Calder'on between history and poetry: the political character of the early comedies

Calderón’s first works, La selva confusa ( The confusing wood ) and Amor, honor, y poder ( Love, honour, and power ), have often been read in terms of a supposed critical attitude of the writer to the King and court life. Each of these works takes a critical attitude to an aspect of royal life, one taking aim at the celebrations of the Prince of Wales’s visit to Spain and the other the moral behavior of Philip IV. But it is difficult to understand this critical attitude in a young poet whose works were shown for the first time, and who had no reason to feel himself politically marginalized.