Deadly Desire: Celestina Week Two

In the last part of Celestina, the characters come to terms with the reality of desire and there is plenty of tragic action taking place. The servants are beheaded, the old whore is stabbed, and one young lad takes quite the fall to his death. Why did all these characters have to die? Well, as we know from prior classes, when someone's desire is fulfilled, they must die, because in order to live there must be desire.
In Calisto's case, he was able to get what he wanted- sex with Melibea. However, it was not exactly what he envisioned, and it left him confused, wondering why he wasn't as happy as he expected to be. "That's the wound I feel, now that it's gone cold, now that the blood that was boiling yesterday has turned to ice." (de Rojas, 154). This quote refers to Calisto's desire, and it foreshadows his death- now that his desire is dead, Calisto must die. The fog of desire has disappeared, leaving behind nothing. Calisto did not really love Melibea, or want to be with her for who she is- he wanted the fantasy, the chase, the vision in the dark. His desire for her did not result in the kind of euphoric, divine pleasure that Melibea's perfect, angel-like looks suggested. This is the nature of desire, as we have discussed in class before; the object of desire is never quite what it seems to be, and we are always lost in the fog of desire, unable to see desire for what it really is.

The imagery of Melibea in the dark when Calisto and Melibea first meet lends itself to this idea of Melibea as a angel-like, divine object of desire. I also remember reading about this in the article- that "This light emitted by the eyes of the beloved, as Claire Nouvet explains, is an incomparable vestige of divine illumination that should signal the lover to move beyond himself and aspire for unity with Supreme Goodness itself." (Ealy, 391). In this particular scene, the stars, moon, and beams of light illuminating Melibea paint her as a divine figure in Calisto's eyes, her beauty seemingly representing what function she would serve in his life. Calisto literally thinks being with her will unite him with the gods, as we saw all throughout the book. He is unable to see Melibea literally and figuratively; there is just enough light for his desire to continue.

Ultimately, Celestina was an amusing, tragic tale, and the personification of desire in Celestina was wonderful. To think of desire as a meddling, self serving, aging former prostitute is hilarious, because if desire were a person, Celestina would not be far off from what I would imagine. There is no logical reason as to why our desire for someone blinds us, changes us, and fools us as it does- just like there is no logic behind most of what Calisto says about Melibea. You really begin to know someone once the fog disappears and the desire, the lust, has faded.