In Giovanni Boccaccio’s, “The Decameron” there were a wide range of meaningful themes, messages and topics that are very impactful.  The one theme I was most intrigued by was the use of physical violence throughout the stories. Physical violence was a tactic that was greatly used by many characters involved in the stories. 

In Day 4, story 4 the physical violence is associated with men’s natural sexual rivalry for women.  The story is told by Elissia, in the story Gerbino the grandson of King William II of Sicily  who is not only a famous warrior but a man of chivalry falls for the daughter of the King of Tunis. They fall in love without ever being in each other’s sight due to this Gerbino gets a friend to be his messenger that will help the two exchange love letters and gifts back and forth from the lovers traveling from Sicily to Tunis. The long distance love remains until the King of Tunis makes the announcement that he will be marrying her off to the King of Granada.  He is aware of the love affair the two lovers are currently having of which he does not approve of causing him to reach out to King William. He is promised that Gerbino will not interfere, but of course Gerbino has other plans. He takes two ships full of men and attends to his lover’s bridal entourage with intentions of capturing her. Unluckily, his unwanted presence and interruption leads the Tunisians to kill Gerbino’s lover right before his eyes.  As a result Gerbino breaks out into ultimate physical violence and rage being the warrior he is, he and his men begin to fight and kill.  Day 4, story 4 states, “Just like a starving lion who falls upon a herd of bullocks, slashing this one with his teeth and that one with his claws, intent on satisfying his anger rather than his hunger, so Gerbino, sword in hand, cut down one Saracen and then another, slaughtering a host of them without mercy.”  Many of Gerbino’s men died and so did many of the others, as a result Gerbino’s grandfather had Gerbino beheaded before his eyes.

Another instance in which Physical violence is presented is Day 2, story 1 which is illustrated by Neifile. In the story Arrigo a poor laborer in Trevisa who is believed to be a saint by the people dies, after his death a variety of miraculous things occur which was a way of confirming this belief to the people. Many want to come into contact with his body to either cure an illness or win favor with him. Three entertainers from Florence , Stecchi, Martellino and Marchese happen to show up in town during this exciting time. They wanted to come into contact with Arrigo’s body for themselves but the crowd was way too big to get by so they came up with a scheme. Martellino pretends to be  a paralyzed man who needs the healing powers of the saint, it works and they get through the crowds. The men surrounding Arrigo’s body lift Martellino up and lay him across the corpse, he then pretends as if he has been cured. Unfortunately  there’s another Florentine in the crowd who recognizes him and reveals the sacrilege to the crowd, after this the mood automatically alters. The crowd becomes angry and starters to beat him up they are even on the verge of hanging him for mocking the saint. Day 2 story 1 states, “they grabbed him {Martinello} and dragged him down from where he was standing.  Holding him by the hair, they tore all the clothes off his back and started punching and kicking him.  … Although he did his best to defend himself, it was no use, and the crowd on top of him just kept getting bigger and bigger.” Marchese and Stecchi  get the watchman to keep the crowd from killing Martellino, they claim that Martellino had “cut their purses” so that the watchman will save his life by taking him into custody. Other men claim he did the same to them, and were told to say when and where the events occurred but they all chose days he was not in the city. The magistrate has a grudge against Florentines and is tempted to hang Martellino just for fun. While Marchese and Stecchi go back to their lodgings and ask the landlord to help them, who sends them to Sandro, a Florentine living in Trevisa. Sandro takes them to the prince. The prince is amused by the situation but he does go to the magistrate and saves Martellino. The three men then safely return to Florence in the new set of clothing given to them by the prince.

Furthermore, the stories are similar in such that they both show how the characters reckless actions lead to very negative outcomes. It can clearly be concluded that physical violence played a great role in life at the time. Seemingly Boccaccio’s view of physical violence remains somewhat unclear but he does present it greatly throughout the stories which reflects the gruesome role in how physical violence was the main way to discipline and approach issues. 

