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by Giovanni
Boccaccio
AUDIO BOOK -
CD-ROM - mp3
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. Many notable writers such as Chaucer are said to have
drawn inspiration from The Decameron (See Literary sources
and influence of the Decameron below).
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. The Decameron played a part in the history of the
novel and was finished by Giovanni Boccaccio in 1351. 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. It is also interesting to
note that a number of the stories contained within the
Decameron would later appear in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
However, it is unclear as to whether or not Chaucer had
known of the Decameron.
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: 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.
The subtitle is Prencipe Galeotto, which derives from the
opening material in which Boccaccio dedicates the work to
ladies of the day who did not have the diversions of men
(hunting, fishing, riding, falconry) who were forced to
conceal their amorous passions and stay idle and concealed
in their rooms. Thus the book is subtitled Prencipe Galeotto,
that is Galehaut, the go-between of Lancelot and Guinevere,
a nod to Dante's allusion to Galeotto in "Inferno V", who
was blamed for the arousal of lust in the episode of Paolo
and Francesca.
Boccaccio gives introductions and conclusions to each story
which describe the days activities before and after the
story-telling. These inserts frequently include
transcriptions of Italian folk songs. From the interactions
among tales told within a day (or across multiple days),
Boccaccio spins variations and reversals of previous
material to form a cohesive whole which is more than just a
collection of stories.
Beyond the unity provided by the frame narrative, Decameron
provides a unity in philosophical outlook. Throughout runs
the common medieval theme of Lady Fortune, and how quickly
one can rise and fall through the external influences of the
"Wheel of Fortune". 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 Roman Catholic
Church, priests, and religious belief become the satirical
source of comedy throughout. This was part of a wider
historical trend in the aftermath of the Black Death which
saw widespread discontent with the church.
Many details of the Decameron are infused with a medieval
sense of numerological and mystical significance. For
example, it is widely believed that the seven young women
are meant to represent the Four Cardinal Virtues (Prudence,
Justice, Temperance, and Fortitude) and the Three
Theological Virtues (Faith, Hope, and Charity). It is
further supposed that the three men represent the classical
Greek tripartite division of the soul (Reason, Spirit, and
Lust, see Book IV of Republic). Boccaccio himself notes that
the names he gives for these ten characters are in fact
pseudonyms chosen as "appropriate to the qualities of each".
The Italian names of the seven women, in the same (most
likely significant) order as given in the text, are:
Pampinea (the flourishing one), Fiammetta (small flame),
Filomena (faithful in love), Emilia (rival), Lauretta (wise,
crowned with laurels), Neifile (cloudy), and Elissa (God is
my vow).
The men, in order, are: Panfilo (completely in love),
Filostrato (overcome by love), and Dioneo (lustful).
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