La Celestina and Lazarillo de Tormes: Literary Analysis

La Celestina: Textual History and Evolution

The first edition of La Celestina appeared in 1499 in Burgos, titled Comedy of Calisto and Melibea, and consisted of sixteen acts, each preceded by an argument or abstract. Soon after, in 1502, a new version of 21 acts was printed under the title of Tragicomedy of Calisto and Melibea. This edition includes a foreword in which the author justifies the interpolation of five new acts at the request of readers who pressed him to prolong the prose. The strength of the character of the pimp eventually led the work to be known as The Matchmaker.

Core Themes

The work addresses three major themes of the decline of the Middle Ages: love, fortune, and death. The perspective of the author overwhelms these issues and anticipates the individualism characteristic of the Renaissance.

Purpose and Moral Intent

The work is composed for the enamored. The disastrous ending can be interpreted as a punishment for their corrupt behavior, and the moralizing tone seems to support this intention. However, the author's attitude is ambiguous, given the erotic content and the existential pessimism clear from many passages.

Genre and Characteristics

La Celestina is written in dialogue form, following the model of the humanistic comedy—a genre born in Italian universities as an imitation of Plautus and Terence. The work presents novel features, such as its length, the existence of non-dramatic scenes, and the meticulous characterization of its figures.

The Anonymous Lazarillo de Tormes

Published in 1554, this work is told in the first person. It recounts the protagonist's origins, his service to various masters, his rise to become a preacher in Toledo, and his marriage to a servant of the Archpriest of San Salvador. The story ends when Lázaro's wife swears never to speak to him regarding the rumors circulating about his disgrace.

Structure and Narrative

The novel is structured in seven treatises, each corresponding to the masters Lázaro serves:

• The blind man
• The priest
• The squire
• The friar
• The pardoner
• The chaplain
• The sheriff and the preacher

The work demonstrates the great culture of its anonymous author, likely an Erasmian, especially through a formidable management of ambiguity and irony.

Literary Context

The text stands alongside other major genres of the period, including:

• Pastoral novel
• Byzantine romance
• Adventure novel
• Moorish chivalry novel
• Picaresque novel