In this blog post, we’ll examine the evolution of the editions of ‘Calisto and Melibea’ (later known as ‘La Celestina’), published in 1499, and explore how the characters and social conflicts drove love toward tragedy.
About the Work and the Author
In 1499, ‘The Comedy of Calisto and Melibea’, a work that would leave an indelible mark on the history of world literature, was published in Burgos, Spain. The author remains unknown. Formally, the work was a “dialogic novel” or “play for reading aloud” intended to be performed before an audience, consisting of a total of 16 acts.
Like other popular works of medieval Spanish literature at the time, this work also appeared in multiple editions. Unlike earlier editions, the 1500 Toledo edition and the 1501 Seville edition included the author’s name. In the preface, the author identified himself as Fernando de Rojas, who had studied law at the University of Salamanca, and explained that he had accidentally discovered the manuscript for Act 1 and added 15 more acts to it, completing the work as a 16-act play. He wrote that he believed the author of Act I to be either Juan de Menana or Rodrigo Cota, and critics have generally accepted this claim.
The situation is more complicated. In 1502, new editions were published in Salamanca, Seville, and Toledo; these changed the title to ‘The Tragicomedy of Calisto and Melibea’ and expanded the length from 16 acts to 21 acts. New material was added in the middle of the work, and minor revisions and omissions were made throughout; critics attribute the authorship of these five acts to Fernando de Rojas himself or to an anonymous university colleague with whom he was acquainted. After 1519, as perceptions of the character changed, the title was altered to “La Celestina,” the name of the old matchmaker in the play, and the proper noun “Celestina” became so widely known that it is listed in modern Spanish dictionaries as a common noun meaning “matchmaker.”
The revisions and deletions made to the work appear to have been limited primarily to content that might give the impression of being obscene or anti-religious. At the time, Spain was an era in which the Inquisition had been established to foster national unity and Catholicism was enforced, so no one was free enough to put whatever they wanted into writing exactly as they wished. There is also a well-known anecdote in which, upon hearing that a foreign ambassador had enjoyed reading ‘Don Quixote’, Cervantes replied, “It would have been even more entertaining if there had been no Inquisition in our country.”
This work, born after many twists and turns, became one of the most important archetypes in the history of world literature and provided immense inspiration across literature, theater, art, and culture in general for generations to come. Cervantes described this work as “so very human that if only the human elements had been toned down a little, it would have become an immortal masterpiece,” and some critics even say that had ‘Don Quixote’ not existed, this work would have reaped that glory instead.
Written at the dawn of the Renaissance—a time when the God-centered society of the Middle Ages was drawing to a close and human-centered thought was beginning to take root—this work offers a variety of reflections on the world, life, love, fate, God, and human existence. Laced with witty humor, aphorisms, and proverbs, it delivers sharp and dramatic insights into life and the world in an engaging manner.
The Spanish Inquisition, established in 1478, traced people’s religious heritage back to their ancestors to emphasize the racial purity of Catholicism; even converted Jews were forced to leave their homeland or live in fear. Amid torture and inexplicable madness, those branded as heretics were sometimes even forced to exhume their parents’ remains before being burned at the stake. During this era of medieval violence, we can imagine the inner world of this Jewish convert author, who struggled to find a place in society and likely suffered from loneliness, inner conflict, and alienation.
Compounded by the shift in social thought that arose from the collapse of the medieval divine and feudal systems, this work vividly and intensely portrays the struggles and conflicts between God and woman, spirit and matter, personal values and social institutions, master and servant, and human existence and its essence, all set against the backdrop of lower-class Spanish culture at the time.
Plot
The events of ‘La Celestina’ begin with a chance occurrence. Calisto, a handsome young man from a noble family, enters Pleberio’s orchard one day while chasing a fleeing falcon during a hunt and falls in love at first sight with Melibea, the family’s only daughter. From that moment on, Calisto becomes consumed by a desire to win Melibea’s love. From the very beginning, the play establishes love as its central theme, ensuring that this love dictates the actions of everyone living in Celestina’s world.
However, love does not proceed smoothly. The first obstacle is Melibea’s staunch refusal. Because this relationship is an “illicit love,” Melibea fears that her family’s honor will be tarnished. Her sense of honor is so strong that, upon waking from a faint, she laments, “Has my honor been shattered?” Even during their first encounter, she asks, “Oh, my beloved, do you wish to lose me and tarnish my honor?”
