Meditation 10 4-18-07

I found Life is a Dream interesting because it is unlike anything we have read this year. In trying to compare it to other things we have read this year, I found that it was more similar to all of the Greek tragedies than the more recent plays we have read from medieval times or from Shakespeare. It was similar to the Greek tragedies because it a distant play about royalty and watching other people that have a higher rank than the common person suffer, as well as it is written in mostly monologues with some rapid dialogue and a lot of references to the Greek gods.

However, it resolved itself in a better fashion than most of the tragedies we have read do; it wraps up all nice and tidy, Segismund chooses to be kind instead of seeking revenge upon his father, which I think is a unique quality to the plays we have read this year. Everything we have read has shown us characters who strive to do what will help them raise their status the most or what will help them out, Oedipus blinds himself so he doesn’t feel the pain, Prometheus seeks revenge on those who imprisoned him, Hamlet avenges his father’s death, Prospero imprisons his banishers, everyone seeks revenge to give themselves to upper hand in the end. However, Segismund doesn’t. I think that because he has truly suffered and has come to understand and accept his suffering as part of life that he can not wish that upon another human being. I think that he has discovered after waking up from his dream that he thought was life that the world is already a harsh and bitter place, but you aren’t making any progress or living a productive life if you don’t wake up. I think he realized that life is not worth living unless it is lived awake and alert of the real world, putting someone into a dream is letting them off the hook and allowing them to live an easy life hidden from the pain and experiences of the world. Segismund is admirable because he has awoken from his dreamlike state and come to understand that there is a world other than what he has known and he has accepted it and learned how to deal with it.

I didn’t so much enjoy reading this play as I did thinking about living in the clouds and waking up from a dream after I was through reading. It really sparked some thoughts in me about how I see life and how I deal with my problems and how people I know do the same. I really enjoyed the thoughts that Caldrone has inspired from his writing, so in retrospect, I really enjoyed reading Life is a Dream.