Author: Karla De La Cruz

Representation of Women in the Decameron (their roles in the stories)

Giovanni Boccaccio created The Decameron in a time period back when women were seen as inferior to men, and quite frankly anyone else in society. They were seen as individuals holding lower social positions than men. In The Decameron, women are mostly always shown as severely restricted, and unable to do or act in ways that they wish they could. They were depicted in a way where they were not allowed to hold power or have a significant position in society, and that is exactly the way they lived their lives in the 14th-century. Instead, they were made to maintain their positions of stay-at-home wives and mothers, whose primary focus was to solely care for their families. However, In The Decameron, Boccaccio showcased women as being a lot more independent and more powerful for the most part (not all female characters showed this.) He surpasses the roles and expectations of women from that time period, by illustrating women as more intelligent, more patient, and way more lustful than they normally would be. He even shows women as being a lot more capable than men to endure a lot of hardships, heartache, and pain that others have put them through. All things considered, Boccaccio seemed to have been feminist, as seen by a lot of these stories.

The Decameron is a collection of stories or novellas by the 14th-century Italian author. In this series of stories, women have been represented in many different ways, both good and bad. One of the many representations being women outwitting men, and surprisingly, is something that happened pretty often. He tends to showcase women as coming out on top in most predicaments that they’re in, or doing things that at that time were probably frowned upon (An example of this being in the fifth story of the second day). In this story, a young and beautiful Sicilian woman named Madonna Fiordaliso sees Andreuccio’s open wallet filled with a ton of money and decides that she wants to take it from him. Fiordaliso uses all the information that she gathered from her older companion to devise a devious plan, inviting him into her home, and tricking him into believing that they are siblings. When he goes to the restroom, he falls into her trap, quite literally because he steps onto a loose plank and drops into an alley. He is left high and dry, while his wallet stays in her home.

He also showcases these women as very loyal, in these stories, enduring things that many of us would have most likely walked away from. (An example of this is on the ninth story of the third day.) In this story, the protagonist, Gillette, is very infatuated and crazy in love with Bertrand. She watched and learned her father’s medical skills, and implemented them on the king who unfortunately became sick. By successfully curing him in one week, she was able to get married to whomever she chose, which unsurprisingly was Bertrand. However, he wasn’t too happy with this because she was a working-class woman and not of a higher class. Ultimately, the only way for him to live with her is if she were to have his kids and a ring from him (which he thinks would never happen.) Since he is actually cheating on her with someone, she tricks him into giving her his ring & sleeping with her by pretending to be her. 

These two stories differ in this aspect because 2.5 shows a woman outwitting a man negatively, to get his wallet, while 3.9 shows a woman outwitting a man to get a positive outcome. As Monica Donaggio stated in Implications of Gender Reversal Disguise, “The idea of “putting oneself to the test/mettersi alla prova” is one of the main narrative situations in the Decameron. The character is able to use his or her disguise to accomplish something specific, but, as Donaggio carefully notes, when this is done, the character is able to return to his or her previous identity (which hasn’t ever really been forgotten).“ In these stories Boccaccio had these women go through great lengths and detailed plans to get what they want from these men, masking their true intentions. This is clearly shown with Donna Zinevra (second day, ninth story), who dresses as a young man in order to escape her husband Bernabò. 

This same concept can be seen in reverse where men are the ones outwitting women (An example of this being the fifth day, eighth story.) In this story, Anastasio, a Gentleman of the Family of the Honesti, fell in love with the Daughter of Signior Paulo Traversario. However, the feelings were not mutual and she was very unkind to him. Seeing that his attempts to make her fall in love with him were not working, he moved away. While he was walking in the forest he saw a naked woman being chased by an angry knight and dogs, but soon came to realize that they were already dead. He used this to his advantage and showed the woman with whom he was in love with this crazy event, scaring her into thinking that if she did not fall in love with him, he would do the same to her. This goes to show that although Boccaccio tried to show a positive side of women, in this case, their independence and intelligence, this story along with others are very counterintuitive. They show how women in fact still have a weaker, less intelligent, dependent side of them that others can easily notice and manipulate in their favor. All in all, women are depicted in both negative and positive ways in The Decameron, and we are given a glimpse of these different illustrations of them in all of the stories.

