Abstract

Starting by the epochal topos of ut pictura poësis, this essay analyzes the connection between expressive modalities belonging both to the dramatic universe and the figurative one in Pedro Calderón de la Barca's La fiera, el rayo y la piedra; it points out that the coexistence of both the expressive codes goes beyond the stage aspect of the mis-en-scene, till trespassing into the symbolic level where the analogies between word and imagine not only support the diegesis construction, but also his allegoric meaning. Furthermore, this work demonstrates that the use of pagan mythology is functional to the construction of the spectacle, because the arbitrary handling of the sources both allows exploiting the evocative potential connected to the mythological references and it validates the power celebration through a stratification of symbolic and allegoric meanings.