VIII. Various protagonists and various settings

The theme of the hoax, dealt with in the preceding day, is confirmed the theme of the novellas to be told under Lauretta’s regency. On the eigth day we however see a variation and an amplification of the burlesque typologies. The hoax no longer takes place within the limited confines of the family sphere, as had been in day VII, and no longer involves the amorous triangle that is husband, wife and lover exclusively. The scenarios now multiply, spacing from the city (Milan, 1; Florence 3, 5, 6, 7, 9; Siena, 8; Naples, 10) to the countryside (Varlungo, 2; Fiesole, 4). There is a range of social classes and professions: Gulfardo is a German mercenary (1); the priest of Varlungo and the provost of Fiesole add to the number of clerics (2 e 4); Calandrino, Bruno and Buffalmacco are painters (3 e 6); the victim of a hoax in Florence is a judge from the Marche (5) whilst Maestro Simone is a surgeon (9), Salabaetto is a trader (10) and the scholar in novella 7 incarnates the prototype of the intellectual. The mechanisms of the action become more complicated and also contemplate a counter hoax (7 e 10). The hoaxes are no longer perpetrated by women, as in the preceding day, and if the identity of those who perform hoaxes is pragmatically generic it is mostly men who do them.  It is almost as if in this decury of novellas one were assisting in a sort of vindication of mail irony as to the female protagonists of the seventh day, with the purpose of settling a score with the ladies.

Decameron, VIII, 3. Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, ms. 5070, c. 281r. Boccaccio visualizzato: narrare per parole e per immagini fra Medioevo e Rinascimento, a c. di V. Branca, Turin 1999, vol. III, p. 220.