• Reflections on the brigata’s interruption of their routine
    • On day 3, the daily queen is Neifile, theme is people who have gained/recovered things from their own resourcefulness
    • Neifile insists that the group stops storytelling over the weekend so they can reflect on spiritual matters, restart on Sunday
      • On Friday, they would meditate on Christ’s crucifixion, and on Saturday, they would pay respect to the Virgin Mary
    • Ladies will wash their hair over the weekend, important detail of personal hygiene such as when they washed their hands on Day One
  • Change of Location
    • The brigata moves to a different palace with a large, enclosed garden in order to ensure that no one else will come
    • The new palace’s garden is much bigger than the old one’s, and it combines nature with civilization (marble, mills, channels, water, plants, animals, etc.)
    • Garden resembles a typical Mediterranean or Italian garden
      • Group decides to eat there, with the tables arranged around the fountain
      • Spend time reading romances, playing chess (which was previously not allowed), throwing dice (gambling), and napping
        • Interesting that they allow for more “competitive” activities like chess and gambling
      • Stands as stark contrast to the urban, plagued Florence
      • Enclosed garden implies safety
  • theology vs. eroticism on day 3
    • Day 3 seems to be surrounded with theology; a two day break for prayer, and then the stories are told in a garden which resembles the Garden of Eden
    • The stories told on the day contrast with this theological background, and they mix the secular and sacred in unique ways
    • The stories focus on erotic instinct and female sexuality as well as class concerns
  • Tale of Masetto III.1
    • Denies the claim that nuns have no sexual desire due to religion or fatigue
    • The tale stages a complicity between Masetto and the nuns to address a common desire
      • Starts out as equals, but eventually Masetto is on the losing side as there are too many women to satisfy
      • Claims that a woman’s sexual capacity is higher than a man
    • The theme of muteness has already been touched upon in II.7 and it returns here as a catalyst for seduction
    • The garden in the story is enclosed, as is the brigata’s
    • Interpretations
      • Condemn the story for its amorality
      • Celebrate it for its insistence on “natural” sexual instincts
      • Has ties between the Garden of Eden (no desires before sin) and the human world that resulted from leaving the Garden
        • Bocaccio writes about the loss of harmony that resulted from leaving the Garden, and one of the side effects is the lovesickness that the Author writes about
    • Nuns traditionally became brides of Christ and forewent physical desire in favor of spiritual satisfaction
      • In medieval and Renaissance, many men and women entered religious life out of economic necessity instead of free will
      • Bocaccio doesn’t question those who are honest in their intentions, but acknowledges that they are often in a state of unfulfillment much of the time
        • Refuses to condemn them for acting on their desires
    • Bocaccio mocks the thought of theologians and doctors
      • Many want to think that nuns leave their sexual instinct behind when they enter religious life
      • The Greek theory of humors thought of women as lesser creatures than humans who needed to be controlled, leading to their isolation
    • Use of many double entendres, such as “I’m going to work your garden for you better than it’s ever been worked before”
      • Never uses explicit profanity, never names body parts
      • Juxtaposed with the last tale of day 2, in which a man doesn’t have sex with his wife and she leaves him
    • Boccaccio encourages the reader to compare the brigata’s garden (recently spiritualized) with the nun’s garden (defiled)
    • Joke of the story relies on the tradition that nuns are “brides of Christ”
    • Masetto is rewarded with many children and believes that “this was the way, he maintained, that Christ treated anyone who set a pair of cuckold’s horns on His crown”
      • The cuckold is someone whose partner is sleeping with someone’s else, and they often wear horns
      • The joke is that Christ approves when Masetto sleeps with the nuns
      • In II.10, the neighboring women make the gesture of the cuckold when the wife has sex with her lover
    • By pretending to be deaf and mute, Masetto induces situational irony when the nuns talk about sex in front of him; also lays the groundwork for his “miraculous recovery”
      • The miracle of regaining hearing is not because he actually regained it, but because the nuns had been using him for their sexual desire
      • Ideas of miracles have prevailed in other stories; Ser Ciappelletto was miraculously saved
      • Miracles are a handy way of excusing human behavior
  • Tale of Alibech III.10
    • Illicit story, ignored by critics until 1929
    • In D.H. Lawrence’s book Pornography and Obscenity, Lawrence argues that such stories should be shared in order to have a more open discussion about sex
      • The story is also seen as extremely obscene and misogynistic
    • Boccaccio is offering a parody of the “monk going out to the desert to become spiritually enlightened” trope (Journey to the West)
      • The Life of Maria the Harlot in particular was a very similar story that followed a young girl who lived in the desert as a hermit
        • Maria becomes seduced by a monk after she lives there for 18 years
        • Maria turns to prostitution because she is ashamed, and her uncle visits her (pretending to be a customer) and tells her that she should not be ashamed
        • Maria dies a saint in the desert
    • Comparisons between Maria and Alibech
      • Maria’s uncle exhibits paternal love and responsibility while Rustico acts as a father figure and seduces/rapes her
      • Both are seduced by a monk in the desert, but Maria is ashamed while Alibech is not
      • Maria willingly leaves the city to return to the desert while Alibech is reluctant to leave the desert and go to the city
      • Maria experiences trauma from her sexual experience while Alibech does not and wears out Rustico instead
    • Boccaccio argues that sex is human behavior and a necessary evil
      • Both Rustico and Alibech fall victim to their sexual desires
      • Alibech thinks of her sexual experience as a one-time thing while Rustico knows that he is sinning
      • Rustico acts in bad faith but Alibech does not
      • Alibech represents innocence
    • Alibech lives in a sinless world; she doesn’t feel guilt because she believes her motives are pure
      • Women tell her that her new husband will help with those motives
      • Alibech represents a “pure” sexual drive, while Rustico represents a sinful one
    • Rustico’s sins
      • First sin was pride, believed that he could resist the temptations of Alibech’s young body but failed
      • Second sin was lust, could not recognize the control lust had over him
      • Alibech commits neither of those sins, and her sexual drive is approved in this story through marriage and bearing children
    • Alibech’s blameless behavior
      • Boccaccio believes that if one has pure intentions, then they will earn God’s grace
    • Keep III.10 in mind while reading IV.1
      • Boccaccio achieves a comic effect through merging eroticism and asceticism
      • Alibech’s experience is predicated on her innocence, and she has to face the city and face its social constructs after leaving the desert
      • How is this similar to what the brigata memebers must do after they leave the palace?
  • Brief thoughts on Bocaccio’s “On Poetry” and the defense of figurative thinking
    • Excerpt from a larger work where Bocaccio discusses the family histories of pagan Greco-Roman gods
    • Boccaccio defends literary writing and poetry which is the main idea of the Decameron
    • Insists that writing often has “hidden” meanings which is the main benefit of poetry
    • Boccaccio argues for studying texts and finding deeper meaning; refers to Biblical texts, such as when Jessu spoke in parables