Log in
|
Help
|
English

English

Engish-Pirate

한국어

Search

Advanced Search

Find results with:

Add another field

Search by date

to

Searching collections:

CCSU Theses and Dissertations

Add or remove collections

Home Áspides en el desierto : phármaka soteriológicos o ambivalencias de la doctrina cristiana de la...

Reference URL

Share

Add tags

Comment

Rate

To link to this object, paste this link in email, IM or document

To embed this object, paste this HTML in website

Áspides en el desierto : phármaka soteriológicos o ambivalencias de la doctrina cristiana de la salvación en el drama mitológico de Calderón

View Description

small (250x250 max)

medium (500x500 max)

large ( > 500x500)

Full Resolution

This item is restricted to only allow viewing of the metadata.

you wish to report:

Your comment:

Your Name:

Submit

Cancel

...

Back to top

Powered by CONTENTdm®

Select the collections to add or remove from your search

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

Select All Collections

C

CCSU Student Publications

CCSU Theses and Dissertations

G

GLBTQ Archives

M

Modern Language Oral Histories

O

O'Neill Archives Oral Histories

P

Polish American Pamphlets

T

Treasures from the Special Collections

V

Veterans History Project

OK

Cancel

Identifier	Thesis 1918
Author	McCarthy, Brian
Title	Áspides en el desierto : phármaka soteriológicos o ambivalencias de la doctrina cristiana de la salvación en el drama mitológico de Calderón
Publisher	Central Connecticut State University
Date	2007
Resource Type	Master's Thesis
Notes	Pedro Caldern de la Barca (1600-1681) has been called the theological poet of the Counter Reformation. Among the many dramas he wrote are a group of mythological plays. These plays include several groups in which the same mythological theme is treated in the contrasting genres of court drama and auto sacramental. The court dramas, written purely for the entertainment of the nobility, and the autos sacramentales – didactic, allegorical one-act religious dramas written to be performed in conjunction with the feast of Corpus Christi – nevertheless spring from the same mythological, philosophical and religious roots. Caldern's use of allegory to illustrate religious doctrines continues a long tradition that includes both the classics and biblical interpretation from the earliest days. Plays from both genres, court drama and auto sacramental, mutually complement and shed light on each other; considered together they give a stereoscopic perspective on the issues of the human experience. The fallen nature of humanity and its roots in the Garden of Eden; the responsibility of every human being to participate in his or her own redemption; the inability to accomplish that redemption without divine intervention, and the daily struggle against temptation and sin are dealt with in Caldern's vision of each myth. In an influential essay entitled "Plato's Pharmacy", twentieth-century literary critic Jacques Derrida analyzed the usage of the Greek word pharmakon (from which we get the word "pharmacy", and which means a drug or potion, either beneficial, harmful, or simultaneously both) and the related words pharmakos (which refers to a sacrificial victim which the community expelled from its midst in times of plague, in the belief that by so doing the plague would be cured) and pharmakeus (which means an enchanter or sorcerer who uses potions to work magic). Another influential twentieth century writer, Ren Girard, has written extensively about the "scapegoat mechanism" which he considers to be the cornerstone of human society – and the fundamental cause of what's wrong with it. This thesis will begin with an examination of the concepts related by Derrida and Girard to the Greek pharmakon, pharmakos and pharmakeus, particularly with reference to the ambiguities inherent in the terms, and the dual character, positive and negative, poisonous and curative, of their effects. The study will then discuss similarities and differences of these Greek concepts with the Hebrew scapegoat (which was also expelled from the community to perish in the desert as a bearer of the community's sins) and thus by extension the Christian concept of substitutionary atonement, and how Caldern employed these concepts to illustrate the paradoxical nature of the essential doctrines of Christianity. I will show how the paradoxes of salvation and eternal life secured by the death of a sacrificial victim, the Catholic doctrine of the mystery of the Eucharist, according to which what is seen to the eyes as ordinary bread and wine is changed into a radically different nature without changing appearance. The paradox of human free will is inextricably entwined with divine foreknowledge. All these paradoxes figure in the Caldernian dramas examined in this study and are explained by them in ways that echo the concepts related to the pharmakon. The title I have chosen, "Serpents in the Desert", refers in the first place to the biblical account of the brass serpent lifted up by Moses during the Exodus to cure a plague of serpents that had fallen on the Israelites. The use of the serpent to counteract the effects of the serpents' venom embodies the ambiguities that Derrida and Girard point out in the concept of the pharmakon – a drug that is both poison and antidote. This aspect of the Exodus story is explicitly mentioned by Caldern, as I will show. The paper will then examine three of these groups of Caldern's plays, comprising seven plays in all. The first group to be examined, based on the myth of Psyche and Cupid, comprises two autos sacramentales, Psiquis y Cupido (para Toledo) and Psiquis y Cupido (para Madrid) and one court drama, Ni Amor se libra de Amor. My research shows how these three plays build upon the classical myth to show a diachronic overview of the Christian history of salvation, from the initial temptation and fall of Adam and Eve to the final redemption in Christ, and how Caldern uses imagery associated with the pharmakon – a supposed venomous serpent that becomes a savior and life-giver, and Cupid's arrow (poisoned or medicated depending on one's point of view) that causes the paradoxical and ambiguous condition we call love. The second group of plays analyzed in this study is based on the myth of Andromeda and Perseus. This group of two plays is made up of an auto sacramental, Andrmeda y Perseo, and a court drama, Las fortunas de Andrmeda y Perseo. The analysis shows how in both of these plays Caldern adapts the classical myth to illustrate the Hebrew story of the serpent lifted up in the wilderness by Moses, which is in turn adopted by the New Testament writers in reference to the Crucifixion of Christ. The text of the auto sacramental makes the connection explicit: while the head of Medusa brings death to all who look on it, the biblical serpent lifted up will give life. In yet another paradox, after the death of Medusa her serpent-covered head becomes the serpent lifted up by Perseus to enable the salvation of Andromeda. The plays in the third group examined in this paper are based on the story of Odysseus and Circe in Homer's Odyssey. An auto sacramental, Los encantos de la culpa, and a court drama, El mayor encanto, amor, illustrate the temptations that befall each individual in the mundane concerns of everyday life. To save his crew and continue his way toward home, Odysseus must use both his own efforts and the pharmakon (the exact word used in Homer the original Greek text of the story) given to him by the gods to counteract the many pharmaka of the sorceress Circe. Finally, this study concludes that the application of the concepts highlighted by Derrida and Girard related to the pharmakon and scapegoat mechanism proves to be a valuable tool for understanding not only the works of Caldern, but also the dynamic and varied, yet balanced aesthetic of the Baroque age in which Caldern wrote, in which contrasts and paradoxical unities -- good and evil, light and darkness, cure and disease, human free will and divine predestination -- form intricate contrapuntal relationships. Furthermore, these concepts can even be applied to the paradoxical and ambiguous nature of the fundamental realities of the human experience which Caldern's plays and their ancient predecessors explore.
Subject	Calderón de la Barca, Pedro, 1600-1681 Salvation -- Christianity
Department	Department of Modern Languages
Advisor	Cortés de Morales, Angela
Type	Text
Digital Format	application/pdf
Language	spa
OCLC number	713733997
Rating

Find results with:

Searching collections:

Home Áspides en el desierto : phármaka soteriológicos o ambivalencias de la doctrina cristiana de la...

Áspides en el desierto : phármaka soteriológicos o ambivalencias de la doctrina cristiana de la salvación en el drama mitológico de Calderón

Description

Tags

Comments