Celestina Chapters 7-11

Chapter 8

On page 98, Sempronio says: “not everything is white that isn’t black and not everything yellow and shiny is gold.” What do you think this means?

One of the biggest themes in this novel is trickery.  Calisto hires Celstina to in a way trick Melibea into reciprocating his love for her.  Sempronio and Parmeno are tricking Calisto into believing that they are helping him on his quest for love.  Then, ultimately, Celstina is fooling everyone in the story.  Another prevalent theme is morality.  This novel plays devil's advocate; it never specifically concludes that one action is bad or another is good.  Therefore, saying 'not everything is white that isn't black' implies that morality is a very grey area.  There is not any character in the novel that is necessary good or bad.  The boundaries of morality are not as strict.  Each character plays both sides.  On the other hand, 'not everything yellow and shiny is gold' alludes to how the trickery in the novel.  Even though Celestina's words appear to be honest, that is not necessarily the truth.  Also, Calisto firmly believes that Malibea is the most beautiful girl in the world, but just because he believes it to be so does not actually mean that she is.  In fact, Celstina and Melibea herself agree that she is not beautiful.   

   

Chapter 9

The issue of trust comes up many times in Celestina. In Chapter 9, on page 102, Sempronio says “out of goodwill or under pressure from us, Clestina will at least give us a piece of whatever she gets.” How is trust related to trickery here? Why do you think Sempronio and Pármeno are so trusting of Celestina, even though she’s tricking Calisto?

As it has been stated before, trickery is the sustenance that moves the novel along.  Each character tricks another character at some point in his or her own way.  I think that Sempronio ad Parmeno are so trusting of Celestina because they themselves are being fooled by her, as well.  Celestina puts on this facade of being almost like a mother figure to these two men especially Parmeno because she was friends with his mother.  She acts nice, genuine, and trustworthy.  In reality, she is the most intellectual keen on how to manipulate others.  I think Parmeno and Sempronio trust Celsetina out of denial.  Since she is tricking Calisto, they might assume that she is too busy to trick them.  Also, they are helping her, so they think that they have developed a friendship with her, therefore, they think she will not betray that trust.  Personally, I think that Celestina will trick Sempronio and not give him his share of the money, but I do not think that she will do this to Parmeno.  Celestina has a history with Parmeno, and she really loved his mother, yet it appears that Parmeno and Celesltina have a connection, too.  Either from a motherly or lover respect, I think that Parmeno will be the only one that Celestina will not take advantage of.