Decameron
Michael Salore
FWS- Decameron
5d
16th November 2011
V.8-V.9
On the fifth day, Filomena and Fiometta tell stories that involve women rejection of love from a man. Both stories are similar in layout, however, Filomena functions as a guide for how women should act while Fiametta uses his story to refute the claim that women are cruel.
Filomena begins the eighth tale by stating that misdeeds and cruelty by women will be punished: “Adorable ladies, just as our pity is commended, so is our cruelty severely punished by divine justice”(419). Her use of the phrase “divine justice” demonstrates that all women who don’t do what their lover asks will go to hell.
Filomena encourages the reader to question the female character and her actions toward Nastagio. Filomena molds our view of the woman by simply stating she is cruel. For example, Nastagio endured great pain because “the girl he loved was persistently cruel, harsh, and unfriendly towards him”(419). The consistent hostility and lack of giving back all support the cruelty of the woman. Filomena begins to delve deeper into why the woman acts so cruelly. She states it is “on account possibly of her singular beauty, or perhaps because of her exalted rank, she became so haughty and contemptuous of him that she positively loathed him and everything he stood for”(420). She is acting this way because she is conceited. The source of her hatred for Nastagio is merely because she is a conceited person with no regard for him. By providing the audience with such specific negative descriptions of the woman, it leads them to believe something negative in return will happen. Filomena illustrates the woman as a conceited person without care for others. She puts the woman into a situation where a woman—who acted just as she did to a man who loved her just as Nastagio did—repeatedly gets murdered by the man she had rejected. When the reality of what a woman’s cruelty could bring about sank in, “so great was the
FWS- Decameron
5d
16th November 2011
V.8-V.9
On the fifth day, Filomena and Fiometta tell stories that involve women rejection of love from a man. Both stories are similar in layout, however, Filomena functions as a guide for how women should act while Fiametta uses his story to refute the claim that women are cruel.
Filomena begins the eighth tale by stating that misdeeds and cruelty by women will be punished: “Adorable ladies, just as our pity is commended, so is our cruelty severely punished by divine justice”(419). Her use of the phrase “divine justice” demonstrates that all women who don’t do what their lover asks will go to hell.
Filomena encourages the reader to question the female character and her actions toward Nastagio. Filomena molds our view of the woman by simply stating she is cruel. For example, Nastagio endured great pain because “the girl he loved was persistently cruel, harsh, and unfriendly towards him”(419). The consistent hostility and lack of giving back all support the cruelty of the woman. Filomena begins to delve deeper into why the woman acts so cruelly. She states it is “on account possibly of her singular beauty, or perhaps because of her exalted rank, she became so haughty and contemptuous of him that she positively loathed him and everything he stood for”(420). She is acting this way because she is conceited. The source of her hatred for Nastagio is merely because she is a conceited person with no regard for him. By providing the audience with such specific negative descriptions of the woman, it leads them to believe something negative in return will happen. Filomena illustrates the woman as a conceited person without care for others. She puts the woman into a situation where a woman—who acted just as she did to a man who loved her just as Nastagio did—repeatedly gets murdered by the man she had rejected. When the reality of what a woman’s cruelty could bring about sank in, “so great was the