Some commentators think that at its heart, The Decameron is a story of how priests and women use their wits to get sexual satisfaction from the people they're in lust with. Despite the fact that the overriding moral virtue in the medieval era was chastity, John Charles Nelson, in his essay "Love and Sex in the Decameron," sums it up nicely. In The Decameron:
- Sex is natural and irresistible
- Religious restrictions on sex are hypocritical, and anyway, they don't work
- Parents trying to control their kids' sex lives usually ends in disaster
- Adultery and fornication can be loads of fun (Compare this to Dante, whose lovers ended up in Hell)
- Jealous husbands deserved to be cheated on
Nelson believes that Boccaccio was a champion of youthful passion and rebellion against parental authority when it comes to sexual behavior. Note: the opinions expressed by Mr. Nelson are not necessarily those of Shmoop.
There's a strong tradition of bawdy tales—called fabliaux—retold in The Decameron. These French stories (among others) provided plenty of naughty friars, two- or three-timing women, jealous husbands, quick-thinking wives and lots of double entendre. Much of the humor comes from the contrast between the supposedly pious and devoutly Catholic society of the time vs. the lustful nature of the people, especially clergy, living in it.
One critic commented that the most striking thing about all the sex in The Decameron is the total lack of guilt. Beheadings and suicides, sure, but not much guilt. Even adulterous lovers who are caught and scolded or punished can live happily ever after and continue to meet. In Boccaccio's day, most marriages were arranged; love wasn't part of the bargain, so it was seen as understandable that love and lust would be sought outside the marriage (source). The author's tone in the stories about the adulterous lovers who get away with it seems to be: good for them. Many writers feel that Boccaccio doesn't take a moral stand on all this and gives the reader moral choices: You've got the chaste ladies and gents of the brigata, but you have the characters in the stories who are all sex, all the time.
Questions About Sex
- How do you think we're supposed to read some of the more sexually explicit tales? Are they meant to incite lust or warn against it?
- Think about the ways in which the stories construct male and female sexuality. What inconsistencies and/or stereotypes do you find? What clues do these give you to understanding gender identity/roles in the world of the stories?
- Boccaccio seems to portray sexual desire as natural and difficult to keep in check. Are there any sexual behaviors that he sees as unnatural? (Here's a cheat sheet.)
Chew on This
Boccaccio jumps in and defends his work at specific points in the text in order to advocate for a kind of creative license, so that the stories can exist for pleasure along and don't have to carry any moral weight.
You could argue sex represents the life force. Therefore, all these sexual stories are a natural reaction to the death all around.