From Judas' suicide to Pármeno's jump: avarice, betrayal and mortal falls
The article aims to study the influence of Judas Iscariot’s motifs of betrayal and suicide on the mortal falls of four main characters in La Celestina. Judas embodies, better than any other biblical character, the sinner’s progress from loyalty and be-trayal to despair and suicidal death. The litera...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Universidad de Valencia
2021-01-01
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| Series: | Celestinesca |
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| Online Access: | https://ojs.uv.es/index.php/celestinesca/article/view/19428 |
| Summary: | The article aims to study the influence of Judas Iscariot’s motifs of betrayal and suicide on the mortal falls of four main characters in La Celestina. Judas embodies, better than any other biblical character, the sinner’s progress from loyalty and be-trayal to despair and suicidal death. The literary and iconographic figures of the greed, the betrayal and the suicide of Judas in the Middle Ages are examined, fo-cusing on the two types of suicide reflected in the Bible. Accidental falls (Calisto), fatal leaps (Sempronio and Pármeno) and suicide (Melibea) are analysed, together with the images representing the betrayal (the bag of coins). Finally, Pármeno’s life, similarly to that of Judas, is studied since it goes from the fidelity of the good servant, through greed and betrayal, to a mortal jump into the void. |
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| ISSN: | 0147-3085 2695-7183 |