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March 5, 2009
Freedom & Fate
Theresa Sears's essay Freedom Isn't Free: Free Will in La vida es sueno delves into the central theme of Free Will encompassing Calderon's play. This essay questions the difference between Free Will and Freedom, stating that judgement is the deciding factor. Free Will is a concept as old as the bible and is thus represented in many works coming from Christian based nations. Judgement is also an age-old phenomenon and as Sears states:
"Judgment implies knowledge, especially knowledge of right and wrong, which in turns implies a hierarchy of values and powers within which the determination of right and wrong is made."
If this is true then it would seem that human invention of right and wrong is the foundation for judgement since it is people who define law and order. Judgement it seems, for Segismundo as for all humanity, is a necessary, yet altogether dangerous practice which can never really be justified by all succinctly--in that respect, perhaps it is of divine origin.
Posted by QuinnKerno at March 5, 2009 4:07 PM