MIDDLE AGES: Literature: Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales" and "The Decameron"

Geoffrey Chaucer

(born 1340/44, died 1400) is remembered as the author of The Canterbury Tales, which ranks as one of the greatest epic works of world literature. Chaucer made a crucial contribution to English literature in using English at a time when much court poetry was still written in Anglo-Norman or Latin.

Geoffrey Chaucer was born in London. He was the son of a prosperous wine merchant and deputy to the king's butler, and his wife Agnes. Little is known of his early education, but his works show that he could read French, Latin, and Italian.

In 1359-1360 Chaucer went to France with Edward III's army during the Hundred Years' War. He was captured in the Ardennes and returned to England after the treaty of Brétigny in 1360. There is no certain information of his life from 1361 until c.1366, when he perhaps married Philippa Roet, the sister of John Gaunt's future wife. Philippa died in 1387 and Chaucer enjoyed Gaunt's patronage throughout his life.

Between 1367 and 1378 Chaucer made several journeys abroad on diplomatic and commercial missions. In 1385 he lost his employment and rent-free home, and moved to Kent where he was appointed as justice of the peace. He was also elected to Parliament. This was a period of great creativity for Chaucer, during which he produced most of his best poetry, among others Troilus and Cressida (c. 1385), based on a love story by Boccaccio.

Chaucer took his narrative inspiration for his works from several sources but still remained an entirely individual poet, gradually developing his personal style and techniques. His first narrative poem, The Book of the Duchess, was probably written shortly after the death of Blanche, Duchess of Lancaster, first wife of John Gaunt, in September 1369. His next important work, The House of Fame, was written between 1374 and 1385. Soon afterward Chaucer translated The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius, and wrote the poem The Parliament of Birds.

Chaucer did not begin working on The Canterbury Tales until he was in his early 40s. The book, which was left unfinished when the author died, depicts a pilgrimage by some 30 people, who are going on a spring day in April to the shrine of the martyr, St. Thomas Becket. On the way they amuse themselves by telling stories. Among the band of pilgrims are a knight, a monk, a prioress, a plowman, a miller, a merchant, a clerk, and an oft-widowed wife from Bath. The stories are interlinked with interludes in which the characters talk with each other, revealing much about themselves.

According to tradition, Chaucer died in London on October 25, 1400. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, in the part of the church, which afterwards came to be called Poet's Corner. A monument was erected to him in 1555.

http://geoffreychaucer.org/

http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/

http://www.umm.maine.edu/faculty/necastro/chaucer/index.asp

http://www.librarius.com/cantales.htm

Date and Composition of The Canterbury Tales

The Canterbury Tales was

• written in Middle English, over a period of years between 1386-1400
• written by Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1340-1400)
• For more on Chaucer's life and times visit The Geoffrey Chaucer Homepage at Harvard.
• written in the London dialect of Middle English
• copied in approximately 80 manuscripts
• considered the greatest example of Middle English vernacular literature

http://www.public.iastate.edu/%7Egbetcher/373/Canter.htm

http://www.unc.edu/depts/chaucer/

Chaucer - The Canterbury Tales

http://www.siue.edu/CHAUCER/

http://www.litrix.com/canterby/cante001.htm

http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/webcore/murphy/canterbury/

http://www.uwm.edu/Library/special/exhibits/clastext/clspg073.htm

Summary of "The Canterbury Tales"

In the beauty of April, the Narrator and 29 oddly assorted travelers happen to meet at the Tabard Inn in Southwark, London. This becomes the launching point for their 60-mile, four-day religious journey to the shrine of St. Thomas … Becket at the Cathedral in Canterbury. Great blessing and forgiveness were to be heaped upon those who made the pilgrimage; relics of the saint were enshrined there, and miracles had been reported by those who prayed before the shrine. Chaucer's pilgrims, however, are not all traveling for religious reasons. Many of them simply enjoy social contact or the adventure of travel.

