The Decameron, Volume II — Story, Setting & Ideas

From Cimon to Calandrino: The Range of the Fifth Day

The Fifth Day's novels, as listed in the contents, span a remarkable range of tones and settings. Cimon's story involves piracy and imprisonment at Rhodes; Gostanza's tale takes her from despair to Susa and Tunis; Pietro Boccamazza's adventure includes robbers and a wood. Yet the excerpts also reveal a comic vein: the story of Calandrino, who loses a pig to his friends' trickery, ends with him giving up two pairs of capons to avoid his wife's wrath. The ladies laugh at his woes, but "it irked them that those that had robbed him of the pig should also take from him the capons." This detail shows the brigata's empathy even within farce. The day's theme—love that ends happily—is interpreted broadly, encompassing both high romance and low comedy.

The Scholar's Revenge: A Turning Point in Tone

The Seventh Day's seventh novel, told by Pampinea, marks a shift toward darker retribution. The scholar Rinieri, after studying in Paris "not that he might thereafter sell his knowledge by retail, but that he might learn the reasons and causes of things," falls in love with the widow Elena. She scorns him and, enamored of another, tricks him into spending a winter night in the snow. The scholar later retaliates by making her stand naked on a tower in July, exposed to flies and gadflies. Pampinea prefaces the tale by saying it will "excite your compassion for a gentlewoman of our city (albeit the retribution that came upon her was but just)." This moral ambiguity—sympathy for the victim despite her just deserts—characterizes the volume's more complex ethical landscape.

Frame Narrative as Moral Compass

The excerpts show the frame narrative actively shaping the reader's response. After Calandrino's story, the queen's command to Pampinea and the ladies' reaction—"laughed not a little, but had laughed yet more, but that it irked them"—demonstrate how the brigata's collective voice guides interpretation. Similarly, Pampinea's introduction to the scholar's tale explicitly warns against flouting others: "'tis only little wits that delight to scorn." These moments remind the reader that the Decameron is not merely a collection of stories but a conversation among storytellers who judge, moralize, and empathize. The frame thus provides a lens through which to weigh each tale's ethical implications, a function that becomes especially important as the volume progresses into more morally ambiguous territory.

Recurring Patterns: Recognition, Marriage, and Fortune

Across the excerpts, several patterns recur. Many novels hinge on a recognition scene: Teodoro is recognized by his father while being scourged; Gianni di Procida is recognized by Ruggieri dell' Oria at the stake. These recognitions often lead to marriage and social restoration. The summaries also emphasize fortune's role: Gostanza's boat is "wafted by the wind to Susa"; Pietro Boccamazza's escape from robbers seems providential. Yet the volume also includes tales where fortune is cruel, as in the scholar's deliberate revenge. The reader should attend to how each story balances agency and chance. The frame's commentary—like Pampinea's remark that "it happens oftentimes that the artful scorner meets his match"—suggests a worldview where actions have consequences, but those consequences are not always just.

As you read this second volume, note how the brigata's own reactions—laughter, irritation, compassion—offer a running commentary on the tales. The storytellers are not neutral; they shape the moral landscape. Pay attention to the summaries in the table of contents: they often highlight the very reversals that the tales explore. And remember that the frame itself is a story of survival and storytelling, a context that gives these medieval narratives their enduring resonance.

There’s a particular melancholy in watching Boccaccio’s clever characters turn cruel, their wit sharpened into a blade—it makes me think of the quieter, more hopeful churn in From Farm to Fortune; or, Nat Nason's Strange Experience — A Closer Reading. Both books sit with fortune’s whims, yet I find myself missing the open road, wondering if revenge ever settles the heart the way a slow homecoming does.