The Decameron II: The Second Day
As some of you may know, I currently live in Shanghai, which means that the setting of The Decameron has become beautifully relevant to me all of a sudden. In Boccaccio's collection of tales, seven young women and three young men have hidden themselves away behind a deserted villa's walls to sit out the Black Plague as it ravishes 14th century Italy. While the Corona virus isn't quite as horrifying as the Black Plague (at the moment at least), it has been enough for all of us to be put on extended leave. Hence, I will be spending the next ten days hidden away in my own apartment, desperate to amuse myself and to forget what's happening outside. My tiny apartment may not be a villa and I may be there on my own (+ cat), but it is the place where I will be joining Boccaccio's hideaways.
The Second Day
Our cast:
Ladies: Men:
Pampinea Panfilo
Fiammetta Filostrato
Filomena Dioneo
Emilia
Lauretta
Neifile
Elissa
The Tales
And the end of 'The First Day', Filomena, Queen of this day, set out the theme as those who, after experiencing many trials and tribulations, are blessed by Fortune and restored to their previous wealth and happiness.
In our first tale, told by Neifile, a man pretends to be a paralytic (rude) cured by a saint and is saved miraculously after mob anger almost sees him hanged. Our second tale, narrated by Filostrato, sees a kindly man robbed of his possessions by brigands, before finding succor, love and a bed for the night with a widow lady. The third tale, told by the previous day's Queen Pampinea, sees three men lose their fortune, regain it thanks to a nephew, lose it again, and then once again be saved by the nephew when he meets an "Abbot" who turns out the be a rather rich and lovely young women, open to marriage. Lauretta tells the fourth tale in which a man becomes a pirate after being ruined by business, only to get shipwrecked and finally discover his luck in the chest he clung onto amidst the waves. Fiammetta's fifth tale is a roller coaster of one accident after another befalling a man who really isn't the brightest star in the sky. The sixth tale, told by Emilia, feels very Robinson Crusoe. A lady is outcast with her two children, who are taken by pirates. She herself nurtures to deer, loses her mind a little and everything comes together in an almost too neat end. Panfilo tells the scandalous seventh tale that I will be going into much more detail in below. It is saucy! Elissa eighth tale is similar to Emilia's, as a poor man and his children have to abandon everything before, after years of separation and sadness, they are restored to their glory. In Filomena's ninth tale, a merchant wagers a hefty sum on his wife's loyalty, only to find out that it's really men who can't be trusted. In the tenth tale Dioneo riffs off of the ninth and shows us that women are up to a lot more than their stuffy old husbands may expect. This also features a hot pirate!
Whereas many of the tales on 'The First Day' were rather restrained, Boccaccio does not hold back on this 'Second Day'. I can now absolutely see how Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales was inspired by this. Most of the tales above cover the hardships of men, whose fortune or honour is stripped away through treachery. They struggle and suffer for years before they are reinstated to their original glory. The most "iffy" of these tales is the eight, in which the Count of Antwerp's fall of grace is triggered by a false rape accusation after he refuses to sleep with the Queen. Although the whole 'spurned woman' is a much-loved trope, it is something that does not rest in reality. False rape accusations are very rare and it played oddly in this Day's tales as well. Most of the tales read like adventure tales, with piracy, highway robbers, castaways and abandoned caves featuring promptly. I like how the tales seemed to become more intricate now that the ten youths had a day and a theme to consider what to tell.
In 'The First Day' I mentioned how Boccaccio seems to be favouring women with attitude and character, and that absolutely holds true on 'The Second Day'. The second tale introduces the still shocking theme of 'women have sexual desires', as the widow lady, all excited by the prospect of her lover visiting her, settles to enjoy herself with the man she has rescued from destitution. The third tale continues this, as the "Abbot" is actually a young English princess on her way to get permission from the Pope to marry. When she meets our protagonist, however, she immediately decides she'd rather marry and sleep with a fine Italian man than with the aged King of Scotland she was supposed to marry. In the fifth tale a wily woman spins such a lovely tale she throws a young man, sans his fortune which she keeps, into a whirlwind of misadventure. In all of these tales so far we have had women with a strong mind and physical desires, and not once are they shamed for either. The seventh, ninth and tenth tale deserve to be discussed on their own.
