Women Outwitting Men in the Decameron; 3.9 & 2.5

Decameron di Boccaccio — Fonte: Getty-Images

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.

1 thought on “Women Outwitting Men in the Decameron; 3.9 & 2.5”

  1. You could spend less time summarizing the stories, but this is very good. You compare and contrast and give your interpretation. The secondary source comes just at the end. In the future you will need to dialogue more with other critics, but you are on the right track.

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