The Decameron Essay - 1759 Words

The Decameron BOCCACCIO, GIOVANNI Born in 1313, Giovanni Boccaccio is one of the greatest figures in Italian Literature. He was born in Paris, France by a French woman who remains unknown, but on many occasion he speaks very highly of her. His father is an Italian; they are part of the middle class. As for their professional status, they were Merchants / Bankers. Although, Bocaccio was born out of wedlock, his father legitimized him and took him to his house, provided him with a family and a good education. In 1340 Boccaccio moved to Florence where he meets Petrarch in 1350, his mentor. He began study Greek and Roman Classics. During 1339 to 1351 he writes The Decameron one of the most noted and readable book in all†¦show more content†¦They are merchants of grain with hired help who take their social power very seriously. Lorenzo, one of their lead workers who takes care of their business is the handsome young man that Ellisabetta falls heads over heels for. She and Lorenzo share the same compassion and love for one another and they ignore the social acceptance of their relationship. Unfortunately, Ellisabetta’s brothers are not in agreement with this love affair and are furious about the disgrace to their family. They are so disturbed about this relationship that they kill Lorenzo. This misfortune, in turn, creates a major change in their sister’s behavior causing her to be unhappy at all times and without any desire to do anything other than cry. Furthermore, one night Ellisabetta has a dream where Lorenzo appears and tells her that her brothers killed him and where they buried him. Ellisabetta, being so blindly in love, went out the next morning to confirm her dream. To her surprise she found Lorenzo’s dead body. Her first reaction was to take him along with her. Since, he was too heavy, she decided to take his head. This behavior reflects a girl’s first and only love that keeps her from forgetting that life goes on. Ellisabetta demonstrates without Lorenzo there is no meaning in life. She could only keep living with a part of him b y putting his head in a pot. Ellisabetta buries it with dirt and plants basil over it. This plant becomes her savior or peace that keeps her alive. HerShow MoreRelatedComparison Between Boccaccio s The Decameron 1296 Words   |  6 PagesIn the community that Giovanni Boccaccio’s The Decameron is set in, females are held at a lower social ranking than males. As with most communities up till relatively recently in the past, women were not permitted to have a significant role in the community, other than that of a wife and matriarch. In The Decameron, Boccaccio shows that while they may not have notable social ranking, females do have an advantage in most aspects of the male-female relationship. Even though the tales deal with a rangeRead MoreAnalysis Of The Of The Decameron 1761 Words   |  8 PagesHIS 538 History and Literature in Renaissance Italy Liberty and Gender in Boccaccio Justin Chmiel October 2, 2014 In his tales of the Decameron, Giovanni Boccaccio created a comedic image of early Renaissance urban life. It would be easy to dismiss these tales entirely from the historical record, but, even though they may be fiction, these tales were fabricated from the world that Boccaccio knew. If the author drew the details of his stories from the reality around him, should it not be possibleRead MoreAnalysis of Giovanni Boccaccios The Decameron670 Words   |  3 Pagesï » ¿Reaction paper: The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio is not a singular, enclosed text but rather a series of texts that unfold as a result of a frame tale. The Decameron is set during the plague in Italy, and at the beginning of the story, various people have fled the city and are hiding away in the countryside. They tell tales to pass the time and to amuse themselves and these tales make up The Decameron. The conceit is very similar to that of The CanterburyRead MoreThe Thousand And One Nights And The Decameron2080 Words   |  9 Pagesquestioned, and this is where gender roles and social norms started to be a huge factor in everyday life. In both the thousand and one nights and the Decameron, women are seen as not worthy of much and are seen as being downgraded in many situations. Even though certain social norms and behaviors are portrayed in the thousand and one nights and the Decameron, there were events that broke the social norms and gave power to women when that was not common in the time f rames these stories are written in.Read More The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio2310 Words   |  10 Pagesâ€Å"You are to look upon this grim opening as travelers on foot confront a steep, rugged mountain: beyond it lies a most enchanting plain which they appreciate all the more for having toiled up and down the mountain first,† (Boccaccio, pg. 7). The Decameron, by Giovanni Boccaccio embodies this verse. Until this time period, religion guided society like an invisible hand pushing everyone along. Throughout many generation religion evolved. From polytheism to monotheism, form idols to churches, peopleRead MoreThe Decameron: Misogynist or Feminist?2135 Words   |  9 PagesThe Decameron: A Feminist or Misogynist text? Giovanni Boccaccio is one of the leading Italian writers in the 1300s and has been considered as the father of Italian writing style through his composition of one hundred novelle. The Decameron continuously pictures women not as the objects of discussion but as the active producers and interpreters of their actions. Women are portrayed as they are or as they should be; they are shown to be as aggressive as men are while at the same time they can beRead MoreGiovanni Boccaccio’s The Decameron Essay1817 Words   |  8 PagesBoccaccios the Decameron, written in the Early Renaissance, is a sharp social commentary that reflected the ideas and themes of the Renaissance and of Renaissance Humanism. His tales of nuns and priests caught in compromising situations, corrupt clergy selling chances to see religious artifacts, and of wives cheating on their husbands show the changing ideals of the time and the corruption that was running rampant within the church and in the lives of the g eneral populace. The Decameron speaks againstRead MoreBoccaccio’s The Decameron Essay842 Words   |  4 Pages The Decameron, by Boccaccio, is a frame story written in the mid fourteenth century. There are a hundred stories told over a span of ten days. On the second day, a man tells a story about a princess, Alatiel, who was sent away to marry a king. Before Alatiel reaches her destination, she has sexual experiences with a lot of different men. Alatiel is treated like an object and allows this objectification to happen because she is so fickle and does nothing to stop the men. The fickleness of AlatielRead MoreThe Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio1638 Words   |  6 Pages In the book, The Decameron, by Giovanni Boccaccio, there is many tales but I am only going to speak of two.The first tale, Fabricio Goes to Naples, was told by Fiammetta. Fiammetta’s story differs from the rest of the stories by, his has many dangers that occur in one night rather than over a period of years. The second tale, Bernardo di Rossini and His Wife, was told by Dioneo. This story was different than the others by, it was a comedy story, showing to laugh over bad things than over virtuousRead MoreAnalysis Of Boccaccio s The Decameron 1345 Words   |  6 Pages Throughout the various novelle of the Decameron there lies a rather conflicting role of women in relation to the society that Boccaccio s Decameron was set in. From novella to novella the theme of women s gender role fluctuates between misogynistic to feminist. It can be argued that Boccaccio was a feminist ahead of his time or that he shared the traditional views towards women of 14th century Italy. Overall, it is fair to say that Boccaccio does depict women as transcending men in many respects