The Decameron V: The Fifth 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 Fifth Day

Our cast:

Ladies:                            Men:
Pampinea                        Panfilo
Fiammetta                      Filostrato
Filomena                         Dioneo
Emilia
Lauretta
Neifile
Elissa

With Fiammetta as our queen, we are now halfway through our ten days of exile and turn to stories of love won.

The Tales

Our first tale is told by Panfilo and shows how love can turn an oaf into a man willing to fight for what he wants. Emilia's second tale shows how two ship-wrecked lovers find their way back to each other, with a side of warfare. Elissa's third tale includes robbers, dark woods and a kindly lady willing to marry our lovers. Filostrato, in order to redeem himself from yesterday, tells the fourth tale in which lovers have a rather easy time convincing her father all is well. The fifth tale is told by Neifile in which two men fight over a girl. Twist: one of them turns out to be her brother! Pampinea follows this with a tale in which our lovers almost get burned at the stake. Lauretta's seventh tale includes slavery, murderous fathers and a last-minute happy ending. The eight tale, told by Filomena, brings back ghosts of former lovers to teach a girl to accept a man's advances to prevent suffering in the afterlife. Fiammetta's ninth tale includes a falcon, a child's death and, somehow, a happy end. Dioneo's last tale is again the raunchiest, including cheating, homosexuality and a rather modern, open marriage.

Ravenna, the location for some of today's tales

The topic of the 'Fifth Day' is rather more optimistic than that of the 'Fourth' and yet the tales are no less dramatic. Disasters must be overcome in order to win love and it seems that after a few days of women taking the reins, now it is the men who take charge. In Panfilo's tale, we get a man so in love that he not only becomes cultured, he also steals away his love not once, but twice from her intended husband. Whether she is on board with this is not mentioned, although she seems rather unhappy about the whole situation. In Neifile's tale we have a similar situation, where two men conspire with one of their lady love's servants each to enter the house and elope with her. Only one of them was smart enough to actually reach out to the lady herself and get her interested. Thankfully, the other turns out to be her brother. So in the end, although she herself never speaks, our lovely lady ends the story having found both a family and a husband. The balance has definitely turned towards the men gaining what they want, even if overall most of the stories still have a consenting female partner.

Another odd note, in my opinion, is struck by the eight tale, told by Filomena. Nastagio is in love with a woman who definitely doens't want him. She's haughty and thinks she's too good for him. In order to stop him from squandering his fortune, his family sends him to the countryside to recover. There, he sees the following spectacle: a naked woman is chased through the woods by a horseman and his hounds. Upon her inevitable capture, he rips out her heart, only for her to heal within minutes and for the whole thing to start all over again. Tell me something less horrible than this! The horseman tells him this is their punishment, in his case for killing himself over love and in her case for rejecting his advances. Nastagio decides to bring out the young lady he loves and her family to witness this and it shakes her to the core to such an extent that she agrees to marry him shortly after.

'Their marriage was by no means the only good effect to be produced by this horrible apparition, for from that day forth the ladies of Ravenna in general were so frightened by it that they became much more tractable to men's pleasures than they had ever been in the past.'

Well, colour me horrified. Again, these stories have to be read with a grain of salt. They were meant to shock and amuse, yet they do carry evidence of what may have been considered appropriate and funny. In this case, it is women getting put in their place and not imagining themselves above men or in a position to reject men.

Fiammetta, today's Queen.

A similar theme comes through in the next story, told by Fiammetta, in which a man, Federigo, is reduced to poverty by spending all of his money wooing an already married lady. All he has left is a falcon, which he promptly cooks for her when she shows up at his cottage. If only he knew she was there to ask for it for her small son! Soon after her son dies, her husband having died shortly before, at which point she reconsiders her dismissal of Federigo and marries him, sharing her enormous fortune with him. What is the message we're supposed to take from this?


In Dioneo's tenth tale, we find a young woman stuck in a marriage with a man who prefers to spend his time with the other sex. She approaches an 'old bawd' to discuss the prudence of pursuing affairs. Not only is she more than in favour of it, she also gives the below speech:

'With men it is different: they are born with a thousand other talents apart from [sex], and older men do a far better job than younger ones as a rule; but women exist for no other purpose than to do this and to bear children, which is why they are cherished and admired. if you doubt my words, there's one thing that ought to convince you, and that is that a woman's always ready for a man, but not vice-versa.'

Not to go all TMI, but the latter is very much not true. Apparently the "old bawd's diatribe" is a bit of a rhetorical exercise which allows the author to rage a bit, usually aimed at women and the religious. Although The Decameron may seem rather feminist at times, there are still definite moments of misogyny in it, which may be partially explained by the time in which it was written in. Although the tenth tale ends happily, with the wife and her husband sharing a single, male lover, it still ends the Day's tales on rough note.

Fun Fact:

Today's fun fact is more of a fun quote. In the fourth tale, told by Filostrato, a young lady is trying to convince her mother that the weather is too hot and she needs to sleep on the balcony. The reason fr this is that she is hoping her lover will make his way to her there. Her mother argues it isn't even that hot, to which the daughtr responds:

'"Mother, if you were to add "in my opinion", them perhaps you would be right."'

Sassy!

Halfway Check-In:

So, I've made it to the Fifth Day and I'm very much enjoying The Decameron. If you've been reading through my different posts you'll have realized I've mostly focused my reading on the gender patterns. I'm fascinated both by the hilarity of the tales, the drama and the odd balance found within it. Women are incredibly active in The Decameron. Technically it is all for them, they make up the majority of the storytellers, within the tales they have desires, voices, become philosophical at times, and only faint occasionally. And yet, the misogyny sneaks in, always as a joke but always with a sharp edge that interrupts my reading pleasure.

However, The Decameron has provided a great distraction from everything else. I have been following the storytellers' way a little, by focusing on reading and meeting with friends whenever possible and not letting all the news get to me too much. There is a lot of information out there, not all of which is correct. The Coronavirus is serious and mistakes have been made in the government's approach to it. However, medical staff are working very hard and the local and national government are doing what they can to keep people safe and prevent further infection. I'm looking forward to getting back to work soon though. Turns out idleness isn't all it's chalked up to be when you're not in a beautiful Italian palace with a staff to look after you.

Set Up for the Sixth Day:

Our next queen is Elissa, who graciously accepts and sets our next day's theme:

'those who, on being provoked by some verbal pleasantry, have returned like for like, or who, by a prompt retort or shrewd manoeuvre, have avoided danger, discomfiture or ridicule'.

I'm very much looking forward to this! I loved the witty tales of the 'First Day' and hope that tomorrow will bring plenty more!