Mimetic Desire, Violence and Sacrifice in the "Celestina" Author(s): Madeline Sutherland Source: Hispania, Vol. 86, No.

2 (May, 2003), pp. 181-190 Published by: American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20062828 . Accessed: 15/04/2013 07:54
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Mimetic

Desire,

Violence
University

and Sacrifice
Sutherland of Texas at Austin

in the Celestina1

Madeline

Abstract:

to the Celestina, critical models the concept of essay is an application of Ren? Girard's specifically, or "triangular" desire and the model of violence and sacrifice. According to Girard, violence results from loss of difference, and sacrifice must take place to restore the lost order. In Rojas's the mediator of desire, de text, Celestina, This "mimetic" the existing structures of kinship and class. In their place, she sets up a new family order stroys difference by destroying in which she is the mother and the other characters are her children. Celestina's death at the hands of Sempronio and

P?rmeno which In closing,

is the first outbreak Girard's

leads to Calisto's

attempt to contain violence?and Execution?society's plotted vengeance, suicide is viewed as the sacrifice necessary to restore order. death, follow. Melibea's idea of "loss of difference" is applied to the historical context in which Rojas lived and wrote. of violence. accidental literature, Rojas (Fernando de), Celestina, Girard (Ren?), mimetic desire,

Key Words: fifteenth-century Spanish sacrifice triangular desire, violence,

is fundamental to the Celestina. In the prologue, Fernando de Rojas cites Hera clitus's proposition that the universe is essentially violent: "Todas las cosas ser cre?das amanera de contienda o batalla" (40).2 He next turns to Petrarch to prove his "Sin lid y ofensi?n ninguna cosa engendr? la natura, madre de todo" (40). Rojas believes point: that violence and conflict pervade all spheres of nature. The world of human enterprise is not ex empt; it too is a battleground where violence reigns: "... aun lamisma vida de los hombres, si bien Violence lomiramos, desde la primera edad hasta que blanquean las canas, es batalla" (43). The tragic story of Calisto andMelibea and the violent fates of those drawn into Celestina' sweb bear the prologue
out.

the goal of attaining a clearer understanding of how and why violence occurs in the Celestina, this essay reads Rojas's text using models developed by Ren? Girard. His theory that violence results from a loss of difference is the basis of one model, while his concept of "mimetic" or "triangular" desire, which can destroy differences between individuals, is the basis of another. With The link that this critic posits between mimetic desire, loss of difference and violence is found in the Celestina as well and is fundamental to what happens in this text. In Violence and the Sacred, Girard proposes an account of the outbreak of violence within societies. It is often said that violence occurs because of difference, and he quotes the following formulation from the anthropologist Victor Turner as an expression of this idea: "Structural differentiation, both vertical and horizontal, is the foundation of strife and factionalism" (cited in Violence 50). Girard's view is quite to the contrary; he believes that order depends upon difference. "It is not these distinctions," he argues, "but the loss of them that gives birth to fierce rivalries and sets members of the same family or social group at one another's throats" {Violence 49). He finds this view expressed in Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida. On Girard's reading, loss of difference, with its ensuing violence and chaos, is the subject of the famous "Degree in the third scene of Act I: Speech" delivered by Ulysses
degree is shaked, is the ladder to all high designs, The enterprise is sick. How could communities, in schools, commerce and brotherhoods from dividable in cities, shores, Sutherland, Madeline and Sacrifice in the Celestina" Hispania 86.2 (2003) 181-190 ... O when

Which

Degrees Peaceful

'Mimetic Desire,

Violence

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182

Hispania 86May 2003

The primogenity and due of birth, of age, crowns, sceptres, laurels, Prerogative But by degree stand in authentic place? Take And but degree away, hark what discord untune follows.... that string, (721, Act 1, Scene 3)

Difference, differences

or degree, "is the underlying principle of all order" {Violence 50) and when dissolve, "when degree is shaked," violence breaks out. Human beings are forced into confrontation with each other as each act of violence brings about another and another. perpetual Girard refers to this vicious circle of vengeance and reprisal as "reciprocal violence" {Violence 81). The only way itmay be halted and peace and order restored is through sacrifice. This means that responsibility for the troubles of society is pinned upon one individual?the sacrificial victim or scapegoat. The violence that themembers of society previously directed at each other is now by common consent deflected onto this chosen victim. It does not matter whether the victim is truly guilty or not; what is necessary is that the society believe the scapegoat to be guilty, that is, responsible
restored.

