How we cite our quotes: (Day.Story.Page)
Quote #10
For a woman should act at all times with the greatest decorum, and guard her chastity with her life, on no account permitting herself to defile it; and although it is not always possible for us to observe this precept to the full on account of our frailty, nevertheless, I declare that any woman who strays from the path of virtue for monetary gain deserves to be burnt alive, whereas the woman who yields to the forces of Love, knowing how powerful they are, deserves a lenient judge who will order her acquittal [...]. (VIII.1.552, Neifile's story of Gulfardo, her introduction)
Neifile is the youngest member of the group, and to some extent, we can see that in her absolute definitions of What a Woman Should Do. The crew is pretty liberal in the topics they offer for their stories, but it's clear that there are boundaries for behavior. For Neifile, taking money for sex is a capital crime. Just sex—well, that's understandable, even if chastity is the ideal.
Quote #11
[...] if the order of things is impartially considered, it will quickly be apparent that the vast majority of women are through Nature and custom, as well in law, subservient to men, by whose opinions their conduct and actions are bound to be governed. It therefore behoves any woman who seeks a contented and untroubled life with her menfolk, to be humble, patient, and obedient, besides being virtuous, a quality that every judicious woman considers her especial and most valued possession. (IX.9.690, Emilia's tale of Solomon, her introduction)
For the record, Emilia's telling a story of physical abuse of a wife by a husband who feels he doesn't have proper control in his household. It's a difficult and violent story that makes us question what we were supposed to get out of it. The good news? It's meant to make us question. Can we really believe that Boccaccio, even as a man of his time, thought that women should be beaten within an inch of their lives if that's what it took to make their husbands happy? And that he would quote Solomon (wisest guy ever) who suggested it? We still have women today apologizing for their "contribution" to being knocked unconscious by their guy.
Quote #12
Gualtieri was acknowledged to be very wise, though the trials to which he had subjected his lady were regarded as harsh and intolerable, whilst Griselda was accounted the wisest of all. (X.10.794)
We're glad that Griselda gets some admiration here, because she has just endured without complaint a decade of deception, grief, and torture just so her insecure husband could assure himself that she was faithful and virtuous. He claims that the point of all this was to educate her and his household how to be a proper wife. And although Griselda has acted in an almost saintly manner throughout all the abuse, she isn't praised so much for her patience and forgiveness as for her "wisdom" that this was the right way to behave. Dioneo, the storyteller, thinks that Griselda would have been justified in finding another guy as soon as she was kicked out. The other members of the brigata aren't really heard from, although you would have thought that the ladies would protest, too. As it is, they just "debated" the "details" of the story.