Article Title：Mimetic desire, violence and sacrifice in the 'Celestina'
Abstract：
This essay is an application of Rene Girard's critical models to the Celestina, specifically, the concept of mimetic 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 text, Celestina, the mediator of desire, destroys difference by destroying the existing structures of kinship and class. In their place, she sets up a new family order in which she is the mother and the other characters are her children. Celestina's death at the hands of Sempronio and Parmeno is the first outbreak of violence. Execution-society's attempt to contain violence-and plotted vengeance, which leads to Calisto's accidental death, follow. Melibea's suicide is viewed as the sacrifice necessary to restore order. In closing, Girard's idea of loss of difference is applied to the historical context in which Rojas lived and wrote.
Keywords: fifteenth-century Spanish literature; Rojas (Fernando de); Celestina; Girard (Rene); mimetic desire; triangular desire; violence; sacrifice
DOI: 10.2307/20062828
Source：HISPANIA-A JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE TEACHING OF SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE
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