When obstacles arise, the situation does not come to a standstill but demands further development. Calisto, tormented at home, realizes that his fate is governed by the passion of love. After acknowledging that he cannot win Melibea on his own, he confides his anguish to his servant, Sempronio, and secures his alliance. Sempronio advises him to enlist Celestina—a seasoned matchmaker with a witch-like reputation—to help achieve his goal.
Celestina willingly accepts the matchmaking assignment, driven by three motives: first, a personal desire to revive the joys of her youth, viewing love itself as the ultimate goal; second, the material reward she will receive upon completing the task; and third, a desire for revenge against society. To this end, Celestina recruits Calisto’s two servants—Semplonio and Parmeno, who was initially loyal to his master but changed his mind when circumstances shifted—by pairing them with the prostitutes Elisia and Areusa, whom she kept as if they were her own wives, thereby winning them over to her side.
Although the two servants had different personalities to begin with, they fall prey to Celestina’s schemes, become slaves to pleasure and greed, and form an alliance with her. This alliance blindly unleashes the servants’ primal instincts and further escalates the conflict.
Confident in her years of experience and magical abilities, Celestina goes to meet Melibea. Melibea’s initially unwavering demeanor stems from her awareness of social ethics and the sheltered life she led as a virgin. Celestina sees through Melibea’s facade, realizing that she must harbor great curiosity about the world beyond the walls.
The curious Melibea continues to ask Celestina questions and eventually hears words that a maiden should not utter. Even as she hears these words, Melibea cannot hide her desire to know more, and as a result, she displays an even more stubborn resistance. This is because the conflict within her—between her inner will and social propriety—intensifies.
Faced with this reaction, Celestina does not give up and launches another attack. This time, she approaches by delving into Melibea’s religious inclinations. Melibea’s responses already reveal a willingness to accept what Celestina desires. This is evident in the scene where Melibea’s maid, Lucrecia, who has been listening nearby, sighs and observes the situation, exclaiming, “Oh dear, oh dear, it looks like we’re in for quite a spectacle with our young mistress.”
Through this encounter, Melibea’s love for Callisto begins to kindle little by little. Celestina’s persuasiveness was decisive. As time passed, she made Melibea realize the transience of her current beauty and youth, and instilled in her the belief that love is the elixir of life. Under the guise of sympathy, Celestina feigns concern for the suffering and a curiosity to heal, causing Melibea to think of Calisto incessantly.
Meanwhile, Celestina employs a strategy of deliberately delaying news of Calisto to Melibea, driving her to distraction. Compounded by Melibea’s mother, Alisa’s, excessive pride in her family and her overconfidence in her daughter, a complex dynamic unfolds.
Plot Summary
Unable to bear her emotional anguish any longer, Melibea sends her maid to summon Celestina. Meanwhile, Melibea suffers at home, torn between her chastity and her desires.
During Celestina and Melibea’s second meeting, Melibea’s love for Calisto is revealed. Melibea attempts to conceal her feelings through symbolic expressions, but Celestina clearly understands what they mean. Fearing for her chastity and honor, Melibea tries to avoid speaking directly about her feelings, but the clever and cunning Celestina follows her lead, guiding Melibea to make a direct confession. Ultimately, upon hearing the cause of her illness, Melibea faints.
From this moment on, events unfold rapidly. The two lovers meet and their love is consummated; during that long-awaited first encounter, Melibea tries to hide her passion but soon confesses her love.
The Shadow of Death and Human Reactions
Although the first obstacle has been overcome, another major obstacle facing the characters in the work is death itself. Death crouches in wait, constantly on the lookout for an opportunity to take the people living in Celestina’s world away without their knowledge. If love fills the entire work, then death, as its companion, follows like a shadow, ultimately creating a massive tragedy.
From the very beginning of the work, the characters are aware that human beings are limited by death. Celestina often tells those she meets that all humans are born to die. Metaphors are repeated: humans fall in order to rise; they bloom like flowers only to wither; and they pass through joy and sorrow, growth and aging, ultimately meeting their end. Melibea’s father, Plebio, cannot forget the fact that death awaits them, and her mother, Alisa, reminds them that death makes all humans equal and that no one can live forever. Thus, the characters know that death lurks somewhere, arriving without warning to take anyone away without mercy.
Faced with this constant threat, people struggle to live their own lives. Amid their efforts to live their given lives to the fullest, Celestina presents pleasure and joy through her own approach. She advises that there is a time for everything, and that waiting for a better time will only lead to regret, so one should enjoy one’s youth while one is young. Elisia, the prostitute in her care, also seeks to live a better life by heeding Areusa’s advice after losing her lover, Sempronio.