Citations:

Decameron Web | Texts. (n.d.). The Decameron: Day 4, Story 4

https://www.brown.edu/Departments/Italian_Studies/dweb/texts/DecShowText.php?myID=nov0404&lang=eng

Decameron Web | Texts. (n.d.). The Decameron: Day 2, Story 1. 

https://www.brown.edu/Departments/Italian_Studies/dweb/texts/DecShowText.php?myID=nov0201&lang=eng

Layka Coby 10/22/21

The genre 0f poem 271 is Love. The poet conveys his emotions, ideas, and fears through this stanza by his use of language. The language used is usually associated with unhappiness, great sorrow due to love. He shows imagery of the emotions he expresses through figurative language, using words and phrases to describe an actual event he experienced. “I’d be caught and burned and all the more for being more for being less green wood”, is a simile the author used to compare how love made them feel as they compare themselves to a tree. 

This was part of Petrarca 366 poem to and about Laura. The theme of the poem is focused around his inner conflict within himself while he is so madly in love with Laura. In this stanza he talks about the immense sorrow and pain he feels trying to get rid of and walk away from how deeply he feels for Laura. In the first stanza Petrarca states, “ The burning knot which hour after hour bound me for twenty-one entire years Death has untied; I never felt such grief, nor do I think that man can die of sorrow.” From this stanza It could be understood that the love he has experienced for this beautiful woman Laura is great and shows this by using death as an undertone to reflect the seriousness of his feelings. The next stanza states, “ Love, not yet willing to let go of me, had set another snare within the grass and with new tinder lit another fire making it very hard for me to flee”. What can be inferred by the language and emotions being reflected from this stanza is that Petrarca feels somewhat trapped in this loop whole of their feelings for Laura, every time he tries to walk away from the situation” another lit fire makes it very hard for me to flee”. He is ready to move on and get rid of the pain that comes with this love but he’s stuck by different obstacles. The last two stanzas state, “ And if it had not been for long experience of my first labors, I’d be caught and burned and all the more for being less green wood. Death has delivered me another time- broken the knot, stamped out the scattered fire- against whom neither force nor wit avails.”  He shows his willingness to go through whatever for this love he has for Laura, he will even come to  face death.  A word I would use to represent the poem would be  complex because both his feelings and language within the poem give off the impression of a complex love and situation he experiences.  

Layka Coby

In canto 34 Dante reaches the final round of the last circle of Cocytus, which is the ninth and final circle of Hell named “Judecca”. Dante gives vivid descriptions of everything he saw as he walked through, he sees the sinners in this level completely incased in ice, in many strange and twisted positions. The group of sinners contained those who were horrible towards their masters, the were unable to speak. As Dante and Virgil pass the sinners the walk towards Satan it got colder due to the cold wind being created by Satan’s bat like wings flapping, the ice froze environment gets colder as the ice got firmer with the wind. Dante uses Virgil as a windbreaker, Dante then becomes stunned in shock by how hideous Satan is as he tries to give a description of what he sees. Dante describes Satan bound in ice , he has three faces, a yellow one, black one and a red one. In each one of his mouths he would chew on a sinner, Virgil explains to Dante that he is seeing Judas Iscariot, that betrayed Christ is the sinner in the middle who suffers the most as the other two seem to be Brutus and Cassius who betrayed Caesar.

After doing so Dante and Virgil work their way down Satan’s back waiting for the moment he opens his wing so they can have a safe landing. Dante becomes fearful that Virgil will return back through Hell but they both find themselves on the other side of the world standing on their feet. They have passed the mid-point of the Earth, where they are able to see Satan’s legs with his body still froze in the ice above. Dante and Virgil continue to on a long journey to the other side of the world through a opening under the stars.

Dante’s two fold theme of religion and politics are found in the very mouths of Satan. The ultimate sinners of this kind of malice spend eternity being chewed by Satan’s teeth.  he greatest sinner of the world is Judas Iscariot, the man who betrayed Jesus with a kiss. Both Brutus and Cassius betrayed Caesar the founder of Dante’s beloved Roman Empire. The image of Satan is a scary yet interesting one, beginning with its three faces, which symbolize the distortion of the Holy Trinity. Dante says that Satan is as ugly as he was once beautiful, recalling his former incarnation as an angel. Satan, as described by Dante seems less powerful than traditionally depicted; he is dumb and roaring, trapped in the ice, punished as the rest of the sinners, perhaps worse.