The Decameron III: The Third 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 Third Day
Our cast:
Ladies: Men:
Pampinea Panfilo
Fiammetta Filostrato
Filomena Dioneo
Emilia
Lauretta
Neifile
Elissa
The Setting
As told in 'The Second Day', our band of ladies and gentlemen make their way to a new place, scouted out by the 'Third Day's Queen Neifile. We don't just get a villa but a palace this time. Boccaccio's description of the palace and its garden are absolutely stunning and betray the slight escapist bent of his novel. I could absolutely picture the beautiful paths and flowers, the vines twining their way above to provide shade, and the splendid fountain. What I'm saying is that I'm jealous that they get to sit out their quarantine there while I'm still very much stuck in my apartment. The beauty of the palace and the ease with which they have moved around and entertained themselves is also more proof that this is not a realistic tale.
'The Third Day' is the day of cuckolded husbands, a rather big favourite of many medieval tales, including Chaucer's. Affairs about, female desire is present and satisfied, friars are shown to be utter fools, and men are rather sly and cunning in their attempts to get what they want. Let's dig in!
The Tales
Neifile has set the theme for today's tales to be gaining or re-gaining something through hardship. As with 'The Second Day', however, The Decameron has taken a decidedly raunchy tone. Filostrato tells the first tale, in which a young man, Masetto, poses as a mute in order to enjoy all the pleasures a bored set of nuns has to offer. Pampinea second tale follows on the theme of sexcapades, except that everyone gets to keep their honour. The third tale, narrated by Filomena, shows how dimwitted friars can be a conduit for others' lust, while in Panfilo's fourth tale it is the friar who gets to enjoy himself through a husband's piety. Elissa's fifth tale is one of extramarital love almost, but not quite, thwarted by a self-satisfied husband. I have some issues with Fiammetta's sixth tale in which a jealous wife finds herself tricked into an affair. The seventh tale is also about an affair, but Emilia turns it into a suspense tale. In Lauretta's eighth tale an Abbot sends a husband to "Purgatory" to enjoy his wife. Queen Neifile's ninth tale is one of a good woman going very far to win a lousy man. Dioneo once again tells the tenth and filthiest tale in which a young girl learns how to take the "devil" into her "Hell" and serve God.
Let's talk about Dioneo's tenth tale, which is outrageously fun and maybe as close to porn as Boccaccio gets. According to a footnote in my Penguin edition, many translators either left out this tale or printed it in the original Italian rather than sully their own pen with it. A rather young and innocent girl, Alibech, goes out into the desert to serve God. As a non-Christian she is rather unaware of what this may mean, so she is surprised to be turned away by hermit after hermit who doesn't want to risk temptation. A rather young and new hermit named Rustico takes her in, thinking she'll be the ultimate test for his piety. After a solid few days of trying, he roundly gives in and explains to her how they will serve God. See, he has a rather frantic cause of the 'resurrecting of the flesh' (please tell me I don't need to explain this one to you!) and only her inner "Hell" can tame it. Once he's had his fill, however, she is left rather unsatisfied, saying:
The tenth tale is glorious tale, one that is, however, slightly dimmed by the fact that Alibech is very much taken advantage of by Rustico. It doesn't matter that she ends up enjoying and demanding it, he misleads her and then passes her off when she becomes too troublesome for him. It kind of echoes the lack of consent in some of the other tales. In the first tale the nuns have their way with Masetto since, as a mute, he should have no way of resisting or complaining. In the second tale, the poor Queen is tricked by a groom who "loves" her into thinking she is sleeping with her husband. Although the tale states that this is not her fault, it is still a violation she is never made aware of. The tale that exemplifies this most is the sixth tale, told by Fiammetta. A married man is passionately in love with the wife of another but realizes that she loves her own husband too much to even look at him. So he decides to take advantage of her jealousy and pretends her husband is making love to his own wife. He tricks her into sleeping with him by pretending to be her husband. Once he reveals himself, she is heartbroken until he sways her with many exhortations and sweet nothings. That's not right.
It is impossible, really, to impose modern standards of gender equality, consent and respect onto medieval texts. These texts were written in a completely different environment, in which (white, upper class, silent) women were upheld and admired as the paragons of virtue, while also being considered the origin of all sin, lower than men in almost all regards. It is still true that Boccaccio has many female narrators and outspoken women in his tales, but I myself might have built up too high expectations of him. The ambiguity created by Boccaccio is part of what draws readers to The Decameron. As Gregory B. Stone says:
So far I can say that reading The Decameron has been a delight. It's a great distraction and the tales are short enough to fly by. Boccaccio has really managed to make sure every tale nicely follows the previous one. The themes follow each other naturally and through the stories they're telling you're also getting a sense of the ten characters themselves.
Fun Fact:
The first tale, told by Filostrato, and second tale, told by Pampinea, are actually the inspiration behind the 2017 movie The Little Hours. Do yourself a favour and watch the trailer below. Then go watch the movie!
Set Up for the Fourth Day:
We have our first king: Filostrato. There is some banter between him and Neifile about whether the 'wolf' will lead the 'sheep' as well as the sheep have done. It's an odd tone to strike, so we'll see how that develops. Apparently Filostrato has been done dirty in love by one of the ladies present, and so the next theme is:
The Third Day
Our cast:
Ladies: Men:
Pampinea Panfilo
Fiammetta Filostrato
Filomena Dioneo
Emilia
Lauretta
Neifile
Elissa
The Setting
As told in 'The Second Day', our band of ladies and gentlemen make their way to a new place, scouted out by the 'Third Day's Queen Neifile. We don't just get a villa but a palace this time. Boccaccio's description of the palace and its garden are absolutely stunning and betray the slight escapist bent of his novel. I could absolutely picture the beautiful paths and flowers, the vines twining their way above to provide shade, and the splendid fountain. What I'm saying is that I'm jealous that they get to sit out their quarantine there while I'm still very much stuck in my apartment. The beauty of the palace and the ease with which they have moved around and entertained themselves is also more proof that this is not a realistic tale.
