what brings death. El Hombre ’ s enjoyment at the sight of the young woman ’ s beauty renders him unable (or unwilling) to recognize her true being as Sombra/Culpa the serpent of the devil. It is the sweet taste of the apple that fools El Hombre into thinking that it is not a ‘ poisoned ’ fruit. What is established is a connection between the senses (i.e. the body) and sin. Relevant to this is also human reason, embodied by Entendimiento who, as the opponent of Sombra/Pecado, constantly warns Man against the transgression of Divine Law, against the original sin of superbia and against the deception of the senses. The ominous transgression of the set rule – illustrated in the consumption of the apple – only takes place after El Hombre hurls Entendimiento down into the rocky abyss; when reason is made to disappear, nothing else stands in the way of sin. In this way, the play also makes explicit the concept of sin as a constant rebellion of the senses, of the body against reason. The stylization of Albedrío is also significant. For Calderón, it is clear that the will is by no means a neutral
ese muro / puedo arrojarte a esas duras / peñas. ENTENDIMIENTO: No podrás sin que / a ti mismo te destruyas”(vv. 1192–1200).
446 Vv. 1207 f.
447 “HOMBRE: [. . .] Llega, Albedrío; / tú a despeñarle me ayuda. / ALBEDRÍO: Sí haré, pues sin mí no puedes”(vv. 1203 ff.), the stage direction:“Arrójanle entre los dos al vestuario, como precipitado.”
448 Vv. 1210.
449 Vv. 1211–1214.
450 Vv. 1224 ff.
451 Vv. 1229 f.
452 Cf. vv. 1231–1286; the lamenting monologue vv. 1245–1284, whose last verses are:“¿Qué mucho, pues, ¡ay de mí!, / si todos me desahücian, / que en brazos de letal sueño, / negra Sombra de la culpa, / pues dejó a la muerte viva, / deje a la vida difunta?”
authority. Although it is not considered, as it is in Protestantism, to be the auto-matic instrument of sin (servum arbitrium), it is – even before the Fall – consid-ered as rather problematic. Only by subordinating himself to Entendimiento, to (God-given) reason and understanding, is Man able – as he was in the comedia – to go in the right direction (but as a second condition, effective only in historical times, baptism is added to provide access to the gratia sufficiens). The ‘ autono-mous ’ will, on the other hand, leads only to downfall.
Poder, Sabiduría, and Amor discuss what has happened and formulate again the divine plan for the salvation of the now fallen man. This, however, is under-stood as going to take place far into the future.
453In the next scene El Hombre – dressed again in furs – wakes up in the dungeon. He speaks the first words of the monologue while still asleep, articulating the supposed certainty about his exis-tence, which is based on his experiences and the promises made by Sombra. He acknowledges that he has been born out of the earth, but since he had acquired Sombras (secret) knowledge, he could challenge the authority of his divine father and be the immortal ruler of the world ( “ Ya, ya sé quién soy y, aunque / la Tierra fuese mi madre, / competir puedo a mi padre, / pues sé sus ciencias y sé / que inmortal príncipe soy del orbe. Y pues ya me vi / su dueño . . .”
454). However, wak-ing up he perceives his surroundwak-ings, and this feelwak-ing of security is suddenly re-placed by doubt and disorientation. The discrepancy between the present state, which in his perception corresponds to the ‘ first ’ state that he is able to remem-ber, that of non-existence ( “ [ . . . ] Adónde estoy? / ¿Esta no es de mi fortuna / la primera prisión fiera? / ¿No es esta aquella primera / bóveda que fue mi cuna? /
¿No es esta la desnudez en que primero me vi? ”
455), is compared to the experi-ence of paradise-palace, which to his sorrow has now vanished into nothing.
456This leads El Hombre to the conclusion that the latter must have been a dream,
453 The verdict of Poder is that man should be left back in the depths of the earth, abandoned by Gracia and the elements, in the hands of the beast Sombra, who had triumphed over his mind; in misery and sorrow he should feel the consequence of his sin, while had he slept in his first cradle in the arms of grace, he was now awakened in those of guilt. When Amor ob-jects that, according to the heavenly decision, man was capable of correction, and Poder in turn points out that man could not repent of eternal sin (since committed against‘the Eternal’) by his own repentance, Sabiduría refers to her role in the plan of salvation:“[. . .] la human-idad conjunta / a la Sabiduría, como / hipostáticas se unan, / satisfación infinita / tendra la infinita culpa”(vv. 1355–1359; the scene in total, vv. 1287–1373).
