XV Century Spanish Literature: Celestina Analysis
XV Century Spanish Literature
Prose in the 15th Century
The 15th century saw the continuation of novels of adventure and chivalry, but also witnessed the emergence of two new genres: the historical novel and the sentimental novel.
Theater
Theatrical activity revived in the second half of the 15th century with pieces by Gomez Manrique. In the late 15th century, a courtier theater arose.
La Celestina
Published in Burgos in 1499, La Celestina consists of 21 acts of varying length and was written by Fernando de Rojas, a converted Jew (converted to Christianity), except for Act I, which critics attribute to an unknown author due to notable differences with the rest of the work.
Literary Genre
The categorization of La Celestina into a specific literary genre has been a subject of long-standing debate. Some, based on the difficulties of staging it, deny its dramatic character (arguing it would be too long to perform) and consider it a novel in dialogue (though lacking a narrator). Others place it within the subgenre of humanistic comedy. Today, most agree on the essentially dramatic nature of La Celestina, emphasizing the importance of dialogue.
The dramatic action is divided into a prologue and two parts: the first lasting until Act XIV, and the second from Act XV to Act XXI.
Argument
The young Callisto, while chasing a hawk, enters the garden of Melibea and falls in love. Fascinated by her beauty, he declares his love, but she violently rejects him upon realizing his intentions are dishonest. Rejected by Melibea, he hires an old bawd, Celestina, who, with the help of Callisto’s servants, secures the surrender of the young woman. Blinded by greed, Celestina refuses to share the reward for her services with her accomplices, who then murder her and are subsequently executed. The young lovers, oblivious to their surroundings, indulge wildly in their love until an accidental fall ends Callisto’s life. Melibea, in despair, commits suicide.
Characters
The creation of characters is one of the most outstanding achievements of this work. The characters are not archetypes (traditional models) but unique, highly individualized creatures.
- Callisto: is insecure, lazy, selfish, and amoral.
- Melibea: is a more complex character. Deeply human, she initially violently rejects the advances of the young lover, then accepts them, and finally gives herself to him without question.
- Celestina: is the intermediary in the love of Callisto and Melibea. Dominated by the passion of greed, she pursues one goal: to acquire wealth. Serving that appetite, she mobilizes all her natural gifts: insight (great ingenuity) and wisdom (with cunning and prudence), the ability to improvise, the ability to manage people, the art of seduction and deceit, the ability to flatter, and the gift of eloquence (ease of speech to convince).
- Sempronius: represents a servitude attached to his master by strictly economic relations, not emotional ones. Driven by his interest and lust, he is false, unfair, cowardly, and violent.
- Pármeno: is more complex. He experiences an evolution: initially shown as true to his master, he later, stung by the ingratitude of his master, keeps an internal struggle and ends up becoming another Sempronius.
- Elicia and Areusa: their behavior is governed by the pursuit of profit.
- Alisa: a great lady, proud and foolish; and Pleberio: represents the careful father, tender and affectionate with his daughter, but overconfident and negligent (careless), are the parents of Melibea.
Language
In La Celestina, there is a confluence of two linguistic registers (not only dependent on the level of education, but also on the moment and the person being spoken to): the cultivated, rhetorical, and saturated with erudition, and the colloquial, spontaneous, expressive, and dotted with sayings. The characters (whether noble or commoner) use either as needed by the communicative situation.
Core Themes
The book is organized around several core themes: love, lust, magic, time, death.
Social World
The social world in La Celestina is palpable and reflects the transformation of medieval society. This is appreciated by:
- The establishment of new relations between different social strata.
- The configuration of a new moral code whose principles are: individuality, freedom, pragmatism, and the profit motive.