Analysis of the decameron tales

Indeed, as Edwards notes, the source of inspiration for both men appears to have been a bard of a preceding generation, Petrarch

Analysis of the decameron tales

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Analysis of the decameron tales


This one-page guide includes a plot summary and brief analysis of The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio. The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio is a collection of novellas that tell tales. The tales are told by a group of seven women and three men who have fled Florence to escape the bubonic plague, also known as The Black Death.

Some tales are erotic, some are tragic, others are comic, and yet others fall into the category of fables.

Analysis of the decameron tales

It also provides insight into the way people lived in the fourteenth century. The Decameron has a subtitle, too—Prencipe Galeotto—which translates to Prince Galehaut, and refers to a fictional king. Dante used these characters to fictionalize the romantic relationship between Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta in Inferno.

Particularly, he feels empathy for women who do not possess the freedom of speech or the liberty a man enjoys in society. The frame story—the story of the ten characters who tell tales over ten days while waiting out the plague—lasts for two weeks. Each night, two members of their party are elected Queen or King, and charged with choosing a theme for the tales.

The exception to this rule is Dioneo, who is so witty he can tell a tale about whatever he wants. Some of the main plots of the tales, and the larger story they comprise, include mocking the clergy for their lust and greed, the perilous life of traveling merchants, and the clashes and tension between the noble families of Italy and the rising wealthy commercial class.

Summary of Decameron tales - The Full Wiki

On the first day, the stories are told in the garden. The topic for the first day of tales is open, assigned by Pampinea, but as it happens, six of the tales are about one person censuring another, and the other four are satirical tales about the Catholic Church. On the second day, Filomena chooses the topic of misadventures that end both suddenly and happily.

Neilfile is in charge on the third day. The topic for these tales is a person who has acquired something through painful sacrifice—or someone who has lost something that is regained by the end of the tale. On the fourth day, which is often referred to as the st story of The Decameron, Boccaccio defends his work.

He had many detractors because the use of vernacular Italian was not popular at the time. After he tells a tale of his own to refute this attack, he returns to the ten escapees of the plague and Filostrato chooses the topic of lovers—but their relationship must end in disaster.


On the fifth day, Fiammetta chooses the topic of lovers who must work through disaster to have good fortune in the end. Next, on the sixth day, Elissa chooses stories featuring a character who uses wit to avoid an attack or embarrassment.

Dioneo chooses the topic on the seventh day. He selects tales featuring wives who play tricks on their husbands.

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On the eighth day, Lauretta charges everyone to tell stories about tricks that women play on men—or tricks men play on women. On the tenth and final day, Panfilo is elected king. He chooses stories about deeds of munificence, or the quality of being generous. As the tenth-day tales are told, they feature greater and greater generosity.

Copyright Super Summary.Title. The book's primary title exemplifies Boccaccio's fondness for Greek philology: Decameron combines two Greek words, δέκα, déka ("ten") and ἡμέρα, hēméra ("day"), to form a term that means "ten-day [event]". Ten days is the period in which the characters of the frame story tell their tales.

Analysis of Giovanni Boccaccio's 'The Decameron' 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 Canterbury Tales, although unlike Chaucer, Boccaccio was able to finish his work, and the tales are much more extensive in number and somewhat shorter.

The Canterbury Tales is a collection of short stories written in Late Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer in the late 14th century about a group of travellers on a pilgrimage to the tomb of St.

Summary of Decameron tales - Wikipedia

Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral note Same guy who was murdered in T. S. Eliot's Murder In The. ALF LAYLA WA LAYLA, “One thousand nights and one night,” Arabic title of the world-famous collection of tales known in English as The Arabian first published translation, by Antoine Galand (Les mille et une Nuits, contes arabes traduits en françois, Paris, from ), appeared gradually because of the author’s difficulty in obtaining manuscripts (see E.

Littmann, “Alf layla. The Decameron is structured in a frame narrative, or frame tale. The Decameron played a part in the history of The Decameron played a part in the history of the novel and was finished by Giovanni Boccaccio in Italian.

Italian Specialist | Italian Major | Italian Minor; Italian Culture and Communication Studies Minor; Italian Courses; Faculty Professors Emeriti R.

Capozzi, MA, Ph D M. Ciavolella, Ph D.

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