Browse all of the Salem on Literature series

Celestina (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)

At a glance:

Characters Discussed

Calisto (kah-LEES-toh), a nobleman who sees and falls in love with Melibea. He hires Celestina to arrange a meeting. He is killed by falling from a ladder while leaving Melibea’s garden.

Melibea (may-lee-BAY-ah), a beautiful girl who lets herself be talked into a rendezvous with Calisto and who commits suicide after his death by leaping from her roof.

Celestina (thay-lehs-TEE-nah), an elderly go-between and seller of love charms whose greediness brings about her death.

Lucrecia (lew-KRAY-thyah), Melibea’s maid. She warns Melibea’s mother against the evil Celestina, but to no avail.

Pármeno (PAHR-may-noh) and

Sempronio (saym-PROH-nyoh), servants of Calisto who promote Celestina’s arrangement with their master and murder her when she refuses them a reward. Apprehended by the police, they are beheaded on the spot for their crime.

Sosia (SOH-syah), another servant of Calisto who helps to plot his master’s death.

Areusa (ah-RAY-ew-sah) and

Elicia (ay-LEE-thyah), prostitutes in Celestina’s house. Areusa loves Pármeno; Elicia loves Sempronio. The girls hire Centurio to avenge the servants’ deaths.

Pleberio (play-BAY-ryoh), the father of Melibea.

Alisa (ah-LEE-sah), the mother of Melibea.

Centurio (thayn-TEW-ryoh), a scoundrel soldier hired to kill Calisto.

Bibliography:

Barbera, Raymond. “No puede creer que la tenga en su poder.” Romanic Review 28, no. 1 (January, 1991): 105. A concise article in English that treats the relationship between the characters by developing the sentence that serves as the article’s title. Describes the role of ambiguity in Celestina.

Dunn, Peter. Fernando de Rojas. New York: Twayne, 1975. Provides a detailed summary of each act in Celestina followed by a helpful commentary. Acquaints the reader with literary evaluation by discussing the genre, antecedents, characters, and structure of the work.

Gilman, Stephen. The Spain of Fernando de Rojas. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1972. Portrays the life of Fernando de Rojas. Depicts the difficult circumstances that his Jewish family, converted to Catholicism, had to face in Spain.

Martin, June Hall. Love’s Fools: Aucassin, Troilus, Calisto, and the Parody of the Courtly Lover. London: Tamesis Books, 1972. Explains the late medieval tradition of moralistic satire. Shows how Calisto exemplifies the parody of courtly love.

Simpson, Lesley Byrd. Introduction to The Celestina, by Fernando de Rojas. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1971. The introduction to this translation by Simpson situates the work in literary history. Gives a brief synopsis of the plot and a character analysis.

Dictionary Tip:

Lookup any word on eNotes with our dictionary. Highlight the word and press SHIFT + D for a definition, or SHIFT + T for a synonym.