Male vs. Female: Binary Opposition and Structural Synthesis in Calderon's Estatua de Prometeo

MALE VS. FEMALE: BINARY OPPOSITION AND STRUCTURAL SYNTHESIS IN CALDERÓN'S ESTATUA DE PROMETEO ANNE M. PASERO Southern Oregon State College Throughout all of his dramatic work, Calderón repeatedly emphasizes the dualities inherent in human nature, and in the surrounding cosmos. Often, the basic conflict revolves around the male-female relationship, which in turn accounts for many of the secondary conflicts, all of which contribute to a structural and thematic tension characteristic of individual plays. From a Structuralist point of view, these contradictions respond to the concept of binary opposition, which defines the relationship of any two items (characters, situations , objects, actions) when set in contrast to each other, and whose meaning is derived from the respect in which the two terms differ, depending on the presence or absence of a given feature. Binary opposition represents a way to perceive both difference and identity simultaneously, to produce an ultimate conjunction from an initial disjunction. The relationship of binary opposition to Calderón's work, and its significance in structural terms, is exemplified in one of his later mythological plays, La estatua de Prometeo. Mythical thought, because it reflects a basic antinomy, especially lends itself to analysis by means of binary opposition. Pairs of categories, when viewed in opposition, reveal a synchronic dimension above and beyond an ordinary linguistic level. Common, repeated elements — when analyzed according to their selection and arrangement — respond to a basic underlying polarisation, transcending linear patterns of meaning and chronological continuity to arrive at a sequence of dialectic circles. Meaning resides in the structure of opposites, or the way in which antithetical elements are combined to convey a message or a value system. For both the Structuralists and Freud, myth is a product of the unconscious mind, resulting from a basic contradiction inaccessible to consciousness or inconsistent with conscious experience. It serves as a way to reconcile paradoxes, to mediate polar extremes. As Levi Strauss perceived it, mythical thought progresses from an awareness of opposition towards an ultimate resolution. The means for overcoming contradiction is provided by the phenomenon of duplication, i. e., repetition of essential oppositions, which ultimately elucidates the structure of myth, as in La estatua de Pro109 110Bulletin of the Comediantes meteo. In this play, Calderón not only confronts the basic dichotomy and contradition of male and female, but develops that dichotomy in such a way that opposites are resolved into a unified whole. Implicit in the female-male opposition is a whole series of secondary conflicts, manifested both externally and internally, between opposing forces and within different individuals. By the end of the play, each of the different oppositions is transcended to achieve an overriding logic and coherence, and conjunction is produced from a number of repeated and interrelated disjunctions. La estatua de Prometeo is based on two different mythological tales: Prometheus ' theft of fire and Pygmalion's creation of a statue in the image of a woman. While he deals with traditional material, Calderón reworks it in such a way as to create an entirely new mythological context, weaving two apparently unrelated stories into a cohesive unity. For his sources, Calderón relies most directly on Boccaccio (Genealogia deorum) and Pérez de Moya (Philosophia secreta), but deviates sufficiently from each of them to produce an original reinterpretation. In contrast to Calderón, both Boccaccio and Pérez de Moya present Pandora as a male figure. Calderón's version also diverges decidedly from those of Aeschylus and Shelley, since Prometheus is neither bound nor unbound in the seventeenth-century Spanish play. The story, as Calderón develops it, involves two sets of divine twins (Epimetheus / Prometheus and Minerva /Pallas), opposed in nature and inclination . Prometheus decides to create a statue in honor of the goddess he most admires, Minerva. While Prometheus is sculpting the statue, Minerva herself appears disguised in animal skins. As a reward to Prometheus for having fashioned her image, she offers to grant him one wish. Prometheus desires to view the wonders of heaven, and he and Minerva ascend together. While there, Prometheus steals a ray of light from Apollo, which he then transports to earth. The statue, when touched by the stolen fire...