At first sight, Calderón is a much less «autobiographical» writer than Lope: for example, he has no character like Lope’s Belardo to give us the author’s point of view. It is clear, however, that he refers in some works to his own situation and to that of members of his family. It is also clear that he was very interested in intelligent and determined female characters, although we cannot identify his non-historical models for these, if there were any. Nor is it easy to know why he began to experiment with dark comedies in the late 1630s, although his critical attitude towards men who ill-treat women is still found in late works such as Fieras afemina amor (1671) and Las armas de la hermosura (1676).
Abstract
At first sight, Calderón is a much less «autobiographical» writer than Lope: for example, he has no character like Lope’s Belardo to give us the author’s point of view. It is clear, however, that he refers in some works to his own situation and to that of members of his family. [...]
Some Landmarks of the Evolution of the Comical in Calderón 