Celestina Acts I-X

Almost immediately, it is plain to see that this will be a story of the tragic nature of courtly love. I found it interesting that the first scene takes place in a garden; my mind immediately jumps to Genesis and the Garden of Eden. Both feature an object of desire – the forbidden fruit for Adam and Eve ad Melibea and her chastity for Calisto. Much like the plot of Celestina, it is only when Adam and Eve give in to temptation and give themselves over to desire that they know suffering and misery.

Instantly upon meeting her, Calisto compares Melibea to God and declares that he doesn’t even deserve to lay eyes on her. He might as well have knelt on the floor and kissed Melibea’s feet. In this scene, his overwhelming desire puts her on a pedestal and he is giving her permission to control him.  As Zizek elegantly put it: “it is the victim (the servant in the masochistic relationship) who initiates a contract with the Master (woman), authorizing her to humiliate him in any way she considers appropriate” (p. 91)

First, Melibea promises Calisto that if he perseveres, he will give him a great reward, then almost instantaneously revokes any sense of affection or friendliness and tells him to, “Be gone, fool.” Calisto has a rather melodramatic reaction to the rejection, claiming that his burn is stronger than that of the fire that destroyed an entire city. Sempronio accuses him of “only wanting to suffer his affliction”.  His use of the word affliction seems to indicate that Sempronio perceives love as a wound or illness.

In the first act, Sempronio goes on an enormous discourse about how Calisto is a fool to trust any woman, as they have been the demise of countless great men. He reminds his master that, “This is woman, ancient evil who drove Adam from the delights of paradise.” Sempronio’s valiant attempt to dissuade Calisto is futile, so he recommends the counsel of Celestina.  Calisto sends him to seek Celestina.

In the next scene, we see Sempronio himself be made a fool by love – his lover is hiding another man in her quarters when he visits Celestina. Furthermore, his lover, Elicia, guilts him about waiting three days to visit and accuses him of not caring. Although Sempronio believes that he knows how to avoid the wicked nature of women, he is equally as tangled in the web of love. He, too, is blinded by desire.

Celestina understands how desire works – that it will fade if repulsion is absent – and uses it to manipulate Calisto, Sempronio, and Parmeno. To Sempronio, she offers half of Calisto’s wealth in exchange for his assistance in her plan. In addition, she possesses control of Elicia, Sempronio’s love. Using these two chips, she is able to manipulate him like a puppet. To Parmeno, she promises an inheritance from his father larger than all of Calisto’s wealth and the service of Areusa, another of her girls. With control of both servants’ objects of desire, Celestina is able to give them a taste to keep them desirous, but refuses to indulge them in full until she achieves what she wants.

After calling upon Celestina for assistance, Calisto’s love reaches a point where it becomes purely obsession. At one point, he exclaims, “I am Melibean, for it is Melibea I adore and Melibea I believe in and Melibea that I love.” Clearly, she is no longer simply an object of desire to him, but a religion as well. It is worthwhile to note that he has had only one direct interaction with Melibea, and is merely in love with what he hopes she will be.

Seizing the opportunity presented by Calisto’s longing for Melibea, Celestina draws him in by promising him what he wants and giving him fragments of her clothing. Almost as quickly as she lifts his hopes, she shatters them, telling him she needs more time and more money. Celestina seemingly possesses the object of Calisto’s desire, much like Conchita does Mathieu in That Obscure Object of Desire. She is using the concept of attraction and repulsion to heighten Calisto’s need for the object he desires. The longer he waits, the more eager he is; the more he is denied, the more he wants it.