As the travelers are becoming acquainted, their Host, the innkeeper Harry Bailley, decides to join them. He suggests that they pass the time along the way by telling stories. Each pilgrim is to tell four stories - two on the way to Canterbury, and two on the return trip - a total of 120 stories. He will furnish dinner at the end of the trip to the one who tells the best tale. The framework is thus laid out for the organization of The Canterbury Tales.

Chaucer, the Narrator, observes all of the characters as they are arriving and getting acquainted. He describes in detail most of the travelers which represent a cross-section of fourteenth-century English society. All levels are represented, beginning with the Knight who is the highest ranking character socially. Several levels of holiness and authority in the clergy are among the pilgrims while the majority of the characters are drawn from the middle class. A small number of the peasent class are also making the journey, most of them as servants to other pilgrims.

As the travelers begin their journey the next morning, they draw straws to see who will tell the first tale. The Knight draws the shortest straw. He begins the storytelling with a long romantic epic about two brave young knights who both fall in love with the same woman and who spend years attempting to win her love.

Everyone enjoys the tale and they agree that the trip is off to an excellent start. When the Host invites the Monk to tell a story to match the Knight's, the Miller, who is drunk, becomes so rude and insistent that he be allowed to go next that the Host allows it. The Miller's tale is indeed very funny, involving several tricks and a very dirty prank as a young wife conspires with her lover to make love to him right under her husband's nose.

The Miller's fabliau upsets the Reeve because it involves an aging carpenter being cuckolded by his young wife, and the Reeve himself is aging and was formerly a carpenter. Insulted by the Miller, the Reeve retaliates with a tale about a miller who is made a fool of in very much the same manner as the carpenter in the preceding rendition.

After the Reeve, the Cook speaks up and begins to tell another humorous adventure about a thieving, womanizing young apprentice. Chaucer did not finish writing this story; it stops almost at the beginning.

When the dialogue among the travelers resumes, the morning is half gone and the Host, Harry Bailley, urges the Man of Law to begin his entry quickly. Being a lawyer, the Man of Law is very long-winded and relates a very long story about the life of a noblewoman named Constance who suffers patiently and virtuouly through a great many terrible trials. In the end she is rewarded for her perseverence.

The Man of Law's recital, though lengthy, has pleased the other pilgrims very much. Harry Bailley then calls upon the Parson to tell a similar tale of goodness; but the Shipman, who wants to hear no more sermonizing, says he will take his turn next and will tell a merry story without a hint of preaching. Indeed, his story involves a lovely wife who cuckolds her husband to get money for a new dress and gets away with the whole affair.

Evidently looking for contrast in subject matter, the Host next invites the Prioress to give them a story. Graciously, she relates a short legend about a little schoolboy who is martyred and through whose death a miracle takes place.

After hearing this miraculous narrative, all of the travelers become very subdued, so the Host calls upon the Narrator (Chaucer) to liven things up. Slyly making fun of the Host's literary pretensions, Chaucer recites a brilliant parody on knighthood composed in low rhyme. Harry hates Chaucer's poem and interrupts to complain; again in jest, Chaucer tells a long, boring version of an ancient myth. However, the Host is very impressed by the serious moral tone of this inferior tale and is hightly complimentary.

Since the myth just told involved a wise and patient wife, Harry Bailley takes this opportunity to criticize his own shrewish wife. He then digresses further with a brief commentary on monks which leads him to call upon the pilgrim Monk for his contribution to the entertainment.

The Monk belies his fun-loving appearance by giving a disappointing recital about famous figures who are brought low by fate. The Monk's subject is so dreary that the Knight stops him, and the Host berates him for lowering the morale of the party. When the Monk refuses to change his tone, the Nun's Priest accepts the Host's request for a happier tale. The Priest renders the wonderful fable of Chanticleer, a proud rooster taken in by the flattery of a clever fox.

