Throughout the Decameron, Giovanni Boccacio shares a number of tales that each hold a hidden message. There are a total of 100 stories excluding the prologue, ten stories for ten days. One theme that I found to show up a few times throughout the stories is men deceiving women.

On the tenth day and tenth story, we were introduced to a man named Gualtiero. Gualtiero was the Marquess of Saluzzo, and with such a title came responsibility. His people were worried about the future of the estate is that he still wasn’t married, so he made a pact to them that he would get married to the woman of his choosing. He chose to marry a village girl named Griselda. They were happy for the first few years of their marriage, Gualtiero’s people loved her and thought of her to be compassionate and kind. It wasn’t until Griselda and Gualtiero started having children that Gualtiero began his tests/tricks. Once their daughter was born Gualtiero’s entire demeanor change, he began to treat Griselda poorly and claimed that his vassals disliked the fact that the next of kin was a child of one of a lower class. He convinced Griselda that the soldiers took the baby and murdered her when in reality he sent her to Bologna. Griselda was compliant the entire time, for all that women in those times knew about being a wife is being submissive and compliant to everything the husband wishes. He continues his tricks and tests when Griselda gave birth to there son. Although pleased by Griselda’s submissiveness he decided to further deceive her. He sent the boy to bologna and told griselda that he was murdered and that his subjects resented being ruled by a child whose grandfather is a farmer. Not only this but he starts to tell her that the pope allowed for them to divorce. Gualtiero asks to tell Griselda about the divorce in front of all his people and that he wishes for her to be of assistance with the wedding, of course, she obeys and does as he asks. Gualtiero tricks Griselda once more by bringing his daughter back from Bologna and telling Griselda that she was his next wife. He expected her to be jealous and rude towards the girl but in reality, Griselda was nice, welcoming and even advised Gualtiero to “spare her those tribulations” and treat her differently than how she was treated. This is when Gualtiero took the opportunity to reveal his schemes and tricks. Griselda was pleased to know that it was all a trick and that her kids were in fact not dead, she stayed with Gualtiero. 

Griselda’s story wasn’t the only one that housed men deceiving women. On the Third Day Sixth story, we are introduced to the story of Ricciardo and how he tricked a woman named Catella to be with him. Catella was found to be the most beautiful in the town and when Ricciardo tried to pursue Catella he was unsuccessful because she is deeply in love with her husband, Filleppo. It has been made a known fact that Catella was extremely jealous when it came to her husband which allowed for Ricciardo’s tricks to conjure themselves. Ricciardo told Catella that her husband was having an affair with his wife (Ricciardo’s wife) and that they were going to meet up at a restaurant. Being the jealous wife she is, she believed every word. Later that day she went to the restaurant to pretend to be Ricciardo’s wife in hopes of tricking her husband and getting the opportunity to call him out. What she didn’t know was that Ricciardo set the whole thing up so that they were in a dark room and she would believe he was Filleppo. It wasn’t until they slept together that she tried to expose “her husband” of cheating when he revealed himself. He held her so tight she couldn’t get loose and convinced her to be with him “Sweet my soul, be not wroth: that which, while artlessly I loved, I might not have, Love has taught me to compass by guile: know that I am thy Ricciardo. ” instead of her husband Filleppo. 

Gualtiero used tricks and deceived Griselda to put her loyalty to the test. He wanted to see whether or not Griselda would remain submissive and compliant to his every wish; he was happy to find that she passed. As a woman all Griselda knew about being a wife was that they were supposed to do and follow everything told by the husband. This is why she never put up a fight or disagreed/disobeyed his orders. I also believe that she stayed with him not only because she was taught to stand by her husband no matter what but because she was no longer a virgin. Back in the day, it was known that if a woman wasn’t a virgin she was found undesirable, it was found that if you weren’t a virgin and were older in age it would be a struggle to remarry. I think that played a small role in her taking Gualtiero back in the end. Ricciardo used tricks to ultimately use Catella’s emotions and love towards her husband against her. He was so fixated on wanting her that he had to trick her into believing that her husband Fileppo was cheating on her. “However you may say that I lured you hither by guile, I shall deny it, and affirm, on the contrary, that I induced you to come hither by promises of money and gifts, and that ’tis but because you are vexed that what I gave you did not altogether come up to your expectations, that you make such a cry and clamour; and you know that folk are more prone to believe evil than good, and therefore I am no less likely to be believed than you.” Once she recognized Ricciardo’s voice, he gaslighted her and threatened the fact that no one was going to believe that, he tricked her into bed with her, to be with him. When she asked him to “let her go” he refrained at first but then allowed for a kiss. That kiss is what changed it all for her, “Indeed the lady, finding her lover’s kisses smack much better than those of her husband, converted her asperity into sweetness, and from that day forth cherished a most tender love for Ricciardo.” His tricks and deceit ultimately worked in his favor, the same as Gualtiero.

Works Cited

“Decameron Web.” Decameron Web: Day 10, Story 10 https://www.brown.edu/Departments/Italian_Studies/dweb/texts/DecShowText.php?myID=nov1010&lang=eng

“Decameron Web.” Decameron Web: Day 3, Story 6 https://www.brown.edu/Departments/Italian_Studies/dweb/texts/DecShowText.php?lang=eng&myID=nov0306&expand=day03

“The Decameron: The suffering of Griselda” by hoakley https://eclecticlight.co/2019/01/08/the-decameron-the-suffering-of-griselda/amp/