How we cite our quotes: (Day.Story.Page)
Quote #7
On finding that she was being burnt, she attempted to move, whereupon she felt as if the whole of her scorched skin was being rent asunder like a piece of flaming parchment being stretched from both ends [...]. The floor of the tower-roof was so hot that she could find nowhere to stand or sit down, and so she kept shifting her position the whole time, weeping incessantly. But apart from all this, there not being a breath of wind, the air was literally teeming with flies and gadflies, which, settling in the fissures of her flesh, stung her so ferociously that every sting was like a spear being thrust into her body. (VIII.7.604-605, Pampinea's story of The Student and the Widow)
Yikes. We're not sure if Rinieri planned this, but the burning of Elena's skin is reminiscent of burning at the stake or in Hell (the penalty for fornication) and allows punishment to be inflicted directly on the parts of her body that made her beautiful (i.e. her fair skin). Rinieri reminds her that if she survives, her skin will heal up just fine. It's the psychological scars that he relishes inflicting on her. This language is pretty intense, like the language of the Prologue describing the suffering of the plague victims.
Quote #8
'If only the gods had so willed it, Gisippus, I would much rather have died than continued to live, when I think how Fortune has driven me to the point where my virtue had to be put to the test, and where, to my very great shame, you have found it wanting. But I confidently expect to receive, before long, my just reward in the form of my death, and this will be dearer to me than to go on living with the memory of my baseness, which, since there is nothing I either could or should conceal from you, I shall tell you about, though I burn with shame to speak of it.' (X.8. 749, Filomena's tale of Titus and Gisippus)
Perhaps Titus is being a tad dramatic here—he's about to confess to his best friend that he's in love with said be-fri's girl. But remember that at this time, best male friends have a unique, ideal relationship that exceeds all others. Titus would rather suffer death than live in the misery of knowing that he would have damaged a relationship far more worthy than any sexual one. Here's another example of how depth suffering illustrates nobility of character.
Quote #9
The King neither noticed nor cared about any of this, which made her affliction all the more difficult to bear. As her love continued to increase, so also did her melancholy, till eventually, being unable to endure it any longer, the beautiful Lisa fell ill and began to waste visibly away from one day to the next, like snow in the rays of the sun. (X.7.738)
There were a lot of causes for suffering in the 13th-century—illness, poverty, death—but in The Decameron, the hands-down biggest cause for suffering is Love, particularly unexpressed or unattainable love. Pining, wasting, weeping, dying—it's all part of a serious romance. In the case of Lisa and King Peter, as soon as the king visits her and hears her professions of love, she begins to feel better. She's restored to health once she's suitably married off to a man the king finds for her. The Young Rascals were right. She's got the fever. He's got the cure.