Rompiendo las cadenas: el libre albedrío en los personajes de La Celestina

Abstract

Traditionally, we have come following Peter Russell's ideas in relation to the ac-tive role of magic in La Celestina. According to the critic, among others, the spell prepared by Celestina has much to do with Melibea’s falling in love, the behavior of Alisa and the tragic conclusion of the work. In the same line, Alan Deyermond added that the force of the spell also gets Calisto's inconceivable behavior. The current study takes a different direction, since it is argued that the characters of Fernando de Rojas are not moved by deterministic forces capable of changing or annulling their free will. On the contrary, each of them has will of decision what allows them to create their own future. The best example is Melibea, who shows to be in control of her life before and after Celestina arrives with the spell. The fact that Rojas includes the magic, it is not an indicator that he believed in it, but a form of giving verisimilitude to the text and pleasure to the reader for being a topic of interest in that moment.