I was personally a little disappointed by the ending of Life is a Dream by Pedro Calderón de la Barca. Most of the play reminded me of a Days of Our Lives episode due to the amount of drama packed in. I mean come on- you have murder, you have the revenge of an ex-lover, you have a love triangle, you have a king and nobleman trying to convince the crown prince that his day in the palace was only a dream- the whole thing sounds like a plot on next week’s soap opera. That is, until the last five pages when Segismund has a complete change of heart and decides not to kill Basil or Clotaldo and then plays match-maker with the remaining characters. To be honest the resolution seemed to be the most unrealistic part of the play. For me, it almost felt like the last 5 pages was the dream, and the rest of the play was reality. Perhaps this is because of Clarion’s death (3095)? If his job as clown is to be the voice of reason in the play and to remind us and the characters of reality, does his death signify the crossing of the threshold from reality into illusion?
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I think your point about the death of Clarion representing the cross of a threshold is an interesting one, and lines up well with the abrupt change to a relatively drama-free ending. It would be fascinating to map out Clarion’s presence throughout the entire play and see if when he is gone, if things are more “normal.”