Speaking of Celestina : Soliloquy and Monologue in the Tragicomedia de Calisto y Melibea

Abstract

Soliloquies and monologues are frequent in the Tragicomedia and have several important functions. They give the reader valuable insights into the motivations and emotional state of a character at key points in the narrative, especially when a  soliloquy opens an auto. Without recourse to a third-person omniscient narrator, the soliloquy provides Rojas with a vehicle perfectly designed to convey levels of introspection and internal debate for his characters. Monologues are also the repository for memories and give form to the history of the characters before the time frame of the events of the Tragicomedia, especially in the cases of Celestina and Pármeno. Both soliloquies and monologues are characterized by emotional outbursts, rhetorical questions, comparisons and contrasts with the plights of historical and mythological characters, popular refrains, and philosophical pronouncements. Rather than adding directly to plot development, they punctuate the plot as characters step up to take center stage and give voice to their opinions, reactions, and states of mind.