Allegories of Kingship

Allegories of Kingship, Volume 1, provides a scholarly examination of politics and political theory within the works of Pedro Calderón de la Barca. Stephen Rupp analyzes how the seventeenth-century Spanish dramatist engaged with the complex power structures of Hapsburg Spain. This literary criticism explores the intersection of secular comedies and religious plays to reveal an anti-Machiavellian approach to statecraft. By referencing key contemporary thinkers, the text investigates how Calderón integrated Christian principles into his theatrical depictions of authority and governance.

This volume functions as an interdisciplinary study spanning drama, political science, and history. Rupp moves from abstract political theory to specific institutional events at the Hapsburg court, analyzing significant works such as La vida es sueño. The research addresses themes of providence, the conciliar system, and the role of the royal favorite. As a work of semiotics and theory, Allegories of Kingship, Volume 1, offers deep insights into the allegorical treatment of state occasions in Spanish drama.