La Celestina by Fernando de Rojas: summary, characters and analysis of the book

La Celestina, by Fernando de Rojas, is considered one of the top works of Spanish literature and one of the most significant of the 15th century. Likewise, it arises in a period of transition between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

The play was originally published in 16 acts under the title of Calisto and Melibea comedy. Later, a second version appears called Tragicomedy of Calisto and Melibea, composed of 21 acts. Finally, it became popular under the name of La Celestina.

La Celestina it had a great influence on the development of later literature and, today, its genre and authorship continue to generate controversy.

Let us know the most relevant details of this essential work of universal literature.

Resume

Act 1

In this act, Calisto enters Melibea's orchard when he is chasing a hawk, the young man immediately feels an interest in her. However, the girl rejects him and asks him to leave.

Later, Calisto tells what happened to one of his servants, Sempronio, who proposes that he go to a famous sorceress named Celestina to help him win Melibea's love.

Finally, Callisto accepts the advice of his servant and Sempronio goes to Celestina's house.

During their meeting, Sempronio and Celestina plan to scam Calisto. Meanwhile, Pármeno, another servant of Callisto, warns his master of the old woman's evil intentions.

Later, Celestina and Sempronio arrive at Callisto's house, and the old woman offers to help him in exchange for gold coins.

Act 2

Celestina leaves young Callisto's house to go to hers. Meanwhile, the protagonist remains in dialogue with his servants, Sempronio and Pármeno, about the gold that he has given to the sorceress for rendering her services.

Later, impatience invades Calisto and he decides to send Sempronio to Celestina's house.

Act 3

In this act, Sempronio goes to Celestina's house to tell her about Calisto's despair and reproach him for her delay. They also both plan how to get the most out of the business. After this, the sorceress prepares and goes to Melibea's house.

Act 4

Celestina manages to reach Melibea's house. After running into the maid, Lucrecia, he manages to enter the house thanks to the help of Alisa, Melibea's mother, who believes that the pimp comes with commercial intentions.

Finally, Alisa leaves the house and Celestina is left alone with Melibea. The young woman is enraged when she knows the intentions of the old woman, however, she manages to persuade the girl. In this way, Celestina gets a cord from Melibea to complete the spell.

Act 5

Celestina heads to her home from Melibea's house, while she talks to herself. Once there, she meets with Sempronio. Afterwards, the old woman and the servant go to Callisto's house to update him on the events.

Act 6

This act takes place in Calisto's house, where Celestina and Sempronio arrive to tell her what has happened at Melibea's house. The old woman talks to Calisto and shows her Melibea's cord. Meanwhile, the servants listen and comment on what happened. Later, the old woman goes to her house in the company of Pármeno.

Act 7

Celestina and Pármeno leave Calisto's house, meanwhile the servant takes the opportunity to remind the old woman of the promise she made to deliver Areúsa, one of her pupils. Finally, Pármeno ends up spending the night with Areúsa and Celestina arrives at her house, where she finds Elicia irritated by her delay.

Act 8

The next day, Pármeno returns to Calisto's house after spending the night with Areúsa. There she meets Sempronio, with whom she finally decides to ally. Later, both go to the room of Calisto, who is talking only about Melibea. Later, the young man decides to go to church.

Act 9

Calisto's servants go to Celestina's house, where they share a meal with Elicia and Areúsa. Soon, Elicia is furious after a comment from Sempronio about Melibea. Celestina tries to resolve the situation when, suddenly, Lucrecia knocks on the door to indicate to the pimp that Melibea is requesting her at her house. After this, Lucrecia and Celestina leave.

Act 10

Melibea has a conversation with herself regarding Calisto. Lucrecia and Celestina arrive at the house, then the old woman has a conversation with the young woman, who confesses her love for Calisto. Later both make a clandestine date between Melibea and Calisto.

Finally, Melibea's mother comes home and questions her daughter about her relationship with Celestina, who has a bad reputation among the people. The young woman decides to lie to her mother and defend the pimp.

