The Decameron

Comenius Project

BoccaccioHis life

Giovanni Boccaccio (1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian author and poet, a friend, student, and correspondent of Petrarch, an important Renaissance humanist and the author of a number of notable works including the Decameron, On Famous Women, and his poetry in the Italian vernacular. Boccaccio is particularly notable for his dialogue, and he surpasses in verisimilitude his contemporaries.

Boccaccio grew up in Florence. His father was working for the Compagnia dei Bardi and in the 1320s married Margherita dei Mardoli.

Boccaccio travels to Naples with his father, agent of the Bardi Bank.

In 1332 Boccaccino moves to Paris. Giovanni, with greater freedom, pursues his humanistic interests in literature as is attested by his first essays in Latin (the Elegia di Costanza and the Allegoria mitologica, both certainly composed before 1334) and his first vernacular poetry.

Boccaccio began work on the Decameron around 1349. The work was largely complete by 1352. Boccaccio revised and rewrote the Decameron in 1370-1371. This manuscript has survived to the present day.

He died at the age of sixty-two on 21 December 1375 in Certaldo, where he is buried.

The works of

Giovanni Boccaccio

De Casibus Virorum Illustrium De Mulieribus Claris The Elegy of Lady Fiammetta The Filocolo The Filostrato On the Genealogy of The Gods of The Gentiles Teseida Corbaccio

The FilocoloThe Filocolo, is a novel written by Giovanni Boccaccio between 1335-36. It is considered

to be the first novel of Italian literature written in prose. It is based on a very popular story of

the time, Florio e Biancifiore.

Il FilostratoIl Filostrato is a poem by the Italian writer Giovanni Boccaccio, and the inspiration for Geoffrey Chaucer's Troilus and Cryseide and, through

Chaucer, the Shakespare play Troilus and Cressida. It is itself loosely

based on Le Roman de Troie, by 12th century poet Benoît de Sainte-Maure.

The

Decameron

Principe Galeotto

The Decameron (subtitle: Prencipe Galeotto) is a collection of 100 novellas by Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio, probably begun in 1350 and finished in 1353. It is a medieval allegorical work best known for its bawdy tales of love, appearing in all its possibilities from the erotic to the tragic. Some believe many parts of the tales are indebted to the influence of The Book of Good Love. The title is a portmanteau of two Greek words meaning "ten" (δέκα déka) and "day" (ἡμέρα hēméra).

The Decameron is structured in a frame narrative, or frame tale. This work opens with a description of the Bubonic Plague (Black Death) and leads into an introduction of a group of seven young women and three young men who fled from Plague ridden Florence for a villa outside of the city walls. To pass the time, each member of the party tells one story for every one of the ten nights spent at the villa. The Decameron is a distinctive work, in that it describes in detail the physical, psychological and social effects that the Bubonic Plague had on that part of Europe.

One of the women, Pampinea, is elected Queen for the first day. Each day the company's previous king/queen elects who shall succeed them and nominates the theme for the current day's storytelling. Each day has a new theme assigned to it except for days 1 and 9.

Days’ Themes: Misfortunes that bring a person to a state of unexpected happiness; people who have achieved an object they greatly desired, or recovered a thing previously lost; love stories that ended unhappily; love that survived disaster; those who have avoided danger; tricks women have played on their husbands; tricks both men and women play on each other; those who have given very generously whether for love or another endeavor.

Boccaccio had been educated in the tradition of Dante's Divine Comedy which used various levels of allegory to show the connections between the literal events of the story and the Christian message. However Decameron uses Dante's model, not to educate the reader but to satirize this method of learning.

THE DECAMERON

The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio

is one of the greatest works of

Italian prose. It was written between 1348 and 1353.

The sixth day

Ended the fifth day of the Decameron, began the sixth, wherein, under the rule of Elisa, discourse is had of such as by some sprightly sally have repulsed an attack, or by some ready retort or device have avoided loss, peril or scorn.

Chichibio and The CraneThis short story belongs to the sixth day, dedicated to witticism thanks to which the protagonists get out of sticky spots. The Venetian cook Chichibio manages to overcome a difficult situation caused by his carelessness and indulgence in love affairs. Currado Gianfigliazzi, an eminent citizen of Florence and a passionate hunter, one day killed a crane and sent it to his cook, Chichibio, to have it cooked for dinner.

