The Mayor of Zalamea

 The Mayor of Zalamea by Pedro Calderon de la Barca, translated by William E Colford, 128 pages

A departure for Calderon, but also one of his most popular plays, The Mayor of Zalamea tells the ostensibly true story of a proud peasant whose beautiful daughter became the object of a noble-born officer's lusts.  Caught between his offended sense of honor and the plain letter of the law, the virtuous Pedro Crespo takes a stand for justice in defiance of the entire Spanish army.

Unusually for Calderon, this is a historical piece; even more unusually, it features a protagonist from the lower classes.  For that very reason, the language lacks the grandiosity typical of Calderon, and this may help explain its continued popularity in an era that celebrates mediocritas.  Crucially, however, the play does not resolve with an assertion of equality on the basis of individual autonomy, but with a recognition of equal participation within a larger whole.