for the violence. Once

the victim

is sacrificed, harmony,

order, and difference

are

It is notable that, for Girard, the crisis brought about by loss of difference envelops all of society. In the Celestina, as in any literary work, there are a limited number of characters. Nonetheless, they make up what might, to paraphrase Alan Deyermond, be called "a society in to Deyermond, miniature." According
The of Fernando de Rojas'[s] novel is a city (recent research has settled the geographical made Two are aristocratic favor), a city in miniature, up of three households. and then there is a proletarian one dominated by a woman dominated by men (Calisto and Pleberio), to Celestina's and linked to Pleberio's Linked household is the little house occupied by Areusa, social world in Salamanca's garden. ("Female Societies" 6) controversy households (Celestina). is Melibea's

Melibea's final speech suggests that all of society, that is, the entire city, has indeed been affected crisis the by brought about by mimetic desire and loss of difference. A second concept which will be considered is that of "mimetic" or "triangular" desire. In Deceit, Desire, and theNovel, Girard distinguishes spontaneous desire from triangular desire. In spontaneous desire, a subject freely desires an object; no mediator is present. This type of desire can be represented by a simple straight line connecting subject and object. The other type of desire, triangular desire, is well-exemplified by Don Quixote.3 Don Quixote imitates Amadis of he (Don Quixote) does not choose the objects of his desire freely; rather Gaul. Accordingly, for them for him. The straight line connecting, Amadis?the model of chivalry?chooses the mediator of barber's basin is still but Don and the desire, is there, Amadis, Quixote example, also there,"above the line, radiating toward both the subject and the object" {Desire 2). Mimetic desire can and does lead to violence when it erases the distinctions between subject and mediator. When the subject becomes the double of the mediator and both desire the same object, violence may erupt. In his essay on A Midsummer Night's Dream, Girard reminds his readers of "the necessarily jealous and conflictual nature of mimetic convergence on a single object. If we keep borrowing each other's desires, ifwe allow our respective desires to agree on the same object, we, as individuals, are bound to disagree" ("Myth" 191-92). desire and loss of that follows shows how, in the Celestina, mimetic The discussion lead inexorably to violence. Although sacrifices follow, whether order is restored as a result remains open to question. The final section of this essay returns to the notion of loss of in difference and, with this idea in mind, briefly comments upon the historical circumstances which Fernando de Rojas lived and out of which the Celestina was born. difference Loss of Difference As the Celestina and Mimetic begins, Desire confusion of Melibea

the existing order is disturbed by Calisto's

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Violence declares

in the Celestina

183

to Sempronio, "Melibeo soy y aMelibea adoro y en with God. Calisto blasphemously a creo Melibea amo" Melibea y (50). Sempronio reproaches his master for this confusion, "Que sometes la dignidad del hombre a la imperfecci?n de laflaca mujer" (51). But Calisto again denies there is a distinction between the two: "?Mujer? ?Ohgrosero! ?Dios, dios! ... Por dios la creo, por dios la confieso y no creo que hay otro soberano en el cielo; aunque entre nosotros mora" (51).4 This erasure of difference, the equation of Melibea with God, may be observed throughout the work. At the end of the second act, for example, when speaking to P?rmeno, Calisto refers to Melibea as "mi se?ora y mi dios" (78). In the eleventh, he declares to Celestina and his servants, "Melibea es mi dios" (164). The prologue warns the reader against precisely this breakdown of order when it states that the tragicomedy was "compuesta en reprehensi?n de los locos enamo rados que, vencidos en su desordenado apetito, a sus amigas llaman y dicen ser su dios" (44). Once the distinction between Melibea and God is lost, others follow. There is a simultaneous breakdown of social rank and family relationships.5 In their place, a new structure of kinship, of Celestina, based on sameness rather than difference, is set in place through the machinations takes the the mediator of desire. As Girard's model would predict, reciprocal violence?which unleashed as a result of these dissolutions of form of murder, execution, and plotted revenge?is difference. In the end, only sacrifice, which occurs in the form of suicide, can restore the perturbed
order.