The smell of the crane attracted a young woman, Brunetta, a flirt of Chichibio’s, who asked him a leg of the bird. Chichibio refused at first, but then the woman managed to convince him by saying that if he didn’t give her a leg of the crane, she would never submit to his desire.At dinner-time, Currado, very surprised, asked Chichibio why the crane had only one leg, and he replied that cranes, indeed, are single legged birds and if the Master didn’t believe that, he would show him the following morning. Corrado accepted, but he threatened that if he found out that Chichibio had lied to him, he would beat him to death.

The next morning they went to a river where some cranes were sleeping, resting on a single leg. Chichibio made his master notice that he had not lied, since the cranes were standing on one leg. At this remark, Currado galloped towards the river shouting and all the cranes flew away, clearly showing two legs.Currado, enraged, asked Chichibio to explain himself, and the cook, knowing that only a witty remark could save him, said that Currado had not shouted at dinner the night before. If he had, the crane in his plate would have shown the other leg.Amused by Chichibio’s cunning, Currado laughed and forgave him.

The ten novels of sixth day The First Novel A knight offers to carry Madonna Oretta a horseback with a story, but tells it so ill that she prays him to dismount her; Filomena narrates this tale.The Second Novel Cisti, a baker, by an apt speech gives Messer Geri Spina to know that he has by inadvertence asked that of him which he should not; Pampinea narrates it.The Third Novel Monna Nonna de' Pulci by a ready retort silences the scarce seemly jesting of the Bishop of Florence;Lauretta narrates it.The Fourth NovelChichibio, Currado Gianfigliazzi’s cook, owes his safety to a ready answer, whereby he converts Currado's wrath into laughter, and evades the evil fate with which Currado had threatened him; Neifile narrates it.The Fifth Novel Messer Forese da Rabatta, a knowledgeable jurist, and Master Giotto, a painter, make fun of each other's poor appearance while returning from Mugello; Panfilo narrates this tale.

The Sixth Novel Michele Scalza proves to certain young men that the Baronci are the best gentlemen in the world and the Maremma, and wins a supper; Fiammetta narrates it.The Seventh Novel Madonna Filippa, being found by her husband with her lover, is cited before the court, and by a ready and clever answer acquits herself, and brings about an alteration of the statute; Filostrato narrates this tale.The Eighth NovelFresco admonishes his niece not to look at herself in the glass, if it is, as she says, grievous to her to see nasty folk; Emilia narrates. The Ninth NovelGuido Cavalcanti by a quip meetly rebukes certain Florentine gentlemen who had taken him at a disadvantage; Elissa narrates it.The Tenth Novel Friar Cipolla promises to show certain country-folk a feather of the Angel Gabriel, in lieu of which he finds coals, which he avers to be of those with which Saint Lawrence was roasted; Dioneo narrates this story.

11th century Arab Love Poetry; lady worship; joi (sexual)

12th century

Troubadour Poetry; fin'amors--adultery (Bernart de Ventadorn); Conjugal Courtly Love (Marie de France)

13th centuryEVE & MARY: Marian Cult and

Love Poetry; mixture of love and religion (Laura, Beatrice)

Courtly Love as a concept, if not as a practice, developed out of a mixture of Arab Love Poetry and Troubadour Poetry. The Cult of the Virgin Mary got mixed in a bit later:11th century Arab Love Poetry; lady worship;

joy(sexual)

12th centuryTroubadour Poetry; fin'amors--adultery (Bernart de Ventadorn); Conjugal Courtly Love (Marie de France)

13th centuryEVE & MARY: Marian Cult and Love Poetry; mixture of love and religion

(Laura, Beatrice)

There are three unique aspects of Courtly Love:

 the ennobling force of human love

the elevation of the beloved above the lover

 love as ever unsatisfied, ever increasing desire

This power of transformation, of ennobling the character of the lover, is the distinguishing characteristic of Courtly Love. Courtly love is something entirely new in Europe, and the major source of our modern ideas about romantic love.

Courtly love:

Ruleskeep it secret be wise and restrained in conduct be generous and charitable be humble, not proud offer service to all ladiesdo what is pleasing to your loved one associate with good men; avoid the wicked

jealousy increases love

DECAMERON

Wit is the most common weapon used among the characters of the Novella to harm each other. Wit is also employed by many characters in retaliation, or to escape a potentially dangerous situation. Wit is sometimes the only way to redeem themselves or avoid trouble.

Theme: WIT

Skill in the sense of ability to juggle. All the characters including those of low estate may redeem themselves with the exercise of virtue. The virtues which Boccaccio has in mind is the use of reason and intelligence.Ingenuity is the merchant for the realization of his trade.

Comenius Project

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