Gender in "The Decameron" by Giovanni Boccaccio

The Decameron is a collection of novellas written by Italian author Boccaccio by the 14th century. Gender is one of the main themes notable in The Decameron. It was set during a time when there was a plague in Italy, and many people had fled various cities and hid in the countryside. The tales came from a group three young men and six women who flee the city of Florence, and they used these tales to pass time which came to be the tales that were used to make up the Decameron. Boccaccio writings are abundant with statements that dwell on women, and it’s a fact that these statements praise women on one hand and blames them on the other. Lust, strength and wit are the three main talking points used by the writer in comparison of both categories of gender. These three arguments that can be either categorized as being feminist or anti-feminist will therefore shape the theme of gender. There is a relation that exists between Boccaccio’s time and modern society, and this is especially on how women are looked at.

It can therefore be said that Boccaccio, during his time, was a feminist who kind-off also had a glimpse of the future. Boccaccio held onto misogynistic and what appears to be outdated traditional views about women. This can be supported by the fact that a large part of the playwright praise women because of the usage of their wit and aggressiveness especially on issues such as love or lust. Boccaccio goes to the extent of ignoring or refraining from talking about his personal misery, pain and destruction, and he proceeds to allow the reader to be entertained by the feminine supremacy. He writes the following in support of refrain; “The more I reflect upon this misery, the deeper my sense of personal sorrow; hence I refrain from describing those aspects which can suitably be omitted, and proceed to inform you that these were conditions prevailing our city” (Boccaccio, 1804)The tension existing between men and women has best been represented by the narrative of Dioneo. The gender disparity which was very inherent during Boccaccio’s time has been best explored in Dioneo’s narration. Therefore, The Decameron’s stories are mostly controversial but are to some extent very thought provoking too.

Women in the stories by Boccaccio have been painted as being hard to fall into the trap of susceptibility as they always find a way to maneuver some of the complex situations they face. With this, we can say that women are stronger than men, and is clearly justified in the stories. This has been demonstrated by Boccaccio through some of the stories which has illustrated very well how in some of the adversities women were able to maneuver through. The story involving Gualtieri and Griselda in the Tenth Day, best explains how a woman can tolerate hardship. Griselda showed a calm demeanor through-out the unjustified and cruel treatment she received from her to-be-spouse. She underwent through these tribulations without a single thought of retaliating back or revenging, and through this we can say Boccaccio’s intent was to justify that women wear more difficulties than men and they finally triumph.

Women in The Decameron have been portrayed as being dominant and assertive. The Dioneo’s narration on the tenth day tells the story of a wealthy young man called Gualtieri who identifies a poor young lady called Griselda to be his wife. Gualtieri offers a lot of deterring conditions before asking to marry Griselda: “if he were to marry her, she would always try to please him and never would be upset by anything he said or did, whether she would obey him, and many other questions of this sort, to all of which she answered that she would.” (Boccaccio, 1804) He made her bride strip naked in public, and Griselda was still able to go through all these with no outward expression of qualms or resistance. This proved how women at that time underwent a lot of adversities and still managed to go through them. Griselda lived happily thereafter with her spouse, and sired him a child. Boccaccio through this tenth day story proved that women are stronger mentally than men. Griselda’s cruelty ends with some consoling words from Gualtieri: “The time has come for you to reap the reward of your unfailing patience, and for those who considered me a cruel and bestial tyrant, to know that whatever I have done was done of a set purpose, for I wished to show you how to be a good wife, and to guarantee my own peace and quiet for as long as we are living beneath the same roof. When I came to take a wife, I was greatly afraid that this peace would be denied me, and in order to prove otherwise I tormented and provoked you in the ways you have seen. But as I have never known you to oppose my wishes, I now intend, being persuaded that you can offer me all the happiness I desire, to restore you in a single instant that which I took from you little by little, and delectably assuage the pains that I have inflicted upon you.” (Boccaccio, 1804) This statement just proves the magnitude of adversity Griselda faced, and yet she went through it all solely and unscathed.

Most stories by Boccaccio also depict women as people who covet sex more than men, and they do this using wit to outwit their culprits. The story itself in its introductory part provides a consolation for women in love. This provides an indication of how Boccaccio believes that women tend to feature in sexual situations than men. In the Third Day story as told by Filostrato, a young man who tended gardens and performed menial jobs called Nuto introduced Masetto to replace him at the convent and perform the same roles. Masetto plans to trick the nuns into getting them have sex with him, which he succeeds in doing so by pretending to be deaf. He does this for several days but later realizes that this was becoming too much for him. This can be interpreted mean that Boccaccio is if the thought that women crave for sex than men do. The tenth story of Alibech and Rustico as told by Dieneo also best explains the aspect of lust. Rustico tricks Alibech into believing that the best way of sending the devil back into hell is by having sex with him. Rustico finds this ritual of “serving God” to be very interesting and becomes overzealous for it (Boccaccio, 1804).

