Abstract:
The persistent presence of this phenomenon, both in Calderón and other drama authors, has led me two issues that are the objective of this article: what prisons look like and why they are so described. The description of prisons is based on the distinction between real and metaphorical prisons. First, a series of criteria which lie behind the choice of a prison have been considered, such as urgency, location, exposure to people and perspective of action. Then, the typology and characterization of these places were established. Calderón’s plays have been the main source for this research. The analysis has allowed me to discover that playwrights pay little attention to the description of prisons, which is irrelevant in an actin genre such as this. Baroque drama is mainly based on confusion.