The simultaneous breakdown of class and family distinctions becomes evident in the first line of Act 2. "Hermanos m?os," Calisto says, addressing his servants Sempronio and P?rmeno, "cient monedas di a lamadre" (74). Calisto has abandoned his role as master to become brother and equal to his servants. The reference to Celestina as madre ,which will continue throughout the play, reflects the new structures of kinship she establishes.6 Calisto considers himself and his new brothers to be her children. Sempronio and Calisto enter into these new familial roles without protest. It is interesting to note that these two characters have freely chosen the women they desire. Calisto's vision of, and spontaneous desire for, Melibea open the work and set the plot inmotion. Sempronio's relation ship with Elicia is already established as the tragicomedia begins. It is,moreover, Sempronio who brings Celestina in, realizing that Calisto has need of her services as amediator of desire and that there is a profit to be made. As the plot unfolds, Celestina functions as a mediator in two ways. First, she is a mediator in the Girardian sense provoking or inducing desire in others. Simultan eously, she is the medium through which desires, whether spontaneous or mimetic, are satisfied. Her mediations, however, are deadly. They bring death to those who seek her out and to those who
are, in turn, sought out by her. In the end, those who survive her interventions into their lives must

live with unbearable sorrow. P?rmeno, who has known Celestina since he was a child and is wise to her ways, reacts negatively when she first appears with Sempronio at Calisto's door. Although P?rmeno recog nizes her immediately and warns his master against her, she does not realize who he is. Once P?rmeno has revealed himself to be the son of her dead friend and mentor Claudina, it takes some effort on Celestina's part to overcome his initial recalcitrance and make him one of her own. She eventually wins him over by means of a number of rhetorical ploys. She plays on her close friendship with his mother and her past relationship with him: "Hijo, bien sabes c?mo tumadre, que Dios haya, te me dio viviendo tu padre" (67). She also takes advantage of his pre-existing desire to become rich through honest means?"Riqueza deseo" (69)?and of his emerging voz te la tienes las barbas tener la punta Mal debes ronca, apuntan. sexuality?"Que sosegadilla de la barriga" (66). By the end of the first act, Celestina has managed to obliterate the difference between herself and Claudina and has become, as she says, "verdadera madre tuya" (68). She has also promised him material wealth as well as the love of Areusa. In other words, she has chosen for him the objects of desire. Although Celestina is the truemediator here, she presents Sempronio as themodel P?rmeno should emulate. She tells him how Sempronio enjoys the good life and the love of Elicia. He can have all of this as well. All he need do is take her advice and follow Sem pronio's example: "Y mucho te aprovechar?s siendo amigo de Sempronio.... ?Oh, si quisieses,

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184
sa's name

H?spanla 86May 2003

ama a Elicia, prima de Are?sa"
"?De Are?sa, hija de Eliso?

P?rmeno, qu? vida gozar?amos! Sempronio

is mentioned, P?rmeno is hooked:

(69-70). Once Are?

... Maravillosa cosa es"

(70). Celestina, realizing she has hit her target, responds, "[A]qu? est? quien te la dar?" (70). In addition to infecting him with desire, Celestina encourages P?rmeno not only to become friends with Sempronio and to become like him, but also to embrace him as a brother. InAct 7 she wishes aloud to P?rmeno, "?Oh cuan dichosa me hallar?a en que t? y Sempronio estuvi?sedes muy conformes, muy amigos, hermanos en todo ... !" (121). Not surprisingly, in the next act, the two men address each other as follows: "P?rmeno, hermano" (135), "Oh, Sempronio, amigo y m?s que hermano" (135). As the story progresses, Sempronio and P?rmeno become not only brothers but also virtual doubles of Calisto. Loss of difference even occurs at the linguistic level as the servants begin to with Are?sa, carries on in speak like their master. P?rmeno, for example, having spent the night sees Melibea: "?Oh placer singular! ?Oh the same enraptured manner Calisto does when he first m?s dichoso y singular alegr?a! ?Cu?l hombre es ni ha sido m?s bienaventurado que yo? ?Cu?l ... Oh alto Dios ?a qui?n contar?a yo este gozo? ?A qui?n dar? parte de mi gloria?" bienandante? (135). The last rhetorical question is particularly reminiscent of some of Calisto's exaggerated enters Melibea's garden and sets eyes upon proclamations. For example, in the first act, when he her, he asks, "?Qui?n vido en esta vida cuerpo glorificado de ning?n hombre, como agora el m?o? Por cierto los gloriosos santos, que se deleitan en la visi?n divina, no gozan m?s agora que yo en el acatamiento tuyo" (46) This loss of difference on the linguistic level works in the other direction as well. Theresa Anne Sears comments on this phenomenon: "As a logical result of the contamination of social classes, level of discourse becomes unstable as well" (101). She notes not only the way inwhich as we have seen, but also "courtly rhetoric migrates into themouths of Calisto's servants" (102), the inelegant and inappropriate ways inwhich Calisto and Pleberio speak: for example, Calisto's "Se?ora, el que quiere comer el ave, quita primero las plumas" (223) and Pleberio's "?Nuestro