Harry Bailley is wildly enthusiastic about the Priest's tale, turning very bawdy in his praise. The earthy Wife of Bath is chosen as the next participant, probably because the Host suspects that she will continue in the same bawdy vein. However, the Wife turns out to be quite a philosopher, prefacing her tale with a long discourse on marriage. When she does tell her tale, it is about the marriage of a young and virile knight to an ancient hag.

When the Wife has concluded, the Friar announces that he will tell a worthy tale about a summoner. He adds that everyone knows there is nothing good to say about summoners and tells a story which proves his point.

Infuriated by the Friar's insulting tale, the Summoner first tells a terrible joke about friars and then a story which condemns them, too. His rendering is quite coarse and dirty.bHoping for something more uplifting next, the Host gives the Cleric his chance, reminding the young scholar not to be too scholarly and to put in some adventure. Obligingly, the Cleric entertains with his tale of the cruel Walter of Saluzzo who tested his poor wife unmercifully.

The Cleric's tale reminds the Merchant of his own unhappy marriage and his story reflects his state. It is yet another tale of a bold, unfaithful wife in a marriage with a much older man

When the Merchant has finished, Harry Bailley again interjects complaints about his own domineering wife, but then requests a love story of the Squire. The young man begins an exotic tale that promises to be a fine romance, but Chaucer did not complete this story, so it is left unfinished.

The dialogue resumes with the Franklin complimenting the Squire and trying to imitate his eloquence with an ancient lyric of romance. There is no conversation among the pilgrims before the Physician's tale. His story is set in ancient Rome and concerns a young virgin who prefers death to dishonor.

The Host has really taken the Physician's sad story to heart and begs the Pardoner to lift his spirits with a happier tale. However, the other pilgrims want something more instructive, so the Pardoner obliges. After revealing himself to be a very wicked man, the Pardoner instructs the company with an allegory about vice leading three young men to their deaths. When he is finished, the Pardoner tries to sell his fake relics to his fellow travellers, but the Host prevents him, insulting and angering him in the process. The Knight has to intervene to restore peace.

The Second Nun then tells the moral and inspiring life of St. Cecelia. About five miles later, a Canon and his Yeoman join the party, having ridden madly to catch up. Converstion reveals these men to be outlaws of sorts, but they are made welcome and invited to participate in the storytelling all the same.

When the Canon's Yeoman reveals their underhanded business, the Canon rides off in a fit of anger, and the Canon's Yeoman relates a tale about a cheating alchemist, really a disclosure about the Canon.

It is late afternoon by the time the Yeoman finishes and the Cook has become so drunk that he falls off his horse. There is an angry interchange between the Cook and the Manciple, and the Cook has to be placated with more wine. The Manciple then tells his story, which is based on an ancient myth and explains why the crow is black.

At sundown the Manciple ends his story. The Host suggests that the Parson conclude the day of tale-telling with a fable.

However, the Parson preaches a two-hour sermon on penitence instead. The Canterbury Tales end here.

http://www.enotes.com/canterbury/

Themes in "The Canterbury Tales"

Changing of the Guard

During the time that The Canterbury Tales was written, England was going through a large political and social change. The long-held traditions of religious piety and the feudal system had been radically altered when an epidemic of the bubonic plague had reduced the population severely. Therefore, a society that kept all but the richest of its subjects in servitude to the land and kept them in line by fear of the Christian Church began to fall apart, with many religious wars, and more importantly in Chaucer, the emergence of a middle class. The Middle class is very important because they tend to question long-held beliefs of a single moral standard and the validity of religion in their lives. The Knight is one of the only characters who comes from a noble position, and keeps to the old ideals of chivalry and fairness. It is fitting that he tells the first story of the Tales, almost as an epilogue to an era instead of a prologue to Chaucer’s stories.

People gained a freedom to think more for themselves than they ever had before, and so different theories about what is right and wrong and best and worst come up, and are discussed, evaluated, and often argued vehemently in Chaucer’s Tales.

