La Celestina
This article needs additional citations for verification. (April 2013) |
Author | Fernando de Rojas |
---|---|
Original title | Comedia de Calisto y Melibea |
Country | Spain |
Language | Spanish |
Genre | Medieval novel |
Publisher | Burgos |
Publication date | 1499 |
Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
The Tragicomedy of Calisto and Melibea (Spanish: Tragicomedia de Calisto y Melibea), known in Spain as La Celestina is a work entirely in dialogue published in 1499. It is attributed to Fernando de Rojas, a descendant of converted Jews, who practiced law and, later in life, served as an alderman of Talavera de la Reina, an important commercial center near Toledo.
The book is considered to be one of the greatest works of all
The story tells of a bachelor, Calisto, who uses the old procuress and bawd Celestina to start an affair with Melibea, an unmarried girl kept in seclusion by her parents. Though the two use the rhetoric of courtly love, sex — not marriage — is their aim. When he dies in an accident, she commits suicide. The name Celestina[3] has become synonymous with "procuress" in Spanish, especially an older woman used to further an illicit affair, and is a literary archetype of this character, the masculine counterpart being Pandarus.
Plot summary
While chasing his falcon through the fields, a rich young bachelor named Calisto enters a garden where he meets Melibea, the daughter of the house, and is immediately taken with her. Unable to see her again privately, he broods until his servant Sempronio suggests using the old procuress Celestina. She is the owner of a brothel and in charge of her two young employees, Elicia and Areúsa.
When Calisto agrees, Sempronio plots with Celestina to make as much money out of his master as they can. Another servant of Calisto's, Pármeno, mistrusts Celestina because he used to work for her when he was a child. Pármeno warns his master not to use her. However Celestina convinces Pármeno to join her and Sempronio in taking advantage of Calisto. His reward is Areúsa.
As a seller of feminine knick-knacks and quack medicines, Celestina is permitted entrance into the home of Alisa and Melibea by pretending to sell thread. Upon being left alone with Melibea, Celestina tells her of a man in pain who could be cured by the touch of her girdle. When she mentions Calisto's name, Melibea becomes angry and tells her to go. But the crafty Celestina persuades her that Calisto has a horrible toothache that requires her aid, and manages to get the girdle off her and to fix another meeting.
On her second visit, Celestina persuades the now willing Melibea to a rendezvous with Calisto. Upon hearing of the meeting set by Celestina, Calisto rewards the procuress with a valuable gold chain. The lovers arrange to meet in Melibea's garden the following night, while Sempronio and Pármeno keep watch.
When the weary Calisto returns home at dawn to sleep, his two servants go round to Celestina's house to get their share of the gold. She tries to cheat them and in rage they kill her in front of Elicia. After jumping out of the window in an attempt to escape the Night Guard, Sempronio and Pármeno are caught and are beheaded later that day in the town square. Elicia, who knows what happened to Celestina, Sempronio, and Pármeno, tells Areúsa of the deaths. Areúsa and Elicia come up with a plan to punish Calisto and Melibea for being the cause of Celestina, Sempronio, and Pármeno's downfall.
After a month of Calisto sneaking around and seeing Melibea at night in her garden, Areúsa and Elicia enact their plan of revenge. Calisto returns to the garden for another night with Melibea; while hastily leaving because of a ruckus he heard in the street, he falls from the ladder used to scale the high garden wall and dies. After confessing to her father the recent events of her love affair and Calisto's death, Melibea jumps from the tower of the house and dies too.
Historical and social context
La Celestina was written during the reign of
The unification of all the territories of the
Editions
There are two versions of the play. One is called a Comedy and has 16 acts; the other is considered a Tragic Comedy and has 21 acts.
Although most scholars admit that an earlier version by an unknown author already existed, the first known edition is credited to be the Comedy published in Burgos by printer Fadrique de Basilea in 1499. The first page is missing and consequently there is no indication of title or author. It is preserved in the Hispanic Society of New York City. On the first page of the 1500 edition of Toledo, which is for the first time entitled Comedia de Calisto y Melibea it states: nuevamente revista y enmendada con la adición de los argumentos de cada un auto en principio ("newly reviewed and amended with the addition of the synopses of each act at its beginning"), alluding to a princeps edition prior to 1499.
Some scholars wish to explain this discrepancy about the 1499 date, considering the version published in 1500 in Toledo to be the first edition; however, there is no positive proof of this, and there are some contradictions:
- 1. Acrostic verses are not in themselves proof enough that the 16th century edition is the "Prínceps Edition".
- 2. If the 1499 version was published after the Toledo version, it should contain as stated, additional material, whereas some of the verses are actually omitted.
- 3. The phrase "fernando de royas acabo la comedia" means that a previous version existed and that Fernando de Rojas completed it by adding additional material.
The Toledo 1500 edition contains 16 acts, and also some stanzas with acrostic verses such as "el bachjller fernando de royas acabo la comedia de calysto y melybea y fve nascjdo en la puebla de montalvan", which means "the graduate Fernando de Rojas finished the Comedy of Calisto and Melibea and was born in La Puebla de Montalbán." (This is the reason it is believed that Rojas was the original author of the play.)