gozo en el pozo!" (232). as Calisto and P?rmeno, Sempronio, Although he does not speak in the same exalted fashion who is initially so cynical about women, is also in love. He points to the resemblance between himself and Calisto inAct 9 when he refers toElicia as "quien me caus? alg?n tiempo andar hecho otro Calisto" (147). Interestingly, Sempronio appears to be aware of the disastrous implications of this doubling. He also realizes that, in the case of P?rmeno, doubling has occurred as a result of triangular desire. Sempronio knows that he and Calisto have served as mediators and that
P?rmeno has, to paraphrase Shakespeare's Hermia, "chosen love through another's eyes."7 All of

this knowledge
Are?sa, "Re?rme

comes out in the eighth act when

querr?a, sino que no puedo. ?Ya

Sempronio
amamos?

learns of P?rmeno's
El mundo

liaison with
Calisto

todos

se va a perder.

aMelibea, yo a Elicia, t? de envidia has buscado con quien perder ese poco de seso que tienes" sought to establish. (136). This is, of course, precisely the triangle of desire that Celestina Moreover, Sempronio's use of the expression "perder el seso" is sadly prophetic as both he and P?rmeno will end up with their heads smashed and broken open as they attempt to flee from the authorities after killing Celestina. Calisto, who has already lost his mind in love, suffers a similar fate when he falls from a ladder (see Gonz?lez Echevarr?a 17-19). to and thus is a double Although he is in love with Elicia, Sempronio is also attracted Melibea, notes the manner in which Sempronio speaks of of Calisto in this sense as well. Deyermond the jealous response this incites in (144)?and graciosa y gentil Melibea" Melibea?"aquella
Elicia?"Por gentil.... mi Por mi alma, vida, revesar que no quiero lo digo cuanto por tengo en el cuerpo, mas creo que de asco soy de o?rte tan hermosa llamar como a aqu?lla vuestra alabarme;

Melibea"

(145). Deyermond

comments

on this exchange

as follows:

de este di?logo son el contraste entre el desprecio que demuestra Sempronio para con Los rasgos m?s significativos cort?s de Melibea; su amo y su alabanza ret?ricamente y el empleo por Elicia de las palabras "vuestra Melibea." ... is fascinated by dice acertadamente El primer rasgo indica no s?lo que?como Stephen Gilman?"Sempronio se trata las de enf?ticas palabras recu?rdese El como ve a rival. Calisto que segundo?y Melibea," [61] sino que

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Violence
finales del discurso 6) de Elicia?revela que Elicia ha comprendido muy ("Divisiones"

in the Celestina
bien las palabras de

185
su amante.

Deyermond goes on to speak of "la creciente obsesi?n sexual de Sempronio para con Melibea" ("Divisiones" 7). The female characters are also drawn into Celestina's new family, becoming Celestina's daughters just as Sempronio, P?rmeno and Calisto have become her sons. Some of the women truly are related to one another. Elicia and Are?sa are cousins, and Elicia is also a cousin toLucre cia, who is a servant in Pleberio's house.8 While Elicia may be seen as Celestina's "daughter" from the outset?she lives in the same house and knows many of Celestina's "arts" already?Are ?sa is recruited by Celestina inAct 7 in order to fulfill the promise she made to P?rmeno. When Celestina appears at her house, Are?sa objects to being pressed into service and states that she wishes to remain loyal to her recently-departed lover: "Sabes que se parti? ayer aquel mi amigo con su capit?n a la guerra. ?Hab?a de hacerle ruindad?" (128). One of the strategies Celestina em ploys to enlist Are?sa a model for P?rmeno. is to hold Elicia up as amodel inmuch the same way she made Sempronio

i ay, hija, si vieses el saber de tu prima y qu? tanto le ha aprovechado mi crianza y consejos y qu? gran maestra Ay, est?! Y aun no se halla ella mal con mis castigos. Que uno en la cama y otro en la puerta y otro, que sospira por ella en su casa, se precia de tener. Y con todos cumple y a todos muestra buena cara y todos piensan que son muy queridos y cada uno piensa que no hay otro.... ?De una sola gotera temantienes? ?No te sobrar?n muchos manjares!

