Round Trip, Decameron Days 9 & 10 and Authors’ Conclusion

Wheel of the Decameron
- Slowly leaving the city and then coming back; idealistic world vs reality
Day 10
- Theme: people who have acted with liberty or magnificence
  - Magnificence refers to how people use wealth; generous spirit/soul
  - Decide to go back to moral, virtuous stories rather than explicit and carnal stories before they go back to Florence
- Panfilo suggests that the stories of Day 10 should be “role models” for them to follow
X.10: The Story of Griselda
- Significant, carried on for generations through European folklore
- A tale of female abjection? of male tyranny?
  - Must look at historical context and literary “sources” (references and analogies)
- Gualteri does not want to marry because he’d rather live freely, but his vassals want him to marry because if not, he would not have an heir (and thus, no lord)
  - He decides to marry someone who is virtuous
  - Refers to classism, Griselda is much more virtuous than her class suggests
    - Notice the change of clothes
- Griselda was often on marriage chests (chests that contain things from home to bring to husband’s home), shows that the women should be patient
  - Marriage was considered a “transfer of women”, fathers/brothers giving their daughter/sister to another man
- Historical context
  - After the plague, there was a renewed focus in art on children to celebrate maternity
  - Widows kept their dowries but not their children
  - Marriage and inheritance law supported an indifference towards children, especially illegitimate ones
    - After Boccaccio’s time, the orphanage was created to care for these unwanted children
  - Societal norms was contrived against women and children
  - The “bride price”, paid by the husband’s family, was replaced by the dowry around 1250
    - The dowry was the wife’s portion of the inheritance
    - Florentines didn’t exclusively use the dowry; they also had counter-gifts that the husband gave to the wife
    - Griselda is re-vested in her new identity/family but can be kicked out at any time
- The story has undertones regarding male anxiety of marriage
  - Fear of taking in a bad wife, displeasing his vassals, obliged to marry
  - Only marries on his own terms
- Griselda’s magnanimity is too extreme compared to other stories, as the story is too depressing to be applauded or held up as a model to follow
  - Modern readers dislike this story, but Petrarch loved the story and translated it into Latin, extending the story’s lifespan
- Spiritual Context
  - May refer to the Book of Job in the Hebrew Bible; Job suffers and bears all of his hardships as a test of God, is given everything back after admitting the power of God
  - May refer to the Story of Abraham; Abraham was ordered to slaughter his own son and complied to show loyalty, an angel stops him before he does
  - Griselda can be seen as a Christological figure or martyr
    - Starts out as a sheperd
    - Father is named Giannucolo (little John) which might refer to John the Baptist, Christ’s cousin who predicted his coming
    - Griselda is the lamb who must be sacrificed to save her community
    - Her virtue is similar to the Virgin Mary’s, does everything to please God’s will
  - Pride was the worst of sins (exhibited by Satan, Adam, and Eve) while Humility was the greatest of virtues (exhibited by Christ, Job, Mary, and Griselda)
    - St. Francis was a rich man who gave it up to become a beggar for Christianity; contemporary example of humility during Bocaccio’s time
- Griselda’s tale bookends the Decameron; compare it to Ser Ciappelleto’s story, where he is “the most evil man” while Griselda is “the most virtuous woman”
Author’s Conclusion
- Author believes that he has completely fulfilled what he promised to do
- Replies one last time to the critics
- Critics state that his stories have gone too far in writing improper things, replies that every story is written in proper language, the stories required certain freedoms, and that the stories were told in a garden instead of a church (secular)
- Argues that artists also create pieces regarding such topics
- Argues that literature (like wine, weapons, and fire) can be used for good or bad; it is up to the reader to use it
- No one is required to read the stories, so you don’t have to interact with them if you don’t want
- States that the stories were actually told, questions the fictionality of the stories
- Jests about how he does not have an evil tongue; sexual references
  - Is he giving back the lightfulness and playfulness of the Decameron after Griselda’s tale?
- Builds a defense of the pleasures of the imagination, a parting gift?
- Refers to “Galeotto”, a book read in Dante’s Inferno which was romantic in nature and sinful to the characters