Panfilo's seventh tale is a riot! The Sultan of Babylon sends his beloved daughter Alatiel across the seas to marry the King of Algarve. Just before she reaches him, they're shipwrecked and for the next four years, Alatiel finds herself in the hands of nine different men, all enraptured with her beauty and willing to kill each other to be near her. Now, I was ready for this to be a horrible tale of rape and abuse, but that's not what we get. Sure, Alatiel is thrown into these situations without any true agency of her own, but she is mostly treated well and enjoys her fair share of Princes and Dukes before she finds her way home. There, with the help of a retainer, she tells her father a completely different tale and is sent back on her way to the King of Algarve as a "virgin". The story ends with the below:
I was amazed by the last two tales especially, but also by the general approval of female desire throughout 'The Second Day'. Slut shaming seems to have no place in The Decameron, neither within the tales nor by the ten youths. In fact, after the seventh tale of nine lovers, the ladies sigh because perhaps 'they longed to be married no less often than [Alatiel] was'. No judgement there. In Filomena's tale a woman gets to shame two men over using her as a bet, judging her character and, in one case, bragging about causing her downfall. And in Dioneo's tale our pirate makes sure to enshrine the woman's consent as key to whether she goes or stays. And of course she promptly doesn't, making it very clear, through some rather sick burns, she will stay with her pirate, her "honor" be damned. Despite the fact we're almost 700 years further, these women still feel rather revolutionary. It once again shows why The Decameron and its tales remain popular and relevant. They're fresh, modern and incredibly memorable.
Fun Fact:
In the first tale we read the phrase:
Set Up for the Third Day:
My favourite thing, towards the end of 'The Second Day' is when our third Queen gets chosen, Neifile, who sets out her plan for the next few days. Apparently the Second Day was a Thursday. Since Friday as 'the day of the Passion of Our Lord' it must be exempt from story telling. And, wait for it, Saturdays are the days on which 'it is customary ... for the ladies to wash their hair', there can be no storytelling then as well. Never did I identify more with a 14th century narrative. Thus, the storytelling of the 'Third Day' will actually take place on the Sunday, the 4th day of their own extended stay.
In order not to attract any attention or, God forbid, run into other people, our ten youths will make their way to another villa, chosen by Neifile. The theme is a slight alteration:
The Second Day
Our cast:
Ladies: Men:
Pampinea Panfilo
Fiammetta Filostrato
Filomena Dioneo
Emilia
Lauretta
Neifile
Elissa
The Tales
And the end of 'The First Day', Filomena, Queen of this day, set out the theme as those who, after experiencing many trials and tribulations, are blessed by Fortune and restored to their previous wealth and happiness.
In our first tale, told by Neifile, a man pretends to be a paralytic (rude) cured by a saint and is saved miraculously after mob anger almost sees him hanged. Our second tale, narrated by Filostrato, sees a kindly man robbed of his possessions by brigands, before finding succor, love and a bed for the night with a widow lady. The third tale, told by the previous day's Queen Pampinea, sees three men lose their fortune, regain it thanks to a nephew, lose it again, and then once again be saved by the nephew when he meets an "Abbot" who turns out the be a rather rich and lovely young women, open to marriage. Lauretta tells the fourth tale in which a man becomes a pirate after being ruined by business, only to get shipwrecked and finally discover his luck in the chest he clung onto amidst the waves. Fiammetta's fifth tale is a roller coaster of one accident after another befalling a man who really isn't the brightest star in the sky. The sixth tale, told by Emilia, feels very Robinson Crusoe. A lady is outcast with her two children, who are taken by pirates. She herself nurtures to deer, loses her mind a little and everything comes together in an almost too neat end. Panfilo tells the scandalous seventh tale that I will be going into much more detail in below. It is saucy! Elissa eighth tale is similar to Emilia's, as a poor man and his children have to abandon everything before, after years of separation and sadness, they are restored to their glory. In Filomena's ninth tale, a merchant wagers a hefty sum on his wife's loyalty, only to find out that it's really men who can't be trusted. In the tenth tale Dioneo riffs off of the ninth and shows us that women are up to a lot more than their stuffy old husbands may expect. This also features a hot pirate!
 |
| Image from The Canterbury Tale |
Whereas many of the tales on 'The First Day' were rather restrained, Boccaccio does not hold back on this 'Second Day'. I can now absolutely see how Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales was inspired by this. Most of the tales above cover the hardships of men, whose fortune or honour is stripped away through treachery. They struggle and suffer for years before they are reinstated to their original glory. The most "iffy" of these tales is the eight, in which the Count of Antwerp's fall of grace is triggered by a false rape accusation after he refuses to sleep with the Queen. Although the whole 'spurned woman' is a much-loved trope, it is something that does not rest in reality. False rape accusations are very rare and it played oddly in this Day's tales as well. Most of the tales read like adventure tales, with piracy, highway robbers, castaways and abandoned caves featuring promptly. I like how the tales seemed to become more intricate now that the ten youths had a day and a theme to consider what to tell.