A similar edition appeared with minor changes "Comedia de Calisto y Melibea", Sevilla, 1501
A new edition entitled Tragicomedia de Calisto y Melibea (Tragic Comedy of Calisto and Melibea) (Seville: Jacobo Cromberger) appeared in 1502. This version contained 5 additional acts, bringing the total to 21.
Another edition with the title Tragicomedia de Calisto y Melibea (Tragic Comedy of Calisto and Melibea) (Valencia: ) appeared in 1514. This version contained those 5 additional acts, with the total of 21.
In 1526 a version was published in Toledo that included an extra act called the Acto de Traso, named after one of the characters who appears in that act. It became Act XIX of the work, bring the total number of acts to 22. According to the 1965 edition of the play edited by M. Criado de Val and G. D. Trotter, "Its literary value does not have the intensity necessary to grant it a permanent place in the structure of the book, although various ancient editions of the play include it."[4]
Characters
Rojas makes a powerful impression with his characters, who appear before the reader full of life and psychological depth; they are human beings with an exceptional indirect characterization, which moves away from the usual archetypes of medieval literature.
Some critics see them as allegories. The literary critic Stephen Gilman[5] has come to deny the possibility of analyzing them as characters, based on the belief that Rojas limited dialogue in which interlocutors respond to a given situation, so that the sociological depth can thus be argued only on extratextual elements.
Lida de Malkiel, another critic, speaks of objectivity, whereby different characters are judged in different manners. Thus, the contradictory behavior of characters would be a result of Rojas humanizing his characters.
One common feature of all of the characters (in the world of nobles as well as servants) is their
Fernando de Rojas liked to create characters in pairs, to help build
Celestina
Celestina is the most suggestive character in the work, to the point that she gives it its title. She is a colorful and vivid character,
Melibea
Melibea is a strong-willed girl, in whom repression appears as forced and unnatural; she feels like a slave to the
Calisto
A young nobleman who falls madly in love with Melibea. He is shown to be quite egotistical and full of passion as the entire first act is about his love for her. Even going as far as to 'create a new religion' worshipping her (Act 1 pg 92-93). He is also quite insecure as, after he gets rejected, he is easily convinced to go to the witch Celestina for assistance. In the 16-act version, Calisto dies as he falls while climbing down a ladder after a sexual encounter with Melibea.
Sempronio
Servant to Calisto. Sempronio is the one who suggests to Calisto to ask Celestina for help with wooing Melibea; he is also the one who suggests to Celestina that by working together they could swindle money and other items of luxury from Calisto. Sempronio is in love with one of Celestina's prostitutes, Elicia. Through him, we can also see the sexism of how this work represents its day and age. After all, after he and Pármeno kill Celestina he cannot begin to even fathom being betrayed by the women, for the women are now their property.
Pármeno
Servant to Calisto. Son of a prostitute who was friends with Celestina many years ago. As a child, Pármeno worked for Celestina in her brothel doing odd-jobs around the house and the town. Pármeno is in love with the prostitute Areúsa.
Elicia
A prostitute who lives with and works for Celestina. Cousin to Areúsa. Both she and her cousin deeply respect their mistress as they use words such as "Señora" to describe her. It is for this reason that after Sempronio and Pármeno kill Celestina she plots Calisto's death as revenge (and succeeds several months later).
Areúsa
Prostitute who periodically works with Celestina but lives independently. Cousin to Elicia. Both she and her cousin deeply respect their mistress as they use words such as "Señora" to describe her. It is for this reason that after Sempronio and Pármeno kill Celestina she plots Calisto's death as revenge (and succeeds several months later).
Lucrecia
Personal servant to Melibea.
Pleberio
Melibea's father.
Alisa
Melibea's mother.
References
- ^ Lacarra, María Eugenia. "La parodia de la ficción sentimental en la" Celestina"." Celestinesca 13, no. 1 (1989): 11-29.
- ^
Snow, Joseph; Jane Schneider; Cecilia Lee (1976). "Un Cuarto de Siglo de Interes en La Celestina, 1949-75: Documento Bibliografico". JSTOR 340648.
- Diccionario de la Real Academia Española Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ M. Criado de Val y G. D. Trotter, Tragicomedia de Calixto y Melibea, Libro también llamado La Celestina, Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 1965 (translation of text on page viii).
- ^ In Memoriam: Stephen Gilman (1917–1986), by Constance Rose
Relevant literature
- Călin, Alin Titi. "Proverbele din La Celestina. De la original la traducere." Philologica Jassyensia 12, no. 2 (34) (2021): 125-133. (English summary)
- Fothergill-Payne, Louise (1988). Seneca and Celestina. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Shipley, George A. (1985). "Authority and Experience in La Celestina". Bulettin of Hispanic Studies2 (1): 95-111.
- Webber, Edwin (1957). «The Celestina as an "arte de amores"». Modern Philology (55): 145-153.
External links
- La Celestina -Edition 2008
- La Celestina at Project Gutenberg
- La Celestina in English on Internet Archive