칼데론 델 라 바르카의 성체극과 신화 - 『거룩한 이아손 El divino Jasón』을 중심으로

Abstract

It was just after the decisions of the Trent Council were announced that the Counter-Reformation of the Catholic Church was in full swing against the Protestant Reformation. Determining its attitude about the iconoclastic controversy, the Council decided that the Catholic Church should conduct effective doctrine education to the believers in various ways including painting. Meanwhile some abstract decisions of the Council were later shaped concretely by several theologians, pagan elements, such as the Greek and Roman myths, were strictly prohibited as educational materials. Pedro Calderon de la Barca's early sacramental act The divine Jason is the first work in which the writer used mythical figures as Christian allegories. The author filled the characters on the side of the good with mythical heroes while the biblical figures were on the side of evil like the Prince of Darkness. The sacramental act was a typical propaganda literary genre of the Counter-Reformation movement used to educate the decisions of the Trent Council to the public. This paper focuses on why Calderon’s sacramental act used the pagan materials prohibited by the Council. The playwriter tried to achieve new expressiveness by introducing pagan characters to a type of drama familiar to the audience. The reason for this acceptance was that unlike the latter half of the 16th century when the Catholic Church reacted sensitively to the attacks of the Protestant Churches on the iconoclastic controversy, the Church, in the 17th century, had restored confidence and had entered a period of stability. If the sacramental act effectively delivered the mystery of the Catholic Church's salvation, the pagan elements like Greek Roman myths would be allowed to be used as work materials. This confidence of the Catholic Church in the 17th century opened the golden age of the Spanish Baroque theater and lead to something free, fresh, splendid and emotional.