Saintly or Sinner

Chaucer plays with the concept in religion in The Canterbury tales. He shows that many clergymen are corrupt, both by the stories that the pilgrims tell and the pilgrims themselves, for example the Summoner and Pardoner. In fact, most of the characters of The Canterbury Tales have a loose interpretation, or no interpretation, of morality as told by the Bible. The Sailor, the Reeve, and the Miller tell racy bar-room stories, and the Wife of Bath speaks of her many husbands, and many years of marital experience, in a way that puts quite a different interpretation on religious and moral beliefs of her day.

Characters that keep to a strict moral compass are few; the Prioress and her company are the most notable examples. However, even they have an altered view of morality. In the Prioress’ Tale, she exalts a young boy as a martyr, but condemns the entire Jewish Race in the same breath. Historically, this was an accepted thing for Christians to do, but Chaucer puts the story there as a subtle attack on the intolerance of Christianity.

Crime and Punishment

In each story of The Canterbury Tales, a punishment, revenge, or retaliation always occurs. However, the nature of what should be punished varies from character to character more than any other theme in the book. As was mentioned above, the Prioress considers cold-blooded murder of an innocent, or more generally, any attack on Christianity, a sin that must be punished. The Friar gives a litany of stories where great rulers were destroyed because of their greed, arrogance, or ignorance. On a much lighter side, Promiscuity is rarely seen as a sin to be punished, but as a punishment for some other sin. For example, in the Reeve’s Tale, the Character of the Miller tries to rob the two students of their grain, but they get the best of him by sleeping with his wife and teenaged daughter. In many other stories, husband’s inattention is reason enough for them to be punished by their wives infidelity.

Wives and Husbands

Another theme of The Canterbury Tales is what makes a good wife or husband. The stories range from ones that empower the wives, like the Wife of Bath’s Tale, and at the other spectrum, the Scholar’s tale, where the wife endures patiently and happily sadistic griefs that her husband tests her with, such as pretending to kill their children and pretending to divorce her.

http://www.novelguide.com/thecanterburytales/themeanalysis.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/canterburytales/episodeguide/millers_tale/index.shtml

http://media.guardian.co.uk/overnights/story/0,7965,1040731,00.html

Summary of the Miller's Tale

A doddery old carpenter, John, lived with his beautiful young wife, Alison, and their lodger Nicholas. Alison had a 'lecherous eye' and it was not long before Nicholas made a pass at the lovely young woman. She played hard to get a bit but eventually gave in and they decided to wait for the opportunity to consummate their passions.

In the meantime, another young man, the parish clerk, fell for Alison and her lecherous eye. His name was Absalom and he decided to go and serenade Alison one night, under her bedroom window, waking both Alison and her husband John but eliciting a response from neither of them. This upset Absalom but he didn't give up, continuing in his attempts to woo her, which were essentially fruitless as she was in love with Nicholas the lodger. In fact, Absalom became a bit of a joke to her.

The time came for Nicholas and Alison to secure their time alone together with an elaborate ruse.

Nicholas sequestered himself away in his room in silence for several, arousing the suspicions of the concerned carpenter. Eventually, John and the serving-boy go to find out what is wrong with Nicholas only to find him sprawled over his bed as if in a trance. They break in and attempt to rouse Nicholas.

Eventually, he explained that he had received word from God that there was to be a huge flood, twice as bad as Noah's. John was mightily concerned about this and particularly the safety of his wife. Fortunately, Nicholas had a plan!

He suggested that John find three kneading troughs big enough for each to sit in one as a canoe and fill them with enough food to sustain them for one day. These troughs were then to be hidden in the eves of the roof, below the thatching to keep them secret and the house prepared so that they might make their escape when the floods came.

When John, on his way to begin the preparations, told his wife Alison she made a good show of being afraid and sent him off to help save her.

When the night of Nicholas' foreseen flood came, all three climbed into their troughs in the rafters, and prepared themselves but John, exhausted from his hard work, soon fell asleep. Nicholas and Alison took their chance, climbed down their ladders and went to bed.