'The Third Day' is the day of cuckolded husbands, a rather big favourite of many medieval tales, including Chaucer's. Affairs about, female desire is present and satisfied, friars are shown to be utter fools, and men are rather sly and cunning in their attempts to get what they want. Let's dig in!
The Tales
Neifile has set the theme for today's tales to be gaining or re-gaining something through hardship. As with 'The Second Day', however, The Decameron has taken a decidedly raunchy tone. Filostrato tells the first tale, in which a young man, Masetto, poses as a mute in order to enjoy all the pleasures a bored set of nuns has to offer. Pampinea second tale follows on the theme of sexcapades, except that everyone gets to keep their honour. The third tale, narrated by Filomena, shows how dimwitted friars can be a conduit for others' lust, while in Panfilo's fourth tale it is the friar who gets to enjoy himself through a husband's piety. Elissa's fifth tale is one of extramarital love almost, but not quite, thwarted by a self-satisfied husband. I have some issues with Fiammetta's sixth tale in which a jealous wife finds herself tricked into an affair. The seventh tale is also about an affair, but Emilia turns it into a suspense tale. In Lauretta's eighth tale an Abbot sends a husband to "Purgatory" to enjoy his wife. Queen Neifile's ninth tale is one of a good woman going very far to win a lousy man. Dioneo once again tells the tenth and filthiest tale in which a young girl learns how to take the "devil" into her "Hell" and serve God.
 |
| A female anchorite/hermit. |
Let's talk about Dioneo's tenth tale, which is outrageously fun and maybe as close to porn as Boccaccio gets. According to a footnote in my Penguin edition, many translators either left out this tale or printed it in the original Italian rather than sully their own pen with it. A rather young and innocent girl, Alibech, goes out into the desert to serve God. As a non-Christian she is rather unaware of what this may mean, so she is surprised to be turned away by hermit after hermit who doesn't want to risk temptation. A rather young and new hermit named Rustico takes her in, thinking she'll be the ultimate test for his piety. After a solid few days of trying, he roundly gives in and explains to her how they will serve God. See, he has a rather frantic cause of the 'resurrecting of the flesh' (please tell me I don't need to explain this one to you!) and only her inner "Hell" can tame it. Once he's had his fill, however, she is left rather unsatisfied, saying:
'"Look here, Rustico. Even though your devil has been punished and pesters you no longer, my Hell simply refuses to leave me alone. Now that I have helped you with my Hell to subdue the pride of your devil, the least you can do is to get your devil to help me tame the fury of my Hell."'He simply isn't up to the task though, so when her whole family dies in a well-times home fire and leaves her rich, Rustico is happy to pass her on to a scoundrel from town. When Alibech complains to the townswomen about being deprived of er chance to "serve God" they assure here there is plenty of that in town as well.
The tenth tale is glorious tale, one that is, however, slightly dimmed by the fact that Alibech is very much taken advantage of by Rustico. It doesn't matter that she ends up enjoying and demanding it, he misleads her and then passes her off when she becomes too troublesome for him. It kind of echoes the lack of consent in some of the other tales. In the first tale the nuns have their way with Masetto since, as a mute, he should have no way of resisting or complaining. In the second tale, the poor Queen is tricked by a groom who "loves" her into thinking she is sleeping with her husband. Although the tale states that this is not her fault, it is still a violation she is never made aware of. The tale that exemplifies this most is the sixth tale, told by Fiammetta. A married man is passionately in love with the wife of another but realizes that she loves her own husband too much to even look at him. So he decides to take advantage of her jealousy and pretends her husband is making love to his own wife. He tricks her into sleeping with him by pretending to be her husband. Once he reveals himself, she is heartbroken until he sways her with many exhortations and sweet nothings. That's not right.
It is impossible, really, to impose modern standards of gender equality, consent and respect onto medieval texts. These texts were written in a completely different environment, in which (white, upper class, silent) women were upheld and admired as the paragons of virtue, while also being considered the origin of all sin, lower than men in almost all regards. It is still true that Boccaccio has many female narrators and outspoken women in his tales, but I myself might have built up too high expectations of him. The ambiguity created by Boccaccio is part of what draws readers to The Decameron. As Gregory B. Stone says:
'Anyone who thinks they can say what Boccaccio intended to say will be saying the opposite of what Boccaccio said.' - 'Ethics of Nature in the Middle Ages', p.173No single truth can be found, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth digging in and seeing what can be found.
So far I can say that reading The Decameron has been a delight. It's a great distraction and the tales are short enough to fly by. Boccaccio has really managed to make sure every tale nicely follows the previous one. The themes follow each other naturally and through the stories they're telling you're also getting a sense of the ten characters themselves.
 |
| Florence, the home of the youths and the setting for many of their tales |
The first tale, told by Filostrato, and second tale, told by Pampinea, are actually the inspiration behind the 2017 movie The Little Hours. Do yourself a favour and watch the trailer below. Then go watch the movie!
Set Up for the Fourth Day:
We have our first king: Filostrato. There is some banter between him and Neifile about whether the 'wolf' will lead the 'sheep' as well as the sheep have done. It's an odd tone to strike, so we'll see how that develops. Apparently Filostrato has been done dirty in love by one of the ladies present, and so the next theme is:
'those whose love ended unhappily.'So perhaps, after two solid days of bawdy humour we'll get some tragedy! Once the story-telling is done, 'some of the ladies set off in pursuit of the hares and roebucks and other animals in the garden', enjoying a casual bout of hunting, while the men sing a song.
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