The ending of Life Is A Dream was disappointing in a lot of ways (petition to give Rosaura a girlfriend who loves and supports her), but I actually liked what they did with the prophecy. I was expecting it to be fulfilled in a predictable way, probably with a tragic ending where nearly everyone died. I really liked seeing Segismund call out Basil’s self-fulfilling actions and note that he’s angry and emotionally stunted because of his imprisonment, not in spite of it. And I liked that Segismund ultimately decides not to let a prophecy dictate his life, although I’m not sure about how his belief that this might all be a dream plays into it. I think the subversion of the prophecy had to be through Segismund’s own agency and choices, not through Basil and Clotaldo preventing him from enacting the prophecy.

I think what makes this different from a lot of classical prophecy stories is that Basil never fully commits to one plan to try to prevent Segismund from killing him. I could easily see him either permanently imprisoning him or attempting to kill him, but he doesn’t. His plan of action is actually kind of baffling, and it seems like he keeps changing his mind. It’s unclear how he thinks that imprisoning someone for the majority of their life and then suddenly giving them power will make them into a well adjusted person or a fair ruler. He’s unwilling to really trust Segismund, but unwilling to lose hope in him, either.

I’m not sure if an ending where almost everyone lives and the leads all get slotted into romantic pairings really suits this play. But I do think that an ending where the subject of the violent prophecy chooses to forgive instead of following the stars works well here.