      Citation;

War/Violence

In “The Prince”, Machiavelli believes that good laws and good rulers are derived naturally from a good military. He talks about the topic of war as an almost necessary thing to go through for the development of countries. Machiavelli insinuates that successful countries/rulers are built upon their success in wars. Machiavelli’s description of war touches on more than just the direct use of military force. When he talks about war, he touches on different topics such as, tactical strategy, prowess, geographic mastery, etc. Alongside wars is obviously violence, and Machiavelli talks about that tremendously in the Prince. He discusses ways to become a successful prince, using violence (chapter 8), and then goes on to give an example. He mentions the military commander, and Greek tyrant of Syracuse, Agathocles. In order to become a ruler, he called the leading citizens and the Senate together for a meeting, and then proceeded to massacre them. To Machiavelli, Cruel and evil acts could be justified when done (but not repeated) to establish a prince’s power and to benefit his subjects.

Angela da Foligno Analysis

While reading Angela da Foligno’s memorial, I noticed that a lot of what she said in her steps of repenting her sins showed guilt, pain, and she seemed kind of remorseful. For instance, in steps 8 and 10, she talked about how she became aware of her sins with great pain, and understanding. She stated that God had rescued her from her sins and hell, but that in a way she feel like she crucified him. Angela paints a picture in our minds when she states “….he appeared hanging on the cross. He told me that I should look at his wounds”…” He showed me all that He endured” etc. It was her way of showing us that God had gone through a ton, being sacrificed for her sins, but that she was still reminded of them when he states “All this I endured for you.”

Women Outwitting Men in the Decameron; 3.9 & 2.5

The Decameron is a collection of stories or novellas by the 14th-century Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio. In this series of stories, women outwitting men is something that happened pretty often. Two of these instances happen to fall on Day 3 story 9, and Day 2 story 5. 

    On the second day, fifth story, Fiammetta is the storyteller, and the protagonist is Andreuccio. The story starts off with him going down to Naples with his merchant friends to buy horses. Andreuccio takes 500 gold florins with him, but despite the horses being cheap, he failed to strike a bargain with anyone. He kept opening his purse for everyone to see, and this was his way of saying that he meant business when it came to buying one of these horses. Consequently, the horse traders were not the only ones to see the purse because a young and beautiful Sicilian woman named Madonna Fiordaliso also sees it, and decides that she wants to take it from him. She has an older woman with her that recognizes Andreuccio, and the older woman states that she knows everything about him. Fiordaliso uses all the information that her companion stated to devise a devious plan, inviting him into her home, and tricking him into believing that they are siblings. When he goes to the restroom, he falls into her trap, quite literally because he steps onto a loose plank and drops into an alley. He is left high and dry, while his wallet stayed in her home.

          On the third day, ninth story, Neifile is the storyteller, and the protagonist is Gillette. She is the daughter of a doctor that Count Roussillon has on standby. She is very infatuated and crazy in love with his son, Bertrand. Unfortunately, both of their fathers pass away, and Bertrand moves away to Paris, while she stays home. She is very distraught by this but somehow, fortune is on her side when the king of France has a chest tumor. She used this as a bargaining tool to finally reunite with Bertrand. Luckily for both Gillette and the King, she watched and learned her father’s medical skills. By successfully curing him in one week, she was able to get married to whomever she chose, which unsurprisingly was Bertrand. However, he wasn’t too happy with this because she was a working-class woman and not of a higher class. Ultimately, the only way for him to live with her is if she were to have his kids and a ring from him (which he thinks would never happen.) Since he is actually cheating on her with someone, she tricks him into giving her his ring & sleeping with her by pretending to be her. 

          All things considered, Boccaccio seemed to have been feminist, as seen by a lot of these stories. He tends to showcase women as coming out on top in most predicaments that they’re in, or doing things that at that time were probably frowned upon (like Fiordaliso taking Andreuccio’s wallet). He also showcases these women as very loyal, in these stories, enduring things that many of us would have most likely walked away from. These two stories differ in this aspect because 2.5 shows a woman outwitting a man negatively, to get his wallet, while 3.9 shows a woman outwitting a man to get a positive outcome. As Monica Donaggio stated in Implications of Gender Reversal Disguise, “The idea of “putting oneself to the test/mettersi alla prova” is one of the main narrative situations in the Decameron. The character is able to use his or her disguise to accomplish something specific, but, as Donaggio carefully notes, when this is done, the character is able to return to his or her previous identity (which hasn’t ever really been forgotten).“ In these stories Boccaccio had these women go through great lengths and detailed plans to get what they want from these men, masking their true intentions.