Act 11

In this act, Celestina communicates to Calisto the appointment that she has at midnight with her lover. As a thank you, the young man gives a gold chain to the pimp.

Act 12

The first meeting between Calisto and Melibea takes place. After a while talking, the lovers say goodbye and decide to make another date. The noises wake up Melibea's father. So the girl has to make up an excuse.

Later Sempronio and Pármeno go to Celestina's house to claim her share of her earnings. The old woman does not want to distribute the benefits, which causes the anger of Sempronio and Pármeno, who finally end up murdering Celestina.

Act 13

Some servants of Calisto, Sosia and Tristán, inform him that Sempronio and Pármeno have been murdered in the public square for the crime they committed. The young man regrets what happened and blames himself for the events.

Act 14

In this act the second appointment of Calisto and Melibea takes place. At first, the young woman is worried about the delay of her lover, however, he finally arrives accompanied by Sosia and Tristán. The lovers spend little time together, a fact that makes Callisto regret during their return home.

Act 15

In this act, Areúsa and Elicia wish to avenge the death of Celestina and of hers, two in love with her. For this, the girls want the help of Centurio.

Act 16

Melibea's parents, Pleberio and Alisa, have a conversation about marrying her daughter and finding her a boyfriend. Lucrecia listens to the talk and tells Melibea.

Later, the maid interrupts the young woman's parents, complying with Melibea's order.

Act 17

In this act, Areúsa has a meeting with Sosia, Calisto's servant, from whom she gets information about Calisto and Melibea, in order to carry out his plan.

Act 18

Elicia and Areúsa go to Centurio's house to ask for his help and determine the murder of the two lovers, Calisto and Melibea and, in this way, avenge the death of Celestina and her two servants.

Act 19

Calisto, accompanied by his servants, goes to Melibea's house. While the young man is with Melibea, Tristán and Sosia manage to escape from Traso, who is ordered by Centurio to carry out the assassination orders of Celestina's pupils.

Later, Callisto hears noise and wants to go out to see what happens. As the young man descends the ladder, he falls and dies. After that, Melibea cries inconsolably over the death of her lover.

Act 20

Lucrecia notifies Melibea's father of her daughter's discomfort. Pleberio goes to console her daughter, however, in an oversight, Melibea climbs the tower and apologizes to her family for her dishonor, also confesses her affair with Callisto. Later, the young woman throws herself into the void and dies.

Act 21

Pleberio goes to his bedroom desolate and informs his wife about Melibea's death. The book ends with Pleberio crying.

Characters

Celestina

She is the central axis of the work, which also has the name of this character as its title. She is an old pimp and greedy. Likewise, Celestina moves only for her own benefit and takes advantage of her wisdom and her life experience to persuade the rest of the characters. Well, one of the main traits of his personality is his power to seduce through his words.

In the end, Celestina dies as a result of a mistake that she herself makes by not sharing her benefits with Sempronio and Pármeno. Her greed leads to her death.

Melibea

Melibea is a pure and faithful young woman to her principles. He is, perhaps, one of the characters that evolves the most throughout the play. He starts out as an honest girl. However, after Celestina's visit, she decides to break the rules and is seduced by the pimp. In the end, Melibea commits suicide after the death of her lover Calisto.

Callisto

He is the protagonist of the play, along with Melibea. Callisto presents a weak personality, he is often guided by his servants. More than in love, he is obsessed with getting Melibea's love. He is exaggerated in her demeanor and does not abide by the rules of polite love. She is capable of anything, even resorting to Celestina's service, in order to satisfy her wishes.

Sempronio

He is in the service of Callisto. She is selfish and moves for her own interests, which causes her to betray her master and ally with Celestina for material gain. He is in a relationship with Elicia, one of Celestina's pupils.

Parmeno

He is Callisto's faithful servant at the beginning of the play. He distrusts Celestina and alerts her master of the old woman's evil intentions. However, she later changes sides out of interest and puts herself at the service of Celestina and Sempronio.