(129) In addition to providing a "praise of multiples" (Gonz?lez Echevarr?a 21), in this speech Celestina shows the advantages to be gained by bringing about loss of difference. Elicia is able tomaintain and profit from the same relationship with a number of men. Each lover thinks he is the only one, but in reality he is no different from the others. As the scene ends, Celestina, once again victorious, leaves her two "children" to spend the night together. In Act 9, most of Celestina's new family is assembled around her dinner table. Calisto and are absent but are the topic of much of the discussion. The new Melibea family structure is revealed by the kinship terms the characters use to address one another (emphasis added):
to Sempronio: Bien ves, hermano, estos halagos fingidos. (143) to Celestina: Asi?ntate, madre Celestina, t? primero. (143) Sempronio .... (143) to Sempronio Celestina and P?rmeno: Asentaos vosotros, mis hijos to Elicia: Pues no la has t? visto como yo, hermana m?a. (145) Are?sa to Are?sa: Hermana, Sempronio par?ceme aqu? que .... (145) to all: Hijos, por mi vida, que cesen esas razones Celestina Elicia to Celestina: Madre, a la puerta llaman. (148) to Elicia: Mira, hija, quien es; ... (148) Celestina de enojo. (146) P?rmeno

At the end of Act 9, Lucrecia enters and summons Celestina to Pleberio's house. The kinship terms the characters use with one another as they make their way from one house to the other are also notable (emphasis added): Celestina to Lucrecia: "?Que dices, hijaV (153); Lucrecia to
Celestina: "Madre, que vamos presto ..." (153).

Melibea is also brought into Celestina's family, although physically she remains separate from most of the other characters for she never leaves the confines of her father's property. Meli bea and Celestina first speak inAct 4. Celestina has come to the house under the pretext of selling thread, and Alisa, who knows full well who Celestina is, makes the fatal mistake of leaving Melibea alone with her.9 Celestina immediately begins her campaign to add yet another member to her family and thus win Melibea over for Calisto. Celestina starts by talking about youth and old age, reminding Melibea that old age is a problem for the wealthy just as it is for the poor. She is employing mimetic desire in reverse in this speech, as she is what Melibea would never wish to be. She is, however, what Melibea will inevitably become?old, wrinkled, grey, unattractive and sickly. Once she has planted this idea and remarked upon the necessity of having aman in the house, Celestina discusses healing the sick. This, she says, is themission that has brought her to

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186

H?spanla 86 May 2003

Melibea: "Yo dejo un enfermo a lamuerte, que con sola una palabra de tu noble boca salida, que [le] lleve metida en mi seno, tiene por fe que sanar?, seg?n lamucha devoci?n tiene en tu genti leza" (94). Melibea is taken in by this appeal: "Que yo soy dichosa, si de mi palabra hay necesidad para salud de alg?n cristiano. Porque hacer beneficio es semejar a Dios ..." (94). Her comment about being like God ("semejar aDios") shows thatMelibea willingly embraces the confusion be tween herself and God that Calisto establishes at the outset, a confusion of which Celestina is, of
course, aware.

Celestina must now name the object she will have Melibea desire: "un caballero mancebo, gentilhombre de clara sangre, que llaman Calisto" (95). When Calisto's name is mentioned, Melibea reacts in an extremely negative fashion and in her tirade prophetically asks Celestina, "?Querr?as condenar mi honestidad por dar vida a un loco? ?Dejar a m? triste por alegrar a ?l y llevar t? el provecho de mi perdici?n, el galard?n de mi yerro? ?Perder y destruir la casa y honra de mi padre ... ?" (96). Celestina continues to insist upon her innocence and asks Melibea to give her two items: "Una oraci?n, se?ora, tu cord?n, que lasmuelas. Asimismo y Jerusal?n" (97). Having been given ismollified. "Que en alguna manera
es obra p?a y santa sanar a los

