Keeping to the script but observing decorum: knife slashes and liveries in Tercera Celestina

Abstract

The Tercera parte de la tragicomedia de Celestina is presented as a continuation of Feliciano de Silva’s Segunda comedia de Celestina, therefore Gaspar Gómez has limited creative freedom as he accepted the script of the play which he is going to finish. Nevertheless, he finds a different path for the story by giving decorum back to the characters. The author does it in this manner: the ruffians hit and slash Celestina and she is punished as a bawd in public, but she will die on her own. Furthermore, Gaspar Gómez gives splendour, courtesy and great generosity to the rich and noble gentleman Felides, who will marry her beloved Polandria, a lady of equal social standing, in a religious ceremony. The author’s aim is to restore the social order which his predecessor disrupted. In Tercera Celestina, the world of ruffians, prostitutes and the bawd is absolutely separated from that of the gentlemen and ladies, with their public exhibition of honour, wealth and power.