La Celestina: Character Analysis and Literary Style

Characters in La Celestina

The World of Calisto and Melibea

• Calisto: A wealthy nobleman who shows no chivalrous ideals and exists outside any cultural, social, or military norms. Living an idle life, he always displays his enormous egotism and is carried away by his passion, seeking only the enjoyment of his beloved. He lacks scruples and resorts to bribery and the help of Celestina and his servants to achieve his ends.
• Melibea: From a noble and rich family, she initially behaves like the courtly beloved, elusive in love. However, when she falls in love, she becomes a passionate and blind woman who does not want to hear advice, always making her own decisions and using various tricks to achieve her goals. Her final decision as a heroine to commit suicide redeems her love.
• Melibea's Parents (Pleberio and Alisa): They are subject to the conventions of the class to which they belong. They worry about money and material matters, and only at the end of the work do they take on importance.

The World of Celestina

• Celestina: A former prostitute, professional bawd, sorceress, and ruler of a brothel. She is clever, cunning, and knowledgeable about the foibles of men. Lacking morals and being hypocritical, she is very ambitious, which leads to her death. She is the central character, and the play has become one of the most accomplished character studies in world literature.
• Pármeno and Sempronio: Servants and faithful attendants of Calisto who join the bawd to capitalize on their master's passion.
• Elicia and Areusa: Prostitutes in Celestina's brothel and the girlfriends of Pármeno and Sempronio. They are guided by greed and the desire to satisfy their appetites. After their lovers are executed, their revenge plays an important role in the downfall of Calisto.
• Centurio: A thug (matón).

Language and Style

The Language of Calisto and Melibea

Calisto, Melibea, and Pleberio (Melibea's father) use religious and bombastic language in keeping with their high social class. The words used are carefully selected, with the frequent use of long, complex sentences and Latinisms. The servants of Calisto often criticize the rhetoric and lofty language of their master.

The Language of Celestina and the Servants

They belong to a humble social class; i.e., they use a popular language consisting of popular terms, colloquialisms, jokes, and insults.

Medieval and Renaissance Elements

There has been much discussion about whether La Celestina reflects a medieval or Renaissance vision.

• The Medieval Vision: The work reflects a moralizing purpose in the deaths of the lovers and servants as punishment for their disorderly lives; the author leads the book with a moral, didactic intention.
• The Renaissance Vision: This is seen through the pursuit of sensuality and pleasure, individualism, and the secularization of life. The naturalization and censorship of the behaviors of the characters are cautious concessions to the time, ideas, and values of the medieval tradition.