que le dijeron que sab?as de Santa Apolonia para el dolor de es fama que ha tocado [todas] las reliquias que hay en Roma the opportunity once again to liken herself toGod, Melibea es aliviado mi coraz?n," she says to Celestina, "viendo que
y enfermos" (99).10

apasionados

as mediator When Melibea appears again inAct 10, it is clear that Celestina's machinations of desire have been successful. Tormented by the pain and suffering of desire Celestina has
planted and made to grow stronger, Melibea declares, "Madre m?a, que comen este coraz?n ser

pientes dentro de mi cuerpo" (154). Upon hearing this, Celestina says to herself, "Bien est?. As? lo quer?a yo" (154). With Melibea, then, Celestina has employed the strategy that she used to recruit P?rmeno; she has successfully determined the object of desire. Melibea's anguished declaration suggests a further similarity with P?rmeno; Celestina has effectively destroyed the familial structure thatwas in place and has replaced Melibea's mother Alisa just as she did Clau dina. Melibea realizes the fatal consequences of allowing Celestina to occupy the place rightfully held by Alisa in her final speech when she says to Pleberio, "Descubr? a ella lo que ami querida madre encubr?a" (230). Violence and Sacrifice

Violence first erupts inAct 12. Sempronio and P?rmeno go to Celestina's house late at night to claim their share of the gold chain Calisto gave Celestina inAct 11. When Celestina asks who is knocking at her door, Sempronio identifies the two of them by saying, "Abre que son tus hijos" (179). Celestina replies, "No tengo yo hijos que anden a tal hora" (179). Is this response an at tempt on Celestina's part to restore the lost differences, to put back in place the original structures of kinship and thus to avoid violence? If so, it is too late. By inducing and playing upon the desire for riches in Sempronio and P?rmeno, she has made the two men into doubles of herself. Their desire now rests on the same object, the gold chain, and conflict is inevitable. When Celestina refuses to share the chain with them, Sempronio draws his sword and, with P?rmeno's encourage cries, rushes in and seeing what has ment, kills her. The horrified Elicia, hearing Celestina's es mi bien todo!" mi madre (184). y transpired exclaims, "?Muerta The vicious cycle of reciprocal violence is now set inmotion. The next victims will be Sem pronio and P?rmeno. In Act 13 Sosia tells Calisto and Tristan that, after killing Celestina, Sempronio and P?rmeno sought to escape by jumping through the window. They were appre hended and then, barely alive, summarily executed as "p?blicos malhechores" (186). Sempronio and P?rmeno have been made the scapegoats. Pinning the blame on them and executing them is society's effort to contain violence and to ensure it does not break out again. The words of the testify to this: "Mande la justicia que mueran los violentos matadores" (187). Justice is, of course, the agent of society. It is notable that at this point in the work a somewhat expanded view of society is presented, and the reader sees more than the "ciudad en miniatura" evident executioner

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Violence in the Celestina

earlier.

187

But assigning the blame to Sempronio and P?rmeno does not work. If reciprocal violence is to be extinguished, guilt must be assigned and all members of society must believe that the ' accused is indeed guilty. Elicia and Are?sa refuse to accept society s view of events, a view which places the blame on their now dead lovers. The cycle of violence continues as they plot revenge on the two people they consider to be the true culprits: Calisto andMelibea. Elicia curses them as the ones who caused the deaths of Celestina, Sempronio and P?rmeno: "?Oh Calisto y Melibea, causadores de tantas muertes! ?Mal fin hayan vuestros amores, en mal sabor se conviertan vuestros dulces placeres!" (201). Are?sa declares, "Muchas cosas se pueden vengar que es imposible remediar y ?sta tiene el remedio dudoso y la venganza en lamano" (201). They enlist the ruffian Centurio as the instrument of their revenge. Although Centurio promises to avenge the deaths of Sempronio and P?rmeno by taking violent action against Calisto and Melibea, he quickly finds a way to excuse himself from the obligation. That night he sends the lame Traso and two companions to frighten Calisto and his servants. A ruckus ensues, and Calisto, behaving in an uncharacteristically unselfish manner, leaves Melibea and rushes to the aid of Sosia and Tristan. As he hastily climbs over the garden wall, Calisto misses the ladder and falls to his death. How should this completely accidental death be interpreted? Seen from the perspective of Girard's model, Calisto's death is not a direct result of the vindictive desires of Elicia and Are?sa. Yet, had they not sought revenge, Calisto would never have attempted to climb down the ladder so quickly. Violence is plotted but is not carried out. Nonetheless, the result is the same: Calisto lies dead and Are?sa's promise to Elicia is fulfilled, "A los vivos me deja a cargo, que yo te les dar? tan amargo jarope a beber, cual ellos a ti han dado" (203). Almost immediately upon hearing of Calisto's death, Melibea decides to take her own life. "?No es tiempo de yo vivir!" (225) she exclaims to Lucrecia. In her final speech, Melibea trans forms herself into the sacrificial victim, placing the blame for the reciprocal violence squarely upon herself. She addresses her father, Pleberio, as follows: "Bien ves y oyes este triste y doloroso sentimiento que toda la ciudad hace. Bien oyes este clamor de campanas, este alarido de gentes, este aullido de canes, este [grande] estr?pito de armas. De todo esto fui yo [la] causa" (229).n Melibea's words also suggest that the entire city has been affected by the crisis brought on by mimetic desire and loss of difference. Thus, at the end of the Celestina a larger society emerges once again, not the city inminiature that is the primary focus of the work. Once she has given her account of the events, Melibea plunges from the tower to her death. In choosing how her life will end, she consciously imitates Calisto. Just as he fell, somust she. "Su
muerte convida a la m?a," she says to Pleberio, "... mu?strame que ha de ser despe?ada por

