Wisdom on Stage: The Evolution of Sabiduría in Calderón's autos sacramentales

Abstract

The allegorical figure of Sabiduría, which appears in several of Calderón's autos sacramentales, evolves throughout the playwright's career. In his earlier plays Sabiduría appears as an elegantly attired dama who wears feathers or flowers, adornments that would have signalled her identity to audiences. This image of Sabiduría derives from a Sophianic tradition that depicts Wisdom as a female, the divine Sophia. However, in the second version of La vida es sueño (1673), which Calderón wrote at the end of his life, Sabiduría appears as a male, first as a galán and then as a pilgrim, without any of the customary accoutrements. The change in gender and costume is not gratuitous, but required by the doctrinal meaning of the auto, which reflects Calderón's mature understanding of the Trinity and his efforts to bring some of the complexities of Thomistic teachings on the subject to his audiences.