Celestina & Garcilaso de la Vega: Spanish Literature
The Celestina: A Controversial Masterpiece
The Celestina sparked controversy upon its release. Fernando de Rojas claimed to have found the first act already written and decided to continue the work, completing it in 15 days during a vacation. The author of the first act remains unknown. We know that Fernando de Rojas was born and died in Toledo and studied law in Salamanca.
The first edition appeared in Burgos in 1499, titled Comedy of Calisto and Melibea. It had 16 acts, each preceded by a summary. A new version with 21 acts was later printed under the title Tragicomedy of Calisto and Melibea, incorporating a prologue.
The Plot
Calisto, a young man of a good family, falls in love with Melibea after accidentally meeting her, but she rejects him. Advised by his servant Sempronio, Calisto enlists the help of Celestina, an old procuress, despite the initial warnings of another servant, Pármeno. Celestina wins Pármeno over by helping him seduce his lover, a prostitute who is also Sempronio’s lover.
Celestina arranges an interview between Calisto and Melibea. As a reward, Calisto gives Celestina a gold chain. Celestina is later killed by Sempronio and Pármeno when she refuses to share the chain. Calisto and Melibea continue to meet until one night when Calisto hears a noise, rushes to help his servants, falls from a ladder, and dies. Melibea confesses everything to her father and commits suicide by jumping from a tower.
Themes
The main themes are love, fortune, and death. Love is portrayed through Calisto’s attempts to be the perfect lover, though he is ultimately selfish and does not reciprocate Melibea’s affections. The lower classes are represented through their unbridled sexual appetites. Fortune leads most of the characters to their deaths. The work is written in dialogue form and features characteristics such as length, non-dramatic scenes, and detailed characterization.
Garcilaso de la Vega: The Renaissance Ideal
Garcilaso de la Vega represents the ideal Renaissance man: of good pedigree, virtuous, an exquisite courtier, a skilled military man, and, above all, an excellent poet. His work is brief, consisting of 40 sonnets, 4 songs, 2 elegies, and 3 eclogues. Garcilaso also composed poems in octosyllables and several odes in Latin.
Main Theme: Love
Sonnets and Songs: These poems relate the process of a fated love, resulting in pain and melancholy for the lover. They can be divided into two groups:
- Poetry before 1533: (The death date of the poet’s beloved) The tone is rhetorical, reminiscent of the traditional love poetry of the cancionero.
- Poetry after 1533: Sentimentality is softer and more melancholic. This group includes the last sonnets, some of which feature mythological themes.
The Eclogues
There are three eclogues:
- First Eclogue: The first he wrote and the longest. It is a representable piece that relates the misfortunes of the shepherd Salicio, who loves Galatea, and Nemoroso, who loves Elisa.
- Second Eclogue: Divided into two parts. In the first, a shepherd recounts his love affair with Galatea, who has left him to marry another. In the second part, the shepherd mourns the death of Nemoroso’s beloved, Elisa.
- Third Eclogue: A poem composed in real octaves. Four nymphs gather in a meadow on the banks of a river to weave tapestries. Three of the nymphs weave stories based on the myths of Orpheus and Eurydice, Apollo and Daphne, and Venus and Adonis. The fourth nymph weaves a modern story, that of the nymph Elisa, who is found dead and lying in the meadow. The poem closes with an amoebean song sung by two shepherds, expressing their loving feelings.