The next day, concerned that John's absence from church might provide him a chance to romance Alison, Absalon visited the carpenter's home. Underneath her window, Absalon called out to Alison. She told him he was a fool and should go away but he persisted and asked for a kiss. Giggling with Nicholas, she grants his wish and as he prepares himself for the kiss she sticks her bum out of the window. He kisses it and is disgusted when he realises the joke that has been played by Nicholas and Alison.

Absalon decided to get his revenge. He visited the local blacksmith, borrowed a hot branding iron and returned to the carpenter's house. Underneath the same window he called for another kiss.

This time Nicholas decided to put his bum through the window and fart. As he did so, Absalon placed the branding iron on his buttocks!

The ensuing yells and scream awoke John the carpenter, who fell from the rafters and began rambling on about 'Nowell's Flood' to derision and accusations of lunacy from the villagers.

The whole affair became a village joke.

http://www.luminarium.org/medlit/miller.htm

Chaucer's ‘Miller's Tale' Shows Social Dynamic

http://www.nortexinfo.net/McDaniel/chaucer.htm

Chaucer’s Miller and his Tale Medieval ribaldry at its very best

http://www.gloriana.nu/miller.html

Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, "Miller’s Prologue and Tale"

http://faculty.goucher.edu/eng211/miller.htm

The Unspeakable Act in the Miller's Tale

http://johnmclaughlin.hypermart.net/kiss.htm

About the Miller's Tale

http://www.siue.edu/CHAUCER/miller.html

http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/canttales/milt/

http://www.lone-star.net/mall/literature/miller.htm

Giovanni Boccaccio

(1313 - 1375)

Italian novelist, born in Paris, his father, a merchant from Certaldo and a man of some prominence in Florence, had gone into business in Paris. Shortly afterwards the elder Boccaccio deserted Giannina, the mother of Giovanni, and brought the boy to Florence where he put him to school until he was ten years old, when he took him into business. In 1327 Giovanni was sent to Naples to study law. But he gave himself up almost entirely to literature, and became intimately acquainted with some of the most prominent men and women of the court of Anjou. It is supposed that it was in 1334 that he saw for the first time Maria d'Acquino, a married woman and natural daughter of King Robert. She was the inspiration of his earlier works, and the heroine of whom he tells under the name of Fiammetta. In 1340 we find him back in Florence; on the death of his father in 1348, he became the guardian of a younger brother. He held certain public offices in Florence and was entrusted with diplomatic missions to Padua, the Romagna, Avignon, and elsewhere. After 1350 began his friendship with Petrarch, which lasted until the latter's death in 1374. In spite of his advanced age and the political dissensions in Florence which afflicted him sorely, he began, in 1373, his course of lectures in that city on the poems of Dante. He died two years later at his ancestral home in Certaldo.

The earliest, longest, and perhaps the weakest of Boccaccio's works is the "Filocolo", written between 1338 and 1340; it is a version of the story, widespread in the Middle Ages, of Floire and Blanchefleur, and contains a curious admixture of pagan myths and Christian legends. The "Ameto", written in the two following years, is an allegorical novel, telling, among other love-adventures, the sad story of the life of Boccaccio's mother. The "Amorosa Visione", in praise of love, dates from about the year 1342, and consists of fifty cantos in terzine, and the initial letters of the verses form an acrostic of two sonnets and one ballata. The "Teseide", probably of the year 1341, is the first artistic work in ottava rima. It contains many imitations of antiquity, and was widely read up to the sixteenth century. Tasso thought so highly of it that he annotated it. The subject is the story of Palemon and Arcite which Chaucer used for his "Knight's Tale".