Citation;

  • (L.G.) Donaggio, Monica. “Il Travestimento nel Decameron,” Studi sul Decameron. Firenze: Le Lettere, 1988.

Canzone 129: Love

Poem 129 had a lot to do with love, more specifically the way Petrarca’s2 deep and profound love for Laura makes him feel. He conveys his emotions, ideas, and fears with very descriptive language. Continuously throughout Canzionere, Petrarca describes the feeling of bitterness and sorrow that is his love for Laura creates within him. The first stanza of the poem starts off with him saying that essentially, love “leads him on” from one place to another, and gets him through paths that are not well suited to living a peaceful life. As he weeps and sighs over and over again, throughout the poem, he finds himself wounded and sick with love but quickly recovers just by the thought of  things like “love saving you for better days.” 

In the following stanza, he creates an image for the reader, depicting him going up a high mountain feeling peace and thinking of Laura. He asks himself many different questions that come into his mind about love and how he treats himself in comparison to her. He stated “…perhaps; you’re loathsome to yourself but dear to her. Then to another thought, I pass and sigh: “Now could this be the truth? But how? But when?” This foreshadows a lot of what will be happening in this poem in the sense that he will be giving us an insight into what goes through his mind. Most of it, if not all will almost certainly relate back to Laura in some way.

Right after this in the next stanza, Petrarca gives us a glimpse of his point of view and state of mind again when he starts to see his lover’s face on a stone and “ feel love so close by.” He sees the love his soul carries as an error, but is satisfied with it, and asks that this error lasts because of his immense love for her and how his mind strays away from himself. He realizes that he does not give himself much thought in that moment and time, only Laura. This continues on in the next stanza when he states that he has “seen her many times-…..in the clear water and above green grass, alive, and in the trunk of a beech tree, and in a cloud of white…” It is almost as if his love for her consumes his every thought, and it is clear to see as the poem progresses. However, he repeats the same cycle and goes back to weeping and writing and coming back to reality “when the truth dispels.”

In the final stanza of this poem, he continues the imagery of climbing up to the highest and freest peak of the mountain, continuously weeping, writing, and thinking about Laura. However, halfway through he has an epiphany and starts thinking about how someone else might feel the same way about him, as he does when it comes to her. He stated “ Then softly to myself: How do you know, poor fool! Perhaps out there, somewhere, someone is sighing for your absence”, and this thought finally calms his soul.

Christianity vs. Paganism

In Dante’s series of poems, he incorporates paganism views and spins them to fit into his views of Christianity. Paganism is a term initially used in the fourth century by early Christians as a way to depict people in the Roman Empire that practiced ethnic religions other than Judaism or polytheism. In inferno, aside from biblical figures, there are a lot of mythological creatures and greek and roman figures as well. However, he still incorporates them in a way that still follows his Christian beliefs and ideologies.

One instance is when Dante meets Virgil. Virgil was born before christ making him pagan, but that did not matter to Dante. Dante was a very Christian person, therefore he would not have liked him nor gotten along with him. However, Dante makes him out to be a good man and respects him enough to call him an admirable poet. (Cantos 1, lines 79-87) However, in true Dante fashion, he still manages to depict how Virgil being pagan affects him by then letting him say that he was not able to lead him past hell. He still sinned at the end of the day, therefore he is confined to hell. (Cantos 1, lines 121-126)

This carries into visiting the first circle in hell as well. Virgil tells Dante that the souls in the first circle were either born before christ, did not get baptized, or did not practice Christianity. These people did not in fact sin, they just didn’t live by Christian ideologies, and therefore they were sent to the part of hell with the least amount of suffering. They still were not going to make it to heaven though, they were in a “limbo” as Virgil described it. (Cantos 4, lines 31-42)

Dante also incorporates pagan mythological creatures through most cantos into his Christian hell such as Charon (Cantos 3) In this cantos he also encounters souls that seemed to be neutral in the sense that they did not do much evil, nor did they also do much good as well. Dante’s sense of justice is punishment to complete a sin, therefore they followed a blank banner and were stung by hornets and wasps while naked. Meanwhile, worms intake their tears and blood. (Cantos 3, lines 34-32 and  61-69) All in all, Dante incorporated a ton of paganism and Christianity views and/or figures in Inferno, which ultimately were spun for his ideologies.


Durling, Robert M, and Ronald L Martinez. The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri.: (Inferno). Vol. 1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Print.