Celestina: Characters, Plot, and Themes in Fernando de Rojas’ Masterpiece
Celestina: Structure
Celestina is a work in dialogue (no narrator) and a dramatic character, although probably conceived not to be read aloud, but represented. The book is divided into 21 acts. The first author is anonymous; the rest were written by Fernando Rojas, a Toledan of Jewish origins.
Approach (Act I)
Calisto, a rejected lover of Melibea, expresses his despair to Sempronio, his servant, who suggests resorting to an old procuress named Celestina. Sempronio and Celestina, to whom another servant, Pármeno, later joins, combine to make a financial gain from the young man.
Development (Acts II-XVIII)
Celestina, by means of a spell and her capacity for persuasion, awakens Melibea’s love for Calisto. The two young people arrange an appointment. Sempronio, Pármeno, and Celestina demand their share of the loot: a gold chain that Calisto gave to the old woman. Due to her refusal, they kill her, and for this, they are executed. On the other hand, there is the erotic encounter between the lovers.
Outcome (Acts XIX-XXI)
Calisto accidentally dies falling from the wall of Melibea’s garden. She commits suicide after telling what happened to her father, Pleberio. The play ends with Pleberio’s long lament before the corpse of his daughter.
Characters
Gentlemen
Calisto
A moody and impatient young man, in his words and behavior, the disordered principles of courtly love are parodied. His passion for Melibea is almost exclusively carnal.
Melibea
A young and beautiful woman, she yields to erotic passion as well, although, as evidenced by her suicide, she loves Calisto body and soul.
Pleberio and Alisa
Melibea’s parents, ignorant of their daughter’s love affairs.
Servants
Sempronio and Pármeno
Calisto’s servants, whose motivation is greed. Sempronio is confident of his master, Calisto. Pármeno despises her, but being young, he keeps, at first, his loyalty, but the matchmaker gets him corrupted by offering him the prostitute Areúsa.
Tristán and Sosia
Raised after the death of Sempronio and Pármeno.
The Marginal World
Celestina
Intelligent, manipulative, dominating the rest of the characters at will. She was a prostitute in her youth and is now a witch and a procuress.
Elicia and Areúsa
Disciples of Celestina and lovers, respectively, of Sempronio and Pármeno.
Themes
Celestina presents a very pessimistic vision of the world, where humans are slaves or victims of their lowest passions. The passions that move its main characters are, especially:
- Greed: Leads to the death of Celestina, Sempronio, and Pármeno.
- Lust: The cause of Pármeno’s corruption and the death of the lovers.
Any behavior of the characters, except perhaps Melibea’s, does not respond to noble motives. Celestina shows, therefore, a chaotic world, presided over by death, in which treachery and violence govern personal relationships.
The Cancioneros
Poetry texts in Castilian were compiled in collections called “cancioneros” (Cancionero de Baena, Cancionero General, etc.). Because of this, it is called “poesía de cancionero”. The poets mostly belonged to the nobility. Among them are the Marquis of Santillana (1398-1458), Juan de Mena (1411-1456), and Jorge Manrique (c. 1440-1479).