The "Filostrato", written in the same year and likewise in ottava rima, tells of the love of Troilus for Chryseis. The subject may have been suggested to Boccaccio by his adventure with Fiammetta. The "Ninfale Fiesolano", a short poem in ottava rima, is the best, in style and invention, of the minor works of Boccaccio. The "Fiammetta" is one of the best written of his works, the most original and the most personal. Panfilo, the hero and lover of Fiammetta, is supposed to represent Boccaccio himself. The "Corbaccio" (1354) has had its admirers, but it is one of the most bitter and indecent satires ever written against woman. The "Vita di Dante" (about 1364), based chiefly on information furnished by contemporaries of Dante, remains one of the best lives of the poet. The "Commento sopra la Commedia", the fruit of his public lectures on Dante, was planned to be a colossal work, but Boccaccio had commented only upon the first seventeen cantos when it was broken off by his death.

Boccaccio shares with Petrarch the honor of being the earliest humanist. In their time there were not a dozen men in Italy who could read the works of the Greek authors in the original. Boccaccio had to support at his house for three years a teacher of Greek, with whom he read the poems of Homer. Of Boccaccio's Latin works the following are to be mentioned: "De genealogiis deorum gentilium" (between 1350 and 1360), but published first in 1373. This dictionary of classical mythology shows remarkably wide reading and a very good understanding of the works of the ancients and, in spite of errors which it could not but contain, it continued for several hundred years to be an authority for the student of classical antiquity. Two biographical works: "De claris mulieribus" and "De casibus virorum illustrium" (between 1357 and 1363) are of little interest, since they tell of men and women of ancient times and but rarely of the author's contemporaries. There remain the Latin letters and eclogues, which are not of much worth, and eight or ten unimportant works which have been ascribed to Boccaccio.

The book with which Boccaccio's name is inseparably linked is the "Decameron", which was finished in 1353, but part of which had probably been written before the "Black Death" reached its height in 1348. The "Decameron" opens with a masterly description of the terrors of the pest, and we are then introduced to a gay company of seven ladies and three young men who have come together at a villa outside Naples to while away the time and to escape the epidemic. Each in turn presides for a day over the company and on each of the ten days each of the company tells a story, so that at the end one hundred stories have been told. It is difficult to say whether such a company as Boccaccio describes ever met. At all events, he says that he has taken pains to conceal the real names of the persons mentioned in the stories. There are reasons to believe, however, that Fiammetta is the same lady to whom Boccaccio has given that name in other works, while Dioneo may well represent Boccaccio himself.

The great charm of the "Decameron" lies in the wonderful richness and variety of the adventures which he relates, in the many types of character and the close analysis of all shades of feeling and passion, from the basest to the noblest. The style is now Ciceronian, now that of the everyday speech of Florence. The sentence-structure is, to be sure, often involved and inverted, and it often requires several readings to enjoy a full understanding of the phrase. Boccaccio found the germs of his novelle in other literatures, in historic events, and in tradition, but, like Shakespeare, whatever he borrowed he made his own and living, by placing the adventures in the lives of his contemporaries. The indecency which is the greatest blot on the "Decameron", but to which it undoubtedly owes not a little of its celebrity, is no greater than is to be found elsewhere in medieval literature, and is due as much to the time and the circle in which the work was written as to the temperament of the author. He himself in his later years expressed deep repentance for the too free works of his youth; moreover, his jibes and anecdotes at the expense of clerics did not impair his belief in the teachings of the Church. Boccaccio's character was by no means a despicable one. He was a steadfast friend, a son who felt tenderly for his mother and never forgave his father for having abandoned her. He speaks with affection of his daughters who had died in childhood; it is not known who their mother was. He was a scholar of the first rank for his time, a man of independent character, and a good patriot.

No autograph copy of the "Decameron" exists, but there are three manuscript copies dating from the fourteenth century. The first edition was not printed until 1470 in Venice, and since then numerous editions have appeared, but there is as yet no critical edition. Of the modern editions P. Fanfani's is convenient (2 vols., reprinted Florence, 1890). An excellent school edition of selected novelle with notes is that of R. Fornaciari (Florence, 1890). The "Decameron" has been translated into nearly every European tongue; the first complete English edition dates from 1620.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02607a.htm

