Calderon's Treatment of the Honor Theme

FAIN: FB-13286-77

Robert A. Sloane
University of Maryland, Baltimore County (Baltimore, MD 21250-0001)

To explore the treatment of honor in the comedias of Pedro Calderon— both "noble honor" and "peasant honor". The standard view of Calderon honor plays has been that they advocated the most brutal behavior in defense of one's personal honor. Recently it has been suggested that the plays are to be taken ironically—the "order restored" at the end is untenable. PI will examine the problem with regard to the internal social context of the plays and the external context of the society before which they were presented.