II. A novel approach to eroticism

Above all the three mishaps that hit Andreuccio (5), who risks his life and “is symbolically reborn for as many as three times in the same night”[1], are symptomatic of the variability of human fortune. The interference of the goddess of Fortune takes on different forms in the course of the day. A providential quality, of religious origin, seems to predominate in Martellino’s novella, who, showing himself to be crippled, blasphemously pretends to have been blessed with a miracle by Saint Arrigus, and Rinaldo d’Asti’s, the merchant attacked by a band of evildoers and aided by a charming widow. The sacrilegious behaviour of Martellino, which reminds us of Ciappelletto’s false confession (I, 1) and the ironic profession of paternoster of Saint Julian, who obtains for Rinaldo the sexual favours of the widow, however weaken the orthodoxy of divine providence and would rather seem  to make a parody of the religious reference.

More in line with the new libertine morality is Alatiel’s adventure, she being the daughter of the Sultan of Babylon, “per diversi accidenti in ispazio di quatro anni alle mani di nove uomini perviene” (for various mishaps that befell her in the course of four years at the hands of nine men), as explained in the rubric. The “erotic odyssey”[2] sanctions the instability and the way events are ungovernable, whilst the happy ending, imposed by the set theme of the day, makes it possible for the girl, thanks to an allusive self-testimony, where we can detect a further clin d’oeil at Ciappelletto’s confession, to be given in marriage to the re di Garbo, according to her father’s initial wish. Particular attention is here given to female enterprise. The maternal affection of madama Beritola (6) gives her the courage it takes to defend her two children and uphold family unity in a climate of strong political instability. Zinevra (9), repudiated because wrongly accused of infedelity, is able to demonstrate her husband her honesty; Bartolomea (10), the unsatisfied wife of the judge Riccardo di Chinzica, is capable of countering her husband, vehemently exalting the reasons of love over matrimonial ties.

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[1]L. Rossi, L’evoluzione dell’intreccio. Bouvin e Andreuccio, “Filologia e critica”, 1 (1976), pp. 5-14, cit. p. 13.

[2]M. Picone, Il romanzo di Alatiel, “Studi sul Boccaccio”, 23 (1995), pp. 197-217

The deceit of Ambruogiuolo hidden in a box, the revelation of the innocence of Guinevere, the punishment of Ambruogiuolo (Decameron, II, 9). Wien, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, ms. 2561, c. 90v.