seguille en todo" (230). As Pleberio helplessly watches, the sacrifice ismade. The vicious cycle of reciprocal violence is ended. the Girardian model predicts the restoration of order following While sacrifice, is the restoration of order possible in the case of the society portrayed in Celestina? Is it even con ceivable? Certainly, the prologue demonstrates that violence and disorder are the natural state of theworld. Now, as thework draws to a close, themain characters?Calisto, Melibea, Sempronio, P?rmeno and Celestina?are all dead. It is difficult to imagine that a social order can be reinstated a society has been almost entirely destroyed. In fact, Pleberio's final lament, wrenching which portrays humankind alone and abandoned in a world that is fundamentally disordered, would seem to tell us that no restoration of a past order is possible. The survivors are left alone in the vale of tears that is human existence: Elicia has lost Sempronio and, perhaps more when importantly, Celestina; Are?sa has lost P?rmeno; Sosia and Tristan Pleberio has lost his daughter and possibly his wife as well.12 Conclusion: Loss of Difference and the Spain of Fernando de Rojas theories of mimetic desire and have lost their master;

The idea of loss of difference

is one of the linchpins of Girard's

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violence: mimetic desire destroys difference between individuals and when differences dissolve, conflict is inevitable. While loss of difference takes place on the literary level inRojas's text, what might this concept mean in the historical context inwhich he lived and wrote? Roughly the first half of Rojas's life probably coincided with the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella.13While there can be no doubt that this was one of the most decisive periods in Spanish history, the Catholic Monarchs' desire that their country be, in Ferdinand's words, "constituted to the service of God" (cited in Fern?ndez-Armesto 183, see also Kagan 58) led to a complete and of the past, the tradition of religious tolerance and coexistence that had characterized Christian and Islamic Spain for centuries. For large portions of Spanish society, and particularly for aman like Fernando de Rojas who came from a converso family, the end of the fifteenth century was a difficult, sad, and often terrifying period as loss of difference, or, perhaps we should more accurately say the willful and often violent destruction of religious difference, became official policy. The conquest of Granada, the establishment of the Inquisition and the expulsion of the Jews all testify to the complete breakdown o? convivencia which resulted from the religious fervor of the Catholic Monarchs. This loss of difference was something Rojas sensed acutely and tried to register in his text. Girard's model does not map onto late fifteenth-century Spain perfectly. Ferdinand and Isabella succeeded in the spiritual unification of their kingdom. Difference was successfully oblit erated without the cycle of violence and vengeance Girard's model predicts. (However, violence did break out in response to attempts to destroy difference, witness the Moorish rebellions in response to forced conversions inGranada, and violence was certainly employed as an instrument to eradicate difference?inquisitorial torture and autos de fe are two of the most well-known Girard's concept of loss of difference provides us with a key to reading examples.) Nonetheless, the Celestina and with a metaphor for understanding the despair of Fernando de Rojas and his
contemporaries.

