Ironic allusion and the human mind in Calderón's La cisma de Inglaterra
With reference to Aquinas's ‘Treatise on the Passions’ this article suggests that psychological self-opacity was a phenomenon known to the premodern world. Alongside analysis of three allusions—which, it is argued, spectators would have understood as ironic—it posits that Calderón hoped, by the...
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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Modern Humanities Research Association
2016
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| Summary: | With reference to Aquinas's ‘Treatise on the Passions’ this article suggests that psychological self-opacity was a phenomenon known to the premodern world. Alongside analysis of three allusions—which, it is argued, spectators would have understood as ironic—it posits that Calderón hoped, by these allusions, to hint in La cisma at the shadowy workings of the mind. The allusions reveal that the protagonists have instinctively apprehended truths that equip them to avert disaster, but passion causes them to lose sight of this knowledge. The failure to heed warnings emanating from deep in the characters' minds compounds the tone of hopelessness. |
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