Thursday, October 4, 2012

Fernando de Rojas's "Celestina" (Week Two)

Use these questions as a guide (if you want) in your second blog posting for "Celestina"

1. The chain Calisto gives Celestina in Act 11 has important symbolic meaning. What does this chain represent for Celestina (and in turn Parmeno and Sempronio)? Think also in broader terms - what might a chain represent in the text? How might it be connected to the themes of desire and death?

2. Calisto has a long soliloquy in Act 14. What are the main themes of this speech? He has just achieved what he wanted (sex with Melibea). Does this speech reflect the happiness he expected to have? Why or why not? What might his speech have to tell us about the nature of desire?

3. There is a dichotomy in the text between Pleberio's power (a male hierarchy) and Celestina's world (centered around desire and women). How do these two systems play of one another? What does Act 14 reveals about Pleberio's pwer? Do an analysis of his speech here - what does he attempt to do? And the reality of the situation?

4. Melibea and Calisto must first meet in the dead of night, in the darkness. What does this reveal about the nature of their desire for one another, especially when you consider the references to images of light (the stars, moon, bright beams radiating from Melibea, etc.).

5. What is symbolic about Calisto's death? And Melibea's? Consider where and how the two lovers died. How do these deaths reflect that of Celestina, what she represented, and the lovers' roles in her 'game'? You may want to bring up the salient themes in Melibea's speech before she commits suicide (or even the double standard against which Melibea must fight throughout the story).

6. What or whom does Pleberio truly mourn in his final speech? What exactly is going on in this last act of "Celestina" - why give Pleberio (the patriarchy) the final word?




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