radical break with the convivencia

NOTES
*I am very grateful to Michael and the anonymous reviewers whose careful readings and insightful Harney have greatly enriched this paper. Any errors or shortcomings are, of course, my own. are taken from Severin's edition. Although it is not the most recent one, this 2All quotations from Celestina excellent edition has gone through numerous reprintings and has become a standard text often used inmedieval Spanish

comments

wish

literature courses. Thus readers who wish to locate a particular quotation should be able to do so easily. Readers may also to consult more recent editions, such as those by Lacarra, Marciales, and Lobera et al, included in Cantalapiedra, the Works Cited. desire inDon Quijote and another Golden Age work, Calderon's La vida es sue?o, see 3For a study of mimetic Bandera. of Calisto's 4Theresa Anne Sears suggests an alternate and intriguing meaning statement, "Melibeo soy." She believes 'Melibeo seems it marks soy' the collapse ['I am Melibeo'] to Sempronio "Calisto declares gender. She writes, important difference, his declaration answers a question about his religion, his reply {Celestina 50). Although as the exact equivalent to 'Cristo-cristiano' would surely be 'Melibea-me/t?e?wo'" ambiguous, of another

etymologically

(100).
that of class" (100). "the crumbling of another key distinction: 5Sears also discusses Echevarr?a notes, Celestina has no 6Although she is often called madre by the other characters, as Gonz?lez to promote she brews are designed all of her activities, as well as the potions, drugs and makeup children. Moreover, role is maieutic, rather than maternal, but what she helps bring "Celestina's passion and pleasure, not reproduction. about is only pleasure or pain or both and ultimately death, never life" (9-10). 7Girard refers to the duet between article on A Midsummer Night's Dream Hermia ("Myth" and Lysander, 192-93): which ends with a reference to mediated desire, in his

LYSANDER
The course But either itwas of true love never did run smooth, different in blood? to be enthralled to low.

HERMIA
O cross!?too high

LYSANDER
Or else misgrafted in respect of years?

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Violence HERMIA
O spite!?too old to be engaged the choice to young. of friends? (314; Act 1, Scene

in the Celestina

189

LYSANDER
Or merit stood upon choose

HERMIA
O hell!?to love by another's eyes. 1) 8 notes that Elicia's reference to "mi prima Lucrecia" (148) may Deyermond, referring to research by IanMichael, not be true literally as "in the laterMiddle Ages prostitutes often referred to each other as 'cousin'" ("Female Societies" 13). Maria Eugenia Lacarra, however, believes they are related. She writes, "... Rojas elabora toda una red de relaciones todas primas, con los criados" {C?mo leer er?ticas y de parentesco que une a las muchachas, Elicia, Are?sa y Lucrecia, 82). "Y t?, madre, perd?name, Celestina, 10The skein of thread, which she says to addresses her as vecina. As Alisa leaves the room, however, que otro d?a se vern? en que m?s nos veamos" (90, emphasis added). is Celestina's house, Melibea's cord?n, which pretext for entering Melibea's in payment for her services, are all important Celestina takes to Calisto, and the gold chain, which Calisto gives Celestina of the roles they play, objects in the text. Symbolically they all tie or bind the characters to Celestina. For a discussion see Deyermond, "Hilado." Gonz?lez Echevarr?a also discusses how these objects function (12-15). 11 assertion that she is to blame for the death and destruction that have taken Deyermond responds to Melibea's attributes to herself should, as readers already know, more accurately be attributed to place as follows: "What Melibea 9When Celestina first enters, Alisa the vengeance ("Female Societies" planned by Elicia and Are?sa for the murder of Celestina" 10). 12It is not entirely clear whether Alisa is alive at the end of the work or not. She has certainly fainted and perhaps died of grief following Melibea's suicide. The final words she speaks are, "... si ella [Melibea] pena, no quiero yo vivir" (232). Pleberio later addresses her as follows, "?Oh mujer m?a! Lev?ntate de sobre ella, y si alguna vida te queda, g?stala y sospirar. Y si por acaso tu esp?ritu reposa con el suyo, si ya has dejado conmigo en tristes gemidos, en quebrantamiento esta vida de dolor, ?por qu? quisiste que lo pase yo todo?" (232). 13The exact year of Rojas's birth remains a mystery. Gilman has suggested he was born in 1476 {Spain 210). He died on April 3, 1541.

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