Life Is a Dream

Bugle opens the first scene with a brief monologue, reflecting on his captivity and his silence, “which is the greatest sacrilege” (133). As voices and banging sound, Bugle realizes that he is no longer alone in the tower; the intruding soldiers mistake him for Sigismund. Amid calls to “[c]ome forth and restore [his] rule” (134), Sigismund enters the scene and introduces himself to the soldiers, who explain that they want Sigismund to “break out of this tower and recover [his] imperial crown and scepter” (135). Sigismund is shocked by this turn of events, but he claims that he “won’t be fooled this time” (136) and reveals his doubt to his supporters. They are persuasive, however, and Sigismund agrees “to liberate [them] from slavery” (136). Clothold enters, and Sigismund understands Clothold’s declared allegiance to the king; he releases Clothold with his life, determined to “do what’s right even in dreams” (137).

At the start of the second scene in Act III, King Vasily and Aistulf talk at the palace about “the clashing cries of Poland’s rival parties” (138). Aistulf is determined to “turn [his] arrogant thunder into a bolt of lightning” (138) and leaves as Stella enters with a plea to the king to “put a stop to the chaos that has broken out” (138). Clothold arrives and tells the king of the soldiers who have freed Sigismund. King Vasily exits, promising to “defeat [his] ungrateful son face to face” (139). Rossaura enters and speaks with Clothold of her lost honor and his commitment to help her recover it, and Clothold promises her “[his] inheritance, with which [she] may retire to a convent” (141). Rossaura responds to this offer by saying “[i]f [Clothold] were [her] father, [she] would accept this insult” (141); as she does not believe Clothold to be her father, she chooses instead to “[k]ill the duke” (141). They argue, and before exiting after Rossaura, Clothold speaks to her though she is absent: “wait for me, my daughter, and we’ll go down together” (142).

The act’s third scene takes place in the wilderness surrounding the tower and the palace. Rossaura approaches Sigismund and Bugle on horseback. She delivers a lengthy monologue about the importance of her honor and her need to “act as a lovesick woman to plead for help and as a man to win respect” (146). Sigismund reacts to this surprising speech by questioning if “[he is] really dreaming” (146). He debates with himself, as “[his] soul longs for her loveliness” (146) while he realizes that “Rossaura is without honor, and a prince’s responsibility is to dispense with honor rather than rob it” (147). Sigismund denies Rossaura a clear response to her long and impassioned speech, claiming that “honor demands that [he] be cruel to [her] now in order to be merciful later” (147) which frustrates Rossaura: “After so much sorrow, must I still put up with ambivalent responses?” (147).

Bugle enters, to Rossaura’s surprise, and suggests that because he knows “the secret of [her] identity” (148), he was locked away, but he is interrupted by the sounds of war and violence. King Vasily, Clothold and Aistulf retreat from Sigismund and his soldiers, admitting to each other that “[t]he traitors have won” (148). King Vasily prepares for death as Sigismund arrives, and he kneels at his son’s feet, acknowledging that “fate shall honor its promise and heaven shall keep its word” (150). Sigismund replies to his father with a clear speech about his father’s decision to imprison him: “My father has ended up just like the one who, threatened by a beast, woke it up” (151). Sigismund speaks of the importance of “prudence and temperance” (151), warning against the notion that “[f]oreseeing a danger” (151) suggests the danger can be controlled and extinguished. Sigismund ends his speech recognizing his own inferiority to his father and offers his neck to his father, which “humbly awaits [his] vengeance” (151).

The king recognizes the nobility of Sigismund’s humility and gives him the crown as a reward, just as Rossaura enters the scene. Sigismund commands Aistulf to marry Rossaura to preserve her honor, and he chooses Stella to be his own wife. Sigismund rewards Clothold for his loyalty to the king, but imprisons the soldiers who freed him from the tower, calling them “traitors [who] serve no purpose once their treason has been exposed” (152). When everyone marvels at Sigismund’s “change of character” (152), he explains that his “teacher was a dream” (152), from which he learned that “forgiveness should come naturally to noble souls” (153).