DECAMERON LIMERICK PAGE

http://www.sfu.ca/~finley/decameron.html

Comparing The Canterbury Tales to the Decameron

http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/special/authors/boccaccio/

http://www.sfu.ca/~finley/reasons.html

Boccaccio: The Ultimate Survivor Part 1: Il Decamerone—Precursor to Reality-Based TV Shows?

http://italian.about.com/library/weekly/aa011701a.htm

About "The Decameron"

The Decameron is a novel that was finished by Giovanni Boccaccio in 1353. To establish the frame narrative or frame tale for the book, Boccaccio begins his work with a description of the Bubonic Plague (specifically the epidemic which hit Florence in 1348, see Black Death) and leads into an introduction of a group of seven young women and three young men who flee from Plague-ridden Florence to a villa outside of Naples. To pass the time, each member of the party tells one story for each one of the ten nights spent at the villa. In this manner, 100 stories are told by the end of the ten days.

Furthermore, each of the ten characters is charged as ruler of the company for one of the ten days in turn. This charge extends to dictating the content of the stories for that day, so that there is a very loose organization to the tales (although adherence to this concept is not very strict). The themes range from "stories of bad luck unexpectedly changed to happiness" (day two, under Filomena) to the considerably more interesting "stories of deceptions women have played on their husbands" (day seven, under the rule of Dioneo). Each day also includes a short introduction and conclusion to continue the frame of the tales by describing other daily activities besides story-telling. One of the most notable stories is the Tale of Filippa.

As may already be obvious, the circumstances described in the Decameron are heavily 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 Love). It is further supposed that the three men represent the traditional Greek tripartite division of the soul (Reason, Anger, and Lust). It should further be noted that the names given 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, Fiammetta, Filomena, Emilia, Lauretta, Neifile, and Elissa. The men, in order, are: Panfilo, Filostrato, and Dioneo.

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. The basic plots of the stories themselves should not be taken as Boccaccio's inventions however; they are based on older Italian sources, or sometimes French or Latin ones. 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 not known whether Chaucer had known of the novel).

Scenes from the Decameron were fairly popular subjects for renaissance painters, for example Titian. Pier Paolo Pasolini made a film based on the stories in The Decameron called, appropriately, "The Decameron".

Summary of The Decameron

Frame Narrative
The plague is ravaging the city of Florence and people are dying in great numbers. All social order, customs, and traditions are undermined. Fear leads to a breakdown of social relations and to the neglect of both the living and the dying. Ten young people (seven ladies--Pampinea, Fiammetta, Filomena, Emilia, Lauretta, Neifile, and Elissa-- and three gentlemen--Panfilo, Filostrato, and Dioneo) flee from the city and seek refuge in a countryside estate where they pass the time telling stories and enjoying each other's company. They deliberately abstain from competitive games and choose instead forms of entertainment which give pleasure to everyone (music, dance, song, feasting, storytelling). Each member of the group tells one story each day for ten days (hence the "decameron" or ten days).

First Day: First Story
The scoundrel Ser Cepperello manages to pass himself off as a virtuous man during his last confession. After his death, he is remembered as Saint Ciappelletto and people pray to him for favors and believe him capable of performing miracles.

Fourth Day: Second Tale
A scoundrel by the name of Berto della Massa moves to Venice and becomes a friar, taking the name Brother Alberto. He manages to fool everyone into believing that he is a very holy man. Brother Alberto then sets out to seduce the vain and gullible Madonna Lisetta, the wife of a wealthy merchant. Praising her beauty he leads her to believe that the Archangel Gabriel is in love with her and wants to pay her a visit in her bedroom. Brother Alberto tells her that the angel will visit her by taking possession of his body. Madonna Lisetta believes it all and receives numerous visits from the angel. Eventually, due to Lisetta's boasting that the angel Gabriel is her lover, the affair is discovered. Brother Alberto suffers public humiliation and permanent confinement in his monastery.

Fourth Day: Ninth Story
Guillaume de Cabestanh has an affair with the wife of his friend Guillaume de Roussillon. Roussillon ambushes and kills Cabestanh, tears out his heart and has it cooked and served for dinner to his wife. After she finds out what she's eaten, she jumps out a window and dies.

