Theme and Symbol in Calderón's La hija del aire

The two-part comedia known as La hija del aire has spawned a profusion of studies after A. A. Parker tagged the duo as Calderón's "supreme masterpiece." Parker demonstrates how Calderón uses metaphor and its ideas to illuminate a theme, to become a symbol of action and to be a representation of the characters themselves. Gwynne Edwards finds that the symbolism of the prison and the labyrinth imparts a thematic unity that tightens the continuity of the two parts. In a more extensive study, William R. Blue discovers that the imagery and dramatic technique "elucidate character, theme, structure and poetic coherence." This study will explore in greater depth symbols of 1. restraint; 2. darkness; 3. self-aggrandizement; 4. disparagement; 5. pride, arrogance, vanity; and 6. power. The abundance of themes and symbols, polysemic and paradoxical in nature, deepens the play's ethical, dramatic, and psychological significance and adds substance to the depiction of a ruling megalomaniac. The essay will reveal that previous commentators did not fully perceive the extent and penetration of theme and symbol. It is one more piece of evidence to corroborate Parker's statement that La hija del aire is Calderón's "supreme masterpiece." (EWH)