The Pursuit of Pleasure and Tragic Consequences
The pursuit of pleasure, born of an awareness of death, leads to a frantic struggle to forget the tragedy of human existence. The will to live makes people unable to stop, driven by the fear that death might snatch away their pleasures at any moment. Celestina may rest when she is tired, but she never denies death; the servants regard the division of the gold necklace as a matter of urgency; Elisia is constantly anxious while waiting for Sempronio; and Areusa hastily prepares to avenge her lovers. Callisto, too, urgently asks Celestina to relay news of Melibea, but, enraged by her delay, goes so far as to demand that she kill him. Melibea, likewise, regrets not having responded to Callisto’s love from the start and laments the opportunity she has lost. This urgent and fierce desire for life gives birth to a tragic end. Such is the law of Celestina’s world.
In return for her services, Celestina receives a gold necklace from Calisto. That night, Calisto meets Melibea with only the door of her house between them, and the force that compels them to live life in haste continues to operate as if carrying out its mission. The servants go to Celestina to demand their share, but when she refuses, they kill her right in front of Elisia. These servants, too, soon meet their deaths at the hands of the Fates. Upon hearing the news of the servants’ deaths, Calisto realizes his love is in danger, but he pays it no mind, thinking only of his next meeting with Melibea. The two meet again, and Melibea begs Calisto to return.
After spending a night of passion, Calisto recalls the servants’ deaths and worries that his adventures and reputation are in jeopardy, but he soon dismisses those concerns, reminiscing about the previous night and looking forward to seeing Melibea again. Meanwhile, Elisia informs Areusa of the deaths of Celestina and the servants, identifying Callisto and Melibea as the culprits, and resolves to take revenge on Melibea in particular. This desire for revenge becomes the main driving force of the conclusion, a combination of resentment toward society—hidden beneath a veneer of love—and jealousy toward Melibea. The two learn the time and place of Callisto and Melibea’s meetings from Sosia, a servant who tends to Callisto’s horse, and plan to use Centurio, a local thug, as a means of revenge.
A month later, Melibea’s parents bring up the topic of their daughter’s marriage, but Melibea wishes to enjoy her love with Callisto and suffers, lamenting the time she has been unable to spend with him. While the two lovers are reunited once more, Callisto, alarmed by the shouts of servants coming from outside, hurriedly climbs down a ladder but slips and falls to his death. Neither the prostitutes nor Centurio intended to kill Callisto, and even his servants, Tristan and Sosia, who were looking for the safest spot to place the ladder against the wall, had no intention of killing him. Nevertheless, Callisto falls to his death.
The Ending and the Tragedy of the Work
Faced with this senseless death, Melibea is overcome with despair; as the sun rises, she climbs to the tower, tells her father, Plebio, what has happened, and then throws herself from the tower. The work ends with Plebario’s wailing and unanswered questions. These questions concern fate, another central theme of human existence. He laments the unpredictable nature of fate, stating that even for Callisto, his mad love and death both seem like the whims of fate. The work demonstrates that many events in human life are subject to fate.
Fate has revealed its true nature, and Death has fulfilled its duty. Everyone wanted to escape from that place, but in the end, they were all subjugated to the irresistible power of fate. At first, love seemed to be the most powerful victor, but ultimately, it becomes clear that Death and Fate rule over humanity with a power far greater than that of love.
In world literature, love and friendship are often portrayed as means of human salvation, but in this work, even these two are negated. While ordinary people typically seek solidarity and understanding at the ultimate moment, in this work, the characters realize the value of friendship too late and find themselves in a situation that is already irreversible. Human life is like a trap filled with deceit and snares; by the time one discovers this and tries to turn back, there is often nowhere left to return to.
The scene in which Calisto’s two servants, facing death and despite their severe wounds, lock eyes with one another to see if the other can feel their pain, demonstrates that even such a longing for communion is futile. Love, too, is selfish and bows down before materialism.
The author views the fundamental reason for this world—and perhaps the reality in which we live—as lying in the destruction of the individual. He views the very workings of the world as something that mocks the existence of the individual and makes it difficult to form human relationships; consequently, he concludes that humans live in a “Valley of Tears” with no way out. This is the true tragedy of ‘La Celestina’.
The reason all humans live in a mad pursuit of honor, material wealth, and pleasure is precisely because they know that unhappiness will follow in their wake.