In 'The First Day' I mentioned how Boccaccio seems to be favouring women with attitude and character, and that absolutely holds true on 'The Second Day'. The second tale introduces the still shocking theme of 'women have sexual desires', as the widow lady, all excited by the prospect of her lover visiting her, settles to enjoy herself with the man she has rescued from destitution. The third tale continues this, as the "Abbot" is actually a young English princess on her way to get permission from the Pope to marry. When she meets our protagonist, however, she immediately decides she'd rather marry and sleep with a fine Italian man than with the aged King of Scotland she was supposed to marry. In the fifth tale a wily woman spins such a lovely tale she throws a young man, sans his fortune which she keeps, into a whirlwind of misadventure. In all of these tales so far we have had women with a strong mind and physical desires, and not once are they shamed for either. The seventh, ninth and tenth tale deserve to be discussed on their own.
Panfilo's seventh tale is a riot! The Sultan of Babylon sends his beloved daughter Alatiel across the seas to marry the King of Algarve. Just before she reaches him, they're shipwrecked and for the next four years, Alatiel finds herself in the hands of nine different men, all enraptured with her beauty and willing to kill each other to be near her. Now, I was ready for this to be a horrible tale of rape and abuse, but that's not what we get. Sure, Alatiel is thrown into these situations without any true agency of her own, but she is mostly treated well and enjoys her fair share of Princes and Dukes before she finds her way home. There, with the help of a retainer, she tells her father a completely different tale and is sent back on her way to the King of Algarve as a "virgin". The story ends with the below:
'Hence the proverbial saying: 'A kissed mouth doesn't lose its freshness: like the moon it turns up new again.'Was a medieval tale about a promiscuous woman ever less misogynistic? Now, I need to do some further reading into this tale, but I'm not hating it right now. It is followed by the ninth and tenth tale, which discuss a woman's fidelity. Filomena's tale shows two men making a wager about whether the wife of one of them will remain loyal to him or not. Through trickery and deceit, the other man wins the wager, leading to the almost murder of the wife. She disguises herself as a man, wins a fortune and then exposes both men as idiots in front of the Sultan of Alexandria. She forgives her husband for ordering her murder, but he is very clearly an enormous fool. Using his privilege to tell whatever tale he wants, Dioneo uses the tenth tale to comment on the ninth, to emphasize that husbands thinking their wives sit at home twiddling their thumbs know nothing. In his tale an older judge decides he wants a wife and finds himself a young and beautiful lady to marry. She is utterly bored with him since, apparently, he rather struggles with getting it up. During a fateful fishing trip she is abducted by a hot pirate who knows exactly how to make her happy. When her desperate husband finally tracks her down, the pirate tells him he is happy to hand the wife back over as long as she consents to it. She doesn't and lives happily every after with the pirate.
I was amazed by the last two tales especially, but also by the general approval of female desire throughout 'The Second Day'. Slut shaming seems to have no place in The Decameron, neither within the tales nor by the ten youths. In fact, after the seventh tale of nine lovers, the ladies sigh because perhaps 'they longed to be married no less often than [Alatiel] was'. No judgement there. In Filomena's tale a woman gets to shame two men over using her as a bet, judging her character and, in one case, bragging about causing her downfall. And in Dioneo's tale our pirate makes sure to enshrine the woman's consent as key to whether she goes or stays. And of course she promptly doesn't, making it very clear, through some rather sick burns, she will stay with her pirate, her "honor" be damned. Despite the fact we're almost 700 years further, these women still feel rather revolutionary. It once again shows why The Decameron and its tales remain popular and relevant. They're fresh, modern and incredibly memorable.
Fun Fact:
In the first tale we read the phrase:
'"We have taken him out of the frying-pan, and dropped him straight into the fire."'This, according to the Penguin edition that I'm reading, is a literal translation from the Italian and predates the first usage of the proverb in English by almost two centuries.
Set Up for the Third Day:
My favourite thing, towards the end of 'The Second Day' is when our third Queen gets chosen, Neifile, who sets out her plan for the next few days. Apparently the Second Day was a Thursday. Since Friday as 'the day of the Passion of Our Lord' it must be exempt from story telling. And, wait for it, Saturdays are the days on which 'it is customary ... for the ladies to wash their hair', there can be no storytelling then as well. Never did I identify more with a 14th century narrative. Thus, the storytelling of the 'Third Day' will actually take place on the Sunday, the 4th day of their own extended stay.
In order not to attract any attention or, God forbid, run into other people, our ten youths will make their way to another villa, chosen by Neifile. The theme is a slight alteration:
'"People who by dint of their own efforts have achieved and object they greatly desired or recovered a thing previously lost."'Join me again tomorrow for 'The Third Day'.
Comments
Post a Comment