The Decameron Analysis

The Courtier, originally written as a “courtesy book”, can now be considered to provide significant insight into the norms and practices associated with courtship and gender during the Renaissance era. The book’s third volume is a particularly insightful window into 16th century romantic ideals. Throughout Book Three, Baldassare Castiglione builds an elaborate perspective on what makes the perfect court lady, what sexual and social behavior is acceptable, and how an ideal couple (both courtier and court lady) should function.

Prior to and throughout the late middle ages, women have been portrayed in literature as vile and corrupt. During this time, Christine de Pizan became a well educated woman and counteracted the previous notions of men’s slander against women. With her literary works, Pizan illustrated to her readers and women that though education they can aspire to be something greater than what is written in history. Through the use of real historical examples, Christine de Pizan’s, The Book of the City of Ladies, acts as a defense against the commonly perceived notions of women as immoral.

Mirandola, Cervantes, and Chaucer associate the liberty of being able to express oneself with the deviation away from church doctrine. Mirandola’s work was criticized by the church, because it proposed that man’s actions were not preordained by the Divine Being, and was instead decided on by the man himself. Chaucer’s Don Quixote declared himself a knight in spite of the fact that the priest advised him against it. Don Quixote’s books were condemned as evil by the priest because they glorified knighthood instead of the teachings of the church. In each of these instances, the similar opposition of the church is reflected in the works of Chaucer and Cervantes because the texts expressed the distinct beliefs and creativity of the individual. This reflects the rigidity of the church during the medieval era and the people’s gradual withdrawal away from it during the post-medieval era as individual ideals were placed in a greater value instead of conformity to strict church doctrines. Chaucer portrayal of the individuality of the Wife of Bath challenges the merit of virginity and calls into questions the religious ideals of women during that time. However, Chaucer’s take on individuality sheds light on sexuality and marriage through the Wife’s character unlike the works on Cervantes and Mirandola. The fact that Chaucer displays her as a strong and admired character in the novel shows that his support of her independence and her ability to manipulate men. Chaucer uses the Wife’s character bridges the gap between nonconformity of societal standards and the empowerment of the

A woman’s alternative would be becoming a nun, giving up all social freedoms and dedicating your life to serving the poor and God. Women who were subject to this life received a much more thorough education than other women, in order to properly learn religious concepts and theory. Otherwise, a woman’s education was limited to basic reading abilities paired with instruction on how to do homely activities. A woman of this time period had utterly no voice in politics. Law was man’s law. The life of these women were controlled by the men who surround them, their opinions meaning little to nothing. The life of a woman in medieval times was bleak and varied little. Romantic literature was on the rise, full of damsels in distress that only further perpetuated negative stereotypes of women during these times. These romances were full of helpless women in situations only a man could get them out of, or else they would be doomed. Despite this cultural oppression of women in this time period, some strong female characters were erected in medieval romances. A perfect example of an abnormally strong and independent female main character would be Enide from Erec and Enide written by Chrétien de

“Lanval” by Marie de France and “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” by Geoffrey Chaucer are both medieval romances that put a knight on trial by a queen’s court for his treatment of a lady. Throughout the course of this paper, readers will get the opportunity to travel back in time to the Middle Ages and that during the twelfth-century women were superior to men, specifically in their relationships and marriages; however, today men dominant individuals, especially in working world.

The second area that saw the littlest change for women in the Renaissance was the expectations that came with their social status. Overall women were deemed to be a lower class in terms of gender, and men often treated them with less respect as a result. Within social classes, stereotypical beliefs regarding women and their role were held. Lower class women were expected to be housewives and take care of everything to do with the house. The expectation of working-class women, however, was slightly different. They were expected to work for their husbands and help them run their business, although they couldn’t partake in any of the work by themselves or outside of the house. However, this different expectation wasn’t necessarily new and was upheld from previous times, supporting this idea of women not receiving a Renaissance in the area of social class. Some women in the elite were able to become slightly more independent from their husbands and gain more responsibility, but the vast majority of women in the Renaissance continued to be used for the sole benefits of the men; as providers of a dowry, homemakers

