13 other languages
Questions about La vita è sogno
What is Life Is a Dream about?
It is about Segismund, a prince locked in a tower by his father, King Basilio, because the stars predicted a tyrant. The king tests him in a palace, and the play asks whether fate or choice rules a life.
Who is Rosaura in Life Is a Dream?
Rosaura is a lady from Muscovy who dresses as a man and travels to Poland to claim justice from Astolfo, the duke who deserted her. Her story crosses Segismund's three times.
What does the title Life Is a Dream mean?
It means that waking life may be as unreal as a dream, a thought Segismund takes from his strange day in the palace. The play asks how to act well when we cannot prove what is real.
When was Life Is a Dream written, and is it a true story?
Calderón wrote it in the seventeenth century. It is fiction. The setting is Poland and the king and prince are invented, while the ideas about fate, dreams and free will belong to the thought of its age.
Is Life Is a Dream easy to follow?
Yes, the story is clear. It moves from the mountain to the palace and back, with a few main characters and a comic servant, Fife, who keeps the high questions close to everyday life.
Cite this edition
Calderón de la Barca, Pedro. Life Is a Dream. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/life-is-a-dream.
Calderón de la Barca, P. (2026). Life is a dream. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/life-is-a-dream (Original work published 1636)
Calderón de la Barca, Pedro. Life Is a Dream. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/life-is-a-dream.
@book{calderondelabarca2026life,
author = {Calderón de la Barca, Pedro},
title = {Life Is a Dream},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/life-is-a-dream},
note = {First published 1636}
}
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