How we cite our quotes: (Day.Story.Page)
Quote #4
'This can only have been the work of an evil and treacherous knight, for if, of my own free will, I abused you by making him the master of my love, it was not he but I that should have paid the penalty for it. But God forbid that any other food should pass my lips now that I have partaken of such excellent fare as the heart of so gallant and courteous a knight as Guillaume de Cabestanh.' (IV.9.352, Filostrato's story of The Eaten Heart)
This story is straight out of a horror flick, so we can totally empathize with the lady's desire to jump out the window straightaway. Her suffering's portrayed as a sign of a noble and faithful heart, no pun intended. The story of the Eaten Heart is another tale that Boccaccio cribs from folktale, so although it seems extreme and unique in its level of misery, it's an old theme. The idea of devouring the heart as revenge for infidelity is a poetic one and symbolizes not just the seat of love, but also the organ most afflicted when good love goes wrong.
Quote #5
Bereft of every comfort now, Oh, Lord of love, to you I cry; I burn with such a torment here That for a less I'd crave to die. Come Death, then, end my life With all its cruel strife; Strike down my misery! I shall the better be. (IV.Conclusion.364, Filostrato's song)
Some things are so sad that they just have to be sung like a George Jones ballad. Again and again, Filostrato reminds us of the romantic notion that one can (and should) die from disappointed love because it shows how deeply the lover loves. Of course, he's singing this song while he's on vacation with seven smart and beautiful women, two girls for every boy, so it's a little hard to take him seriously.
Quote #6
'By suffering as you do now, then, you will possibly learn what it means to trifle with a man's affections, and to hold a man of learning up to ridicule; and if you should escape with your life, you will have good cause never to stoop to such folly again. But if you are so anxious to descend, why do you not throw yourself over the parapet? With God's help, you would break your neck, and so release yourself from the pain you seem to be suffering, at the same time making me the happiest man alive.' (VIII.7.600, Pampinea's story of The Student and the Widow)
Rinieri proves what Lauretta has said about anger: it causes suffering to the one who is angry and to the object of the anger. The longer he talks, the more worked up he seems to get. While Rinieri initially has for a good reason for his anger and vengeance, it's pretty clear that Boccaccio thinks it's all a bit extreme. Rinieri had planned to inflict two different kinds of suffering on Elena: psychological suffering through the destruction of her reputation and physical suffering by enacting the same strategy that Elena had on Rinieri in the winter. Rinieri's operating on the theory that if you make someone suffer like you did, it might make them realize how bad they've treated you. Is teaching empathy a fair reason for making someone suffer? At the end of the story, the Widow does vow never to fool anyone again. Whether this is because the experience built character or she's just scared out her wits, we can't say. We can say that we love the term "vile strumpet" that he throws at her.