Fernando de Rojas’ La Celestina: Summary & Characters
Fernando De Rojas and *La Celestina*
After much controversy, criticism seems to have agreed that, as indicated by the acronyms and a letter to a friend, the author of the entire work, except for Act I, is Fernando de Rojas. Fernando de Rojas was born in Puebla de Montalbán (Toledo) around 1470 and studied law at Salamanca. He then moved to Talavera de la Reina (where he appears to have been mayor), married, had six children, and died in 1541. Among the possessions he left upon his death, his library stands out, containing books by Petrarch and Spanish and Latin authors.
Editions of *La Celestina*
There are two versions of the work: The *Comedy* (16 acts) and the *Tragicomedy* (21 acts). The first preserved edition of the *Comedy* is that of Burgos, published in 1499. In 1500, the Toledo edition appeared, where the arguments are added and it is titled Comedy of Calisto and Melibea. This edition also includes a general argument, acrostic verses that point to Fernando de Rojas as the author of the work, an author’s letter to “a friend,” and the final verses of Alonso de Proaza, the editor.
The first Spanish edition of the Tragicomedy of Calisto and Melibea was published in Zaragoza in 1507. The Tragicomedy has many changes and interpolations on the text of the Comedy and includes the so-called Treaty of Centurio (due to the appearance of this character), which consists of five acts that are inserted between the XIV and XV of the Comedy. In short, the Tragicomedy consists of twenty-one acts.
Genre of *La Celestina*
Both Rojas and Proaza call it a drama. Until the seventeenth century, all saw it as such, but although completely dialogue-based, it is too large to be represented. In the nineteenth century and during Romanticism, it was described as a novel in dialogue. Today, there are differing views, but the predominant one is that Rojas’ book is a drama inspired by the humanistic comedy of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, steeped in Roman comedy, written mainly in Latin.
There are a number of features typical of humanistic comedies that can be applied to La Celestina:
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- Large and mobile everyday reality
- A relatively simple plot, slowly developed.
Plot Summary
The plot of the play is as follows: young Calisto enters the garden of the beautiful Melibea seeking his falcon. Upon seeing the girl, he falls in love at first sight, but Melibea unceremoniously rejects him. Calisto, sick with passion, uses Celestina to get Melibea for him. The old woman, with her arts of witchcraft and her verbal ability, convinces the youth, who eventually ends up indulging in Calisto. From that moment, a series of incidents provoke the tragic death of almost all the characters. Sempronio and Pármeno kill Celestina because she did not want to share the benefits of the business with them, and they themselves are arrested and executed. Calisto dies from a stupid accident, and Melibea commits suicide.
Main Characters
- Calisto: A character who responds to the schemes of mad love, a passion that goes beyond the conventions of courtly love and leads to a ridiculous death.
- Melibea: Energetic and determined, the passion she feels for Calisto is real and leads to suicide.
- Celestina: The owner of the action, who pulls the strings and easily dominates the other characters with her ability.
Setting and Style
Spatially, it is impossible to place the facts in a particular city. The importance of domestic space in the work should be highlighted. The author seeks to give a timeless message and is not worried about time and probability. One of the strongest features is the confluence of cultured prose and colloquial language.
In conclusion, this work is very important and was very successful, edited and translated into almost all European languages.