The insatiable nature of women’s lust is further illustrated very well on the second day in the story of Ricciardo da Chinzica. The narration done by Dioneo is about an old lawyer who marries Bartolomea, a very young beautiful lady who easily catches the eye of young and single men. She is sexually not satisfied by her spouse, and due to this she decides to go and live with a certain young named Paganino. Bartolomea declines to go back to her husband when she begs her to come back. She responds to Ricciardo with the following; “you showed very little sign of knowing me, when I was living with you, because if, either then or now, you were as wise as you wish to pretend you should certainly have had the gumption to realize that a fresh and vigorous young woman like myself needs something more than food and clothes, even if modesty forbids her to say so. And you know how little of that you provided. If you were more interested in studying the law than in keeping a wife, you should never have married in the first place.” (Boccaccio, 1804) This can be interpreted to mean that Boccaccio was in agreement with what Bartolomea did, and that he lauded the fact that she decided to follow her natural desires and live with the young man forever. It is also important to note that it was not only Bartolomea who was in agreement with her view, but the other ladies also unanimously agreed that what she did. This can be illustrated by the following writing by Boccaccio; “this story threw the whole company into such fits of laughter that there was none of them whose jaws were not aching, and the ladies unanimously agreed that Dioneo was right...” (Boccaccio, 1804)

The theme that Dioneo chooses in the seventh day illustrates very well how Boccaccio viewed women as being obsessed with lust or sex. During his appointment as the king, Dioneo explains to the brigata as follows;” I should like for us to talk tomorrow about the tricks which, either in the cause of love or for motives of self-preservation, women have played upon their husbands, irrespective of whether or not they were found out.” (Boccaccio, 1804) Dienao believed very well that the topic was a very sensitive one but he did not deter in discussing it. During Boccaccio’s time it was generally believed that every topic was to be discussed freely. The laughter that resulted from these kind of tales shows the amount of pleasure the women derive from this kind of stories. This is interpreted to mean that they must have also practiced what was under discussion. According to Dioneo, who is used by Boccacio to narrate his stories, sexual desires is the key to a woman’s power stature in any society. He observes that wit and trickery often play a big part along with this sexual desires in achieving this power. The sexuality issue is so key to Boccaccio because it can be singled out as the most potent point to enable comparison of the two types of genders. On the ninth day, Dioneo narrates one The Decameron’s novella which has the story of a priest and a poor couple. The peasant couple get a surprise visit from the priest who suggests to sleep in the stable because his female horse turns into a female during sleeping time. The peasant’s wife desires such a power, and he asks the priest to help her perform this kind of miracle. The priest agrees to this, and according to Boccaccio’s words; “..remove all her clothes and stand on all fours like a mare, likewise instructing her not to utter a word whatever happened, after which he began to fondle her face and her head with his hands..” (Boccaccio, 1804) This process goes on while the priest touches all the body parts of the peasant wife without her complaining at all. This shows how much she really enjoyed this kind of sexual activity. The husband, who has been all along following as the events unfold, complains at the priest. The priest therefore stops the process lamenting that the magical transformational has been interrupted, and the wife is really offended and labels her husband a fool for interrupting the process. The anguish from the wife goes further to show how much the wife was in support of what was going on.

The cunning nature of women has been demonstrated well in most of the stories, and this just shows how women again in Boccaccio’s stories triumph over men. In the Seventh Day, the story narrated by Elissa about Rinaldo who drafts a plan to covet with his neighbor’s wife called Madonna. His trick does not help in a large part but Madonna’s trick does work out very well to rescue the situation which was almost getting out of hand. When Rinaldo finally succeeds in getting to sleep with Madonna, on that fateful night they are almost caught by Madonna’s spouse but she comes up with an intelligent plan. Through this, we can also say that during Boccaccio’s time women duped their devoted men into getting involved in secret affairs.

Boccaccio has praised women for their dominant acts of intelligence and wit. Though the situations that have involved aspects of wit have been used to gain evil favors, Boccaccio has chosen not to directly advocate for or condemn these women. He chooses also not to rather advocate social change but to explore what makes women appear different from men. Pamela Benson in her book, The Invention of the Renaissance Woman (Joseph, 1992), states that, “the society is often blamed for having deprived women of moral education, thus indirectly causing their bad deeds, and their heroic acts are attributed to natural female abilities…A persuasive and sensitive pro-feminist voice emerges from the text, a voice that admires female political, moral and physical strength although it does not endorse a change in the contemporary political status of women.” From this, we can say that Boccaccio actually makes social commentary and brings to fore a lot of realistic issues related to feminism actually ignored by early Renaissance writers, and in some way also chose not to advocate women or for a social change to happen in the modern or Renaissance society.

Many stories have depicted women as being victorious in most encounters that involve both genders, but it is also true to say that men in some instances triumphed over women. This has been mostly on instances that necessitated usage of intellect or cunning. Most stories that demonstrated men as being victorious involved some deceit and not trickery which is associated with women. The stories have therefore provided various ways in which men differ from women. Women generally come on top of stories that involved comparison of both genders. Boccaccio has therefore laid bare what is still a common nature in the modern world, which is the subtle nature of women. This is especially in cases of cheating in a relationship. Women are less accused of unfaithfulness in comparison to men. The society still holds women as being of a lower class even today. Technology has greatly boosted the trickery and cunningness of women in today’s world. Technology to a less extent has also helped to curb this subtle nature of women, because their movement and communications can be monitored. In consideration of the intellect nature for both genders, men are more intellectual than women in the modern society. This is because if one looks at most professional sectors men are majority, but women are slowly catching up and in the near future they might even topple men from those positions.

In conclusion, it is clear that Boccaccio has therefore wrote his piece of work not in an attempt to create a direct interpretation that would mean a feminism text was the intended product. Dioneo cannot also fit as Boccaccio’s voice calling for social change in terms of women treatment. The stories have provided Boccaccio with a platform to express his own opinion about women. The stories have therefore provided some liberation to women from the constriction of the society.