Decameron Theme of Women

Boccaccio claims in his introduction that he's creating this work for the ladies—whom he loves and has been dedicated to since his youth. He feels sorry for those lovelorn ladies who have no way of comforting themselves, since they're stuck in the house all day. He also tells us that he's committed professional suicide by writing for women and showing them great consideration even in his old age. But what does Boccaccio really think about women? Was his intention to entertain or moralize?

Boccaccio lived in a society where women were expected to be subordinate to men; the ladies of the brigata, as intelligent and noble as they were, wanted men to help direct their retreat to the country. Certainly the Church promoted the idea that man was the head of the woman. But you know the old line—the man may be the head, but the woman is the neck, and the neck controls the head. The Decameron's tales suggest that what gave women this power was their sexual allure. When Boccaccio directly addresses the women in the Prologue and Intro to the Fourth Day to explain why he's so devotedly working on their behalf to write these entertaining stories, he mostly focuses on their beauty and charm, his experiences of their kisses and caresses, as the reasons that he loves them so much. No mention of intelligence or piety or wit there.

Boccaccio depicts his female storytellers as refined, intelligent, and beautiful. But what about the women in the stories? They're all over the map. There's the virtuous and patient Griselda and the faithful and clever Marquis of Montferrat; the innocent Zinevra, falsely accused of infidelity; the monk and abbot's "girl", nothing more than a passive sex object; the treacherous Widow and Madonna Fiordaliso, intent on tormenting their lovers; the lying, scheming Queen of France who ruins a good man's reputation by falsely accusing him of sexual misbehavior; the lusty but clueless Alatiel, who gets passed from man to man; the Abbess who entertains men in her bed. You can see why Boccaccio's been praised for his feminism and condemned for misogyny.

Are his women chaste or promiscuous? Clever or ignorant? Vindictive or long-suffering? Stoic or overly emotional? How about all of the above?

1. Describe the character of women according to the tales you've read in The Decameron.
2. How do the male and female characters of this work differ in their commentary on women? Boccaccio tells us that he's writing this work particularly to comfort women and says that he's been dedicated to women since his early days. Do you think that he proves this devotion to women in their depiction in the tales?
3. What special powers or capabilities are granted to women in The Decameron? How are they viewed in the world of the stories? How about in the world of the storytellers?

Boccaccio offers varied characterizations of women in The Decameron. It's difficult to know what he really thinks about women in general.

The female characters in The Decameron often have a more uncompromising, judgmental view of female behavior than male characters, playing into a long-standing stereotype of women as jealous and insecure.