Scandal: 15th Century Spanish Style

So, in my Spanish literature class we're reading this play called La Celestina, which is basically the Canterbury Tales meets Romeo and Juliet. I'm going to assume that you know the plot of Romeo and Juliet by now. However, in case you didn't read the Canterbury Tales in high school, it's a collection of stories from the 14th century infamous for its bawdiness.

La Celestina is about two youngsters, Calisto and Melibea, who fall in love, but don't really know what to do about it. Calisto, the guy, gets advice from his servant who tells him to seek out the help of this matchmaker lady named Celestina who sets them up. 

First off, whenever I heard/read the name Celestina, I thought of:

Source: http://wiki.unknowableroom.org/Character:Celestina_Warbeck

And her cauldron full of hot, strong love (obscure Harry Potter reference).

Anyway, overall, it's a very scandalous play. There's so much drama in it that it's like a TV show. If Scandal decided to have a 15th century spin off, this is what the poster would look like:

Okay, okay, probably not, but I got a kick out of the idea.

Ignoring my digressions, Celestina is actually a really greedy woman who operates a sketchy brothel. She specializes in selling out women and then remaking them into virgins by using some dodgy herbs.

Why on Earth would a servant tell his master to ask her for help? Well, Calisto's servant, Sempronio, is sleeping with one of the serving wenches who lives in Celestina's house, named Elicia, so naturally he wants an excuse to go there. You find out that Elicia has another lover, but is hiding that from Sempronio. Think that's dramatic? We haven't even started yet.

Sempronio strikes a deal with Celestina that he'll get a cut of her payments from Calisto. Then another servant of Calisto's named Parmeno tries to make him see sense, but Celestina offers Parmeno one of her servants that Parmeno finds attractive and he joins forces with them.

Meanwhile, why on Earth would Calisto need to have a matchmaker set him up? Calisto is obviously rich so he could have courted her the normal way. Well, because he's 15 and stupid.

Eventually, Celestina manages to arrange a way for Calisto to sneak into Melibea's room and they hook up. As Calisto is leaving, he climbing down the a ladder from her bedroom and dies. Melibea commits suicide.

Moreover, Parmeno and Sempronio kill Celestina because she doesn't share the money with them. As they're escaping, they're caught be the police and executed.

So much drama!

Why did I write a post about this? Because I was shocked to read such a scandalous play from 1400's Spain. Remember what happened? The Spanish Inquisition (which no one expects!). Obviously, this time period is very strictly Catholic. The author, Fernando de Rojas, had a lot of gut though he published it anonymously.

All in all, the characters in this play are not likeable at all and I have zero respect for any of them. However, I truly appreciate the it as a literary work because of its rich imagery and symbolism.

Introduction

Hello!

So I've been putting off writing this blog for about two months because I haven't been able to think of a witty title. Well, I decided this morning that a lack of a title shouldn't hold me back. After all, I can always change it.

The working title I stole off of a song from Hairspray called "Run and Tell That" (I'm citing my source so it's not stealing!). If you'd like to listen, and you totally should because it's super catchy, here's the video.

The content of the song does not necessarily fit in with the blog's theme, but I think the title works because this blog will be about the different mediums of storytelling and narrative. I've always loved books, movies, TV shows, and video games because they transport you to new worlds.

Thus, this blog will be about the forms in which stories take place.