Fifth Day: Eighth Story
Wealthy Nastagio is in love with a lady of noble lineage who despises him. Discouraged, Nastagio leaves town and, in the wilderness, witnesses the frightening scene of a young woman being chased down and murdered by a knight. The knight explains to Nastagio that they are both souls in torment doomed to repeat the scene for a number of years. The deed is part of their punishment for his having committed suicide in despair at being rejected by the lady. The lady in turn is punished for her pride and cruelty in rejecting the love of the knight. Nastagio has the idea of making arrangements to have his beloved witness the scene. When she sees it, she changes her mind about Nastagio and agrees to be his wife.

Fifth Day: Ninth Tale
A young gentleman by the name of Federigo falls in love with a beautiful lady named Monna Giovanna. He spends large amounts of money trying to gain her attention but she remains indifferent to his love. Eventually he loses everything and is forced to live in poverty in a little farm with only his beloved pet falcon for company. Meanwhile Monna Giovanna's husband dies and her son falls very ill. The sick child asks his mother to get him Federigo's falcon. She goes to visit Federigo to ask for the falcon. As she arrives at Federigo's house, he is very distressed to see her and not having any food in the house to offer her. Not knowing the cause of her visit, Federigo kills his falcon and makes it into a meal for his visitor. After dinner Monna Giovanna reveals the reason for her visit. Federigo is devastated that he cannot help her and she has to leave empty-handed. Monna Giovanna's son dies. After a period of mourning, Monna Giovanna, who is rich and still young and beautiful, rewards Federigo's loyalty by marrying him.

Ninth Day: Sixth Story
Pinuccio, a Florentine gentleman, falls in love with Niccolosa, the daughter of a humble countryman. With the help of his friend Adriano, Pinuccio makes arrangements to stay overnight at the home of Niccolosa and secretly sleeps with her. During the night, guests and hosts move about in the dark, unwittingly ending in the wrong bed and leading to Adriano making love to the countryman's wife and to Pinuccio boasting of his conquest to his host. As things are about to take a tragic turn, the host's wife smooths things over by claiming she had been in bed with Niccolosa all night and that Pinuccio was only dreaming. (Chaucer used this story as the basis of his Reeve's Tale in the Canterbury Tales).

Tenth Day: Tenth Story
The nobleman Gualtieri marries Griselda, a peasant woman. At first he treats her well but then decides to test her obedience. He speaks to her abusively and takes away their two infant children, suggesting to her that they are to be killed (in reality, they are taken to Bologna and raised by friends). Griselda bears this with patience. He then expresses his wish to divorce Griselda and sends her back to her father's house. Pretending to be making arrangements for his new wedding, Gualtieri calls back Griselda and orders her to take care of all the preparations, including the welcoming of the new bride and her little brother. Putting up with it all, Griselda obeys and graciously receives the beautiful young woman. Gualtieri then reveals the truth and announces that the supposed bride and her brother are really their own children, now twelve and six years old. Griselda is congratulated on her heroic patience and obedience and welcomed back as the lady of the home.

Main Themes of The Decameron

• framing narrative of story-telling, self-conscious work of literary art (storytelling within storytelling)

• literal and symbolic meaning of the plague image; "plague" as symbol for the condition and direction of society in the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance

• entertainment and instructional aspect of stories; stories as "mirrors" of vices and virtues; literature as medicine for the plague

• emergence of a playful, light-hearted, human, and humane view of life; critique of human vices marked by understanding and humor rather than heavy moralizing

• one of the common targets of the tales is the hypocrisy of religious and moral authorities; superstitions and the gullibility of people are also often ridiculed

• beauty, pleasure, love, laughter and play as privileged values of the stories; carpe diem ethos of the work

• frequent featuring of mixing of people from different social levels and classes; portrayal of a changing and more egalitarian society; merit based on actions and character rather than birth or inherited wealth