During the Renaissance time period, each man and woman needed to strive to meet the “ideal” image that was expected by society. If this image was not met, the person would be judged by society. Both males and females had different goals that they needed to meet in education, as well as in their lives. While there was an “ideal” image, some people disagreed with them. There was always a distinct role for both women and men, but within those roles, there could be controversy. The most controversy could occur over the education that the males and females were getting, there were clear roles and ideals for men and women in the beginning of the Renaissance time period, but as time went on, people became more skeptical of the

This investigation strives to compare and contrast of the role of women during the Roman Empire and the Middle Ages. The inquiry is significant because in order to understand the culture and ethics of the Roman Empire and the Middle Ages it is crucial to understand the importance of women. The issues that will be addressed include: the role of women in the Roman Empire, the role of women in the Middle Ages, and the similarities as well as the differences of the two major time periods. This investigation will focus on the time period of 27 BC to 1485 BC and the places investigated will include Europe, more specifically Rome. This will be accomplished through a detailed examination of the role of women in the

Literature from the medieval times, gives a stereotype that women are promiscuous, manipulative, wicked, and unfaithful. Treatment of women as promiscuous and untrustworthy goes against the nature of women and who God created them to be. Women are not promiscuous and manipulative as men claim them to be; they are good wives, strive to lead a life of holiness like the blessed mother, and are a helper of man.

Giovanni Boccaccio is one of the leading Italian writers in the 1300s and has been considered as the father of Italian writing style through his composition of one hundred novelle. The Decameron continuously pictures women not as the objects of discussion but as the active producers and interpreters of their actions. Women are portrayed as they are or as they should be; they are shown to be as aggressive as men are while at the same time they can be submissive whenever they need to be. In many instances, Boccaccio depicts women as protagonists who do not readily accept the traditional role – being subservient to men and having no voice in the male-dominated society–, make their own decisions,

An unlikely candidate to dispute the unfair, misogynistic treatment of women by men and society, Christine de Pizan successfully challenged the accepted negative views that were being expressed about women by the all-male literary world of her era. Part of Christine’s uniqueness stems from the time in which she lived, the middle to late 1300’s. The lack of a positive female role model to pattern herself after made Christine a true visionary in the fight for the equal rights of women. Her original ideas and insight provided a new and more intelligent way to view females. Pizan’s work, The Book of the City of Ladies, provided women much needed guidance in how to survive without the support of a man.

The poetry of Ovid exemplified in The Art of Love is one of the only examples of the contemporary social behavior exhibited during the time of Rome. Ovid writes about social activities, proper style, women, and how to obtain them. Through Ovid’s perspective, there are three different ways to consider a woman. These three views include relating a woman to a game, a beautiful treasure, and as a means to assert social status. Comparatively, Andreas Capellanus writes in a way that makes women seem respected, worthy and as something to a man would willingly devote his life to. Both men have a clear fascination with women and their relationship to men. However, their distinct writing styles cause

Thus, we see that in a sense, Catholicism acted as a catalyst in the development of female education. Paradoxically enough though, at the same time, it limited the possible level of knowledge they could attain. The thought of the supposedly foolish, sinful female sex breaking the bonds of ignorance made many people fear the possibility of women reading “forbidden” books. Dante’s “La vita nuova”, the Petrarchan sonnets and the “Decameron” are a few examples of books that were considered lasciviously dangerous and kept off-limits (Grendler, 1989). Indeed, women could be educated, yet within a certain framework. Their level of knowledge only went up to a point, in order to make sure they grew up to be exemplary, pious, Christian housewives.

Throughout the various novelle of the Decameron there lies a rather conflicting role of women in relation to the society that Boccaccio 's Decameron was set in. From novella to novella the theme of women 's gender role fluctuates between misogynistic to feminist. It can be argued that Boccaccio was a feminist ahead of his time or that he shared the traditional views towards women of 14th century Italy. Overall, it is fair to say that Boccaccio does depict women as transcending men in many respects, some of them being positive, and some negative. I believe there is a deeper meaning behind Boccaccio view 's towards women which I will elaborate on below.

In his tales of the Decameron, Giovanni Boccaccio created a comedic image of early Renaissance urban life. It would be easy to dismiss these tales entirely from the historical record, but, even though they may be fiction, these tales were fabricated from the world that Boccaccio knew. If the author drew the details of his stories from the reality around him, should it not be possible to use these details to reconstruct an image of Boccaccio’s world? This is especially useful in discerning the role of people who are systematically excluded from positions of authority which give their words and actions a greater likelihood of being preserved for historical record.