Kelly is an instructor of Creative Writing and Literature at Oakton Community College and College of Lake County. In this essay, he examines the ways in which Hofmannsthal's version of this story differs from the play that it was based upon.

There is only a tenuous relationship between Hugo von Hofmannsthal's 1925 play The Tower and its inspiration, the 1635 romantic comedy Life Is a Dream by the Spanish playwright Pedro Calderon de la Barca y Henao. Both plays concern a king, Basilius of Poland, who has determined that his son is destined to one day overthrow him and take his place, and who has, therefore, taken the measure of having the child raised in captivity. Both plays follow the prince, Sigismund, as he gains his freedom, misuses it, and is sent back into captivity, only to be rescued later when a political uprising unseats Basilius and requires a...