Elicia and Areúsa

They are two young prostitutes who work for Celestina. Elicia is the lover of Sempronio and Areúsa de Pármeno. Both prepare a plan to avenge Celestina's death.

Lucrecia

She is Melibea's servant and also her accomplice while she maintains meetings with Calisto. He is a loyal character to his masters at all times.

Pleberio

He is Melibea's father. She is a character that is unimportant throughout the play. However, he takes on meaning towards the end, especially during the final planting, where he reasons about destiny and love. He is a man relative to the bourgeoisie who shows blind trust in her daughter, but is unaware of her disloyalty.

Alisa

She is Melibea's mother and, like her husband, she does not have a great role throughout the play. She does not know her daughter well and she has a submissive character with which she continually seeks to please her husband.

Sosia and Tristan

They appear after the death of Pármeno and Sempronio. They are also Calisto's servants and are in charge of advising and protecting the young man. Sosia has a relationship with Areúsa, who takes advantage of him to get information from her.

Authorship

The authorship of this work remains one of the great enigmas to be solved. Although most investigations attribute it to the bachelor Fernando de Rojas, taking into account the letter from "The author to his friend", the first act of the play, by an anonymous author, reached the bachelor's hands, who, impressed, decided to continue writing 15 acts more.

Later, the popularity of the play led Fernando de Rojas to write 5 more acts, reaching a total of 21 acts. This work was titled Tragicomedy of Calisto and Melibea.

However, the different theories in force today continue to pose whether there is one, two authors, or even a collective authorship behind the work.

Fernando de Rojas

Fernando de Rojas was a Spanish lawyer and humanist who was born in Puebla de Montalbán (Toledo) around 1475, although the exact date is not known. He studied at the University of Salamanca at the end of the 15th century, where he obtained a bachelor's degree.

After his stay in Salamanca it is believed that he returned to his place of origin and that, later, he settled in Talavera de la Reina (Toledo), where he married Leonor Álvarez de Montalbán, with whom he had several decendents. There, he also took possession of the mayor's office and served as a lawyer for a time.

The writer was a man of great culture in possession of a library with the most relevant books of Spanish and Latin culture, which could be reflected in La Celestina.

The date of the death of Fernando de Rojas is not certain either, it is known that he died in Talavera de la Reina and that it could have been in the year 1541, attending to his testament.

Analysis of La Celestina

Gender

What is La Celestina? As with its authorship, the classification of the work to a certain genre has also been the subject of debate. Among those that arise are:

• Novel: by its length, the use of time, psychological depth of the characters. On some occasions it has been classified as a dramatic novel or a dialogue novel.
• Theater: Theatrical forms such as monologue, dialogue and apart can also be recognized in the work.
• Humanistic comedy: features that are similar to works by the Italian author Petrarca.

Style

On La Celestina the combination of a cultured style, with references to classical Latin literature, and a language popular in which sayings, street expressions and humor related to the popular classes of the epoch.

Topics

From the different analyzes that have been made on the work over the centuries, some obvious issues can be extracted from it. They stand out among them:

• Love: it can be interpreted in the work from two points of view. On the one hand, the idealized love that can be understood at the beginning of the Work between the two young people. On the other hand, the impulsive love that is carried away by passionate desires. It is precisely the latter who prompts Callisto to have the help of Celestina. Passionate love ends up leading to death. Also, the work can be a criticism of courtly love.
• Death: it is the fate of almost all the characters in this work. In a way, death seen as a tragic outcome makes the characters appeal to the importance of living in the moment.
• Greed: it is reflected in Celestina and also in Calisto's servants. All are moved by a common interest: to obtain wealth. In the end, greed drives these characters to their own demise.
• The Witchery: he appears represented in the personage of Celestina. Magic was very present in Spain at the time. Celestina uses her witchcraft skills to make Melibea fall in love with Calisto.

• The Fortune: fate cannot be changed and the characters are aware of it. Try as they may, they cannot alter their luck.