The Celestina Act I & II

The opening scene in Celestina, although brief, can enlighten us to several ideas. The scene takes place in a garden, which naturally implies the most famous garden, the Garden of Eden. Several aspects of this part of the story allude to the story of Adam and Eve. For example the treachery placed upon Melibea, as a woman, later on in the story. She is to blame for Calisto’s illness and bringing so much woe to this man’s life. Although we can extract several contrasts as well, for example in this scene we only see the man banished from the beautiful garden and the woman remains.

The speech of each character implies many facets of their depiction. Calisto, clearly awestruck by this majestic woman’s beauty, yearns for her love. Melibea finds his forwardness and rashness almost insulting, claiming his advances “has come to naught against my virtue!” (p. 2). Calisto speaks of her as if he deserves her; that she remains his just reward for his servitude to God. Melibea, insulted, rebukes his advances and clearly thinks contrary to Calisto’s thought.

Melibea reacts in this manner because it seems she does not respect this awkward forwardness. She also seems to believe that Calisto himself does not deserve her love. At this point in the progression for the story I believe these words hold some genuineness, yet as the tale unfolds I have a feeling that Melibea may either be playing games or reacted rather rashly herself. These tales often have ways of contorting the speech of their characters and lifting the foundation up from under the readers footing.