In the opening scene when Calisto comes across Melibea, he finds her in her garden. Well to connect her with the garden, a garden is a place of beauty with all the flowers and plants growing there. Women are associated with beauty, beauty is a feminine description of something, one doesn't say, "oh my this is a handsome garden!" I mean they can but it's not something commonly said. Women have been compared man a time to a flower which is found in a garden as women are as beautiful and delicate as a flower. Some flowers have thorns to protect themselves as we see with Melibea who is not won over by Calisto's words or lust. The connection to the garden can also be in seen in a biblical way and there is mention, in several parts of the texts to the bible and many know the story of Adam and Eve and how they got kicked out of the garden. Though it can be said that Calisto thinks of Melibea as Paradise, Eden in a a sense so it's not a bad thing when in reference to the bible. But the garden can be a symbol of women and how they are seen not only as things of beauty but later can bring trouble in the case of what happened to Adam and Eve with the serpent in the garden.
When Calisto begins to talk to Melibea, it sounds like he is complimenting her greatly, that God has favored him with such a sight that he is unworthy of. He confesses to her that he has great affection for her and that he wants her. She though won't have him, sees that he only wants her for her body. She really shuts him down and tells him to leave, she doesn't have patience for him and his wit that has gotten him no where. I don't think she took to kindly to him trespassing and trying to just get with her to sleep with her as she took it.
When he goes home and takes to Sempronio, he pours his heart out and acts like a love sick puppy and acts as if it is the end of the world that Melibea does not want him. Sempronio thinks that he is going mad and he does sound mad and a bit idiotic as he is going a bit far with his love for this women he only just met. He denys being a Chrisitian and says that he is a Melibean and he worships her, that Melibea is God. Sempronio takes advantage of this, finding this as an opportunity to get what ever he wants from his master who will do anything to get Melibea.
I found it interesting what Semperino said about women, I kind of agreed with the things that he said. He seemed to try and appease Calisto and say that any man could get any woman he wanted, that woman of higher rank were not out of reach as even they have slept with lowlier men and even animals and he made a reference to Pasiphae and the bull which was a myth where Posideon as a way of revenge on Minos made his wife Pasipae fall in love with a bull. Semprino has a lot to say about women and says that many a philosopher and clergy warn men against women, they are all of the same opinion when it comes to female. It is said that 'wine and women male men lose their religion", and so they though it is not about all women, those who are "holy and noble women whose resplendent virtues mitigate the general vituperation that otherwise would fall upon their sex." He describes at length about women after that and says to Calisto to "Consider how few are the brains that lie beneath those great and delicate veils!" He means by that there are very few females that actually are intelligent and "how few the thoughts that lie beneath those gorgets" (gorgets are a nun's headdress) He refers back to Eden to saying that a woman is the "Weapon of the devil, origin of sin,and the destruction of Paradise" (refer back to having met Melibea in the garden) and he goes on to quote Saint John who said "This is woman, the ancient malice who cast Father Adam from the delights of Paradise. She it was who sent humanity to hell." After Calisto's retort, who said that even those great men fell to women, Sempromio goes on to talk about how women act and i agree with some of what he says. He tells him to flee women who are decietful creatures and are hard to figure out. He says "it is no easy job to figure them out. They have no method, no order, no plan." Which is true as women are not strategists like men who like to have a plan and are practical, logical creatures. Then he goes on to say "They begin by pretending to be aloof when they really mean to offer themselves" which is true which would mean that women tend to put up a front to hide their true feelings for a man. They play that game though to entice men as they are viewed to be desperate and easy were they to be compliant and make themselves easy targets for men who only want to use them. He goes on to say that "they invite and send away, they beckon, they reject" and says that "they are prone to sudden wrath, and then they quite as unexpectedly calm down" which is all very true for the women in the story as well as in the present. And Calisto is curious as to how he knows all this and how it applies to him. Sempromio says that women taught him this and he tell him because he believe him to be a good man and he should not be falling victim to the whims of a woman. Calisto is not swayed, he continues to worship and adore Melibea and thinks that she is above all, she is special, an exception. Sempromio plays with this and just gives Calisto hope as he tells him that she is acting this way because she is hiding her flaws and her hate is actually love for Calisto. This just shows how much of a sucker Calisto is and Sempromio is going to play this to his advantage. It just looks like he played reverse psychology on Calisto, so instead of turning him off of women, he just fuels Calisto's desire.
Celestina is quite a character. She is a women who is witty and knows what she is and what she wants and how to get it. She is not ashamed of what she is as Parmeno pointed out in his little speech about her. She is not cross about being called a whore, she though she takes up the identity of a seamstress, to those who know her is open about what she does. First impression is that she will be an interesting character and she is witty and will probably be the one winning in the end. She is a matchmaker of sorts, helping those get what they want when is comes to love or men trying to get women that they want. She takes girls in and helps them out. Celestina is no fool either, she is on step ahead of every one when she first makes the plan to pretend as if they didn't know Calisto and Parmeno were coming down the stairs and then heard Parmeno's warning to Calisto and knew that Parmeno knew what she was trying to do. The talk between Parmeno and Celestina looked as if Parmeno was going to see right through her and would not fall for her plans, making it look as if Celestina had underestimated him but later we see that Celestina had the right idea after all as Parmeno does exactly what she wants. When she figures out who Parmeno is and who his mother was she uses that information to her advantage of him. She sees it as a leverage to appeal to his greedy nature, she knows him better than he knows himself.
Going to Parmeno's speech, Celestina was described as having "six trades: seamstress, perfumer, cosmetic maker, repairer of maidenheads, go-betweener, and a bit of a witch." She is a jack of all trades and she besides being a whore she took in girls and helped them out, made them over as if a make up artist. She trades her skills for anything of value. Parmeno says that she is not offended by being called an old whore. He says "She is as overjoyed to hear herself so called as you are when people call you a perfect gentleman." So she views it as a compliment and is not taken offense to it. He goes on to say "She holds the classification I have given her to be her name and title." In her community she is viewed as the old whore and he gets descriptive as in where ever she goes people, animals, objects, the air even says 'old whore", as if it is her chant, her call whenever any one need her. Parmeno even says that "if she is with a hundred women and someone says "old whore", she turns her head without hesitation and answers with a joyful countenance." so like batman has his own signal to call on him, so does she. He goes on to say that though she takes in girls she gives them away as well. She gave innocent girls away in reparation for something else of value. She was a business woman through and through. The interesting part and I don't know how she can do that, is she repairs maidenheads and she made a girl a virgin three times over. I don't know how she did that. She also made perfume and make up which she sold. A very resourceful women to know how to do many things and make a profit from it.