454 Vv. 1381–1388.
455 Vv. 1389–1395.
456“¿Qué se hicieron, ¡ay de mí! / la majestad, la altivez, / el obsequio, el aparato, / las músicas, los olores, / plumas, cristales y flores, / y, en fin, el sublime ornato / de reales ropas, cercado / de gentes, cuyo desvelo / me asistió? [. . .]”(vv. 1396–1404).
but a dream that had shown him his true identity ( “ [ . . . ] ¡Válgame el cielo, / que de cosas he soñado! . . . / Pero ¿qué me desconfía / presumir que sueño fue, / si por lo menos saqué / dél, según mi fantasía, / saber quién soy? [ . . . ] ”
457), with the result that he does not consider this life in captivity, but rather the ruler sta-tus granted to him in paradise as being right for him ( “ [ . . . ] No encerrado / viva, pues; salga a buscar / el alcázar y a cobrar, / pues es mío, el alto estado / en que me vi . . . [ . . . ] ”
458). In his inner struggle, he rejects this plan for a short moment, drawing on the offence that was responsible for his ‘ fall ’ ( “ orgullo ” ), only to allow himself to be guided again shortly afterwards by this very attitude: “ Pero, cielos, / el orgullo reprimamos, / por si ahora también soñamos . . . / Mas no, que heroicos anhelos / me llaman y así iré; [ . . . ]. ”
459But when he then wants to leave the ‘ place of his birth ’ in order to return to the palace he realizes that his present state differs fundamentally from that of his first ‘ awakening. ’ This is where the consequence of the Fall becomes fully manifest. He discovers that he is chained, unable to free himself from his prison ( “ [ . . . ] ¡ay, triste, / que aún es hoy mayor mi pena, / de lo que fue! ¿Qué cadena / es esta, que me resiste / que salir pueda?
[ . . . ] ”
460), and, furthermore, that the elements have turned against him, that
na-ture is now hostile to him; in contrast to the gifts laid at his feet in paradise, now the world offers him only “ pan de Dolores ” and “ agua de lágrimas. ”
461The reali-zation of this radical change leads him to doubt his own ability to differentiate between dream and waking and to be unsure about his ‘ being ’ : “ ¿Quién me dirá cuál ha sido / en mis mudanzas más cierto, / lo que allá soñé despierto / o lo que aquí veo dormido? ”
462When he then calls upon Luz, it is not the ‘ light of grace ’ that appears, but Sombra, who is now a constant and accusing companion to him, man, his ‘ inescapable guilt, ’ blacksmith of the ‘ chain of (original) sin ’ hold-ing him captive ( “ H
OMBRE: [ . . . ] ¿eres mi culpa? S
OMBRA: Sí. / H
OMBRE: De ti huiré.
S
OMBRA: ¿Cómo podrás, / si [ . . . ] / [ . . . ] / [ . . . ], aherrojado, / llevas arrastrando al
457 Vv. 1404–1410.
458 vv. 1410–1414.
459 Vv. 1414–1418.
460 Vv. 1418–1422.
461 “[. . .] Y aun no / para en eso mi fortuna, / pues no hay criatura ninguna / de quien ya no
tiemble yo, / viendo en todas cuatro esferas, / que afilan contra mí graves / uñas y picos las aves, / presas y garras las fieras. / Si miro al sol, me da enojos, / pues no me alumbra y me abrasa; / frío el aire me traspasa; / si piso, toda es abrojos / la tierra; el agua, que fue / claro espejo, me retrata / feo; si la sed me mata, / turbia está; y si el hambre ve / frutas, que a ellas no me atreva / dice, y por partido toma / que pan de dolores coma / y agua de lágrimas beba” (vv. 1422–1441).
462 Vv. 1442–1445.