Decameron Social Class Quotes

Lauretta is indulging in a bit of a "those were the good old days" rant. It's true that in every age there's a sense of decline and decay of breeding and manners, but this probably more of a problem during the plague years, where it would be useful to have a generous and well-functioning upper class to try to keep society from falling apart. Her strong and colorful language isn't typical of what we've heard so far in the brigata's conversations.

Here's some Orwellian reasoning for you: the rich can't be blamed for their sexual indiscretions, because all that free time with nothing to do…well, you get to thinking about love and, you know…it's inevitable. On the other hand, if you're working all day, you have no such excuse. This sounds a little like those members of the 1% who are always insisting that they're the real victims.

Ghismonda's trying to keep herself and her lover alive by arguing with her father, who's objecting to her getting involved with a guy with a lower social status. She's got a couple of counterarguments. First, it's merit that counts, not heredity; and second, the social class you're born into is all a matter of luck. Boccaccio would seem to agree. His stories include heroes and villains from all walks of life and social classes.

Filostrato invokes the classical notion that tragedy only really happens to those who are socially well-placed (i.e. noble or royal). Maybe because they have farther to fall. For a better discussion of this concept, take a look at our definition of tragedy. In this case, Filostrato isn't being a snob to deny the suffering of the lower classes; he's just following Aristotle's idea that characters in a tragedy should be idealized and noble.

Even though Cisti's a wealthy man who "lived like a lord", he well knows he isn't a lord. This story shows that even a man of wealth and good taste has certain rules to follow when dealing with someone of higher social rank. In the end, Messer Geri recognizes Cisti's outstanding personal qualities and befriends him despite the differences in class. This is one of the stories that demonstrates the transition between the medieval society and it's obsession with nobility, and the rising mercantile era, where cleverness and common sense are what get you ahead in life. Not all noblemen were as welcoming as Messer Geri.

Props to Boccaccio for bringing forward this issue of good governance, especially since he makes the spokesperson a woman. Of course, Madonna Filippa isn't exactly a feminist—notice how she defines insatiable female sexuality as the reason that the law isn't fair. She does, however, point up the fact that women have no part in representative government and thereby no part in the creation of laws that rule their lives. Gender trumps class in these instances. Even noblewomen had no role in making laws or setting policy.

Boccaccio creates the character of Sismonda's mother to give voice to a general feeling of discontent sweeping through the nobility concerning the nuova gente (the "new people," i.e., the merchant class), which has lots of ready cash but no dignified family name or ancient family connections. In the story in question, a merchant marries a noblewoman with disastrous results. In addition to the snob factor, there were practical problems. Merchants, by nature of their work, were out of their house all day and risked neglecting their wives. Aristocrats who didn't have to work could be more attentive. In her intro to this story, Neifile describes the protagonist as a merchant who "foolishly decided to marry into the aristocracy," to a wife "quite unsuited for him."

This sentiment is a kind of "right-sizing" of praise for the upper classes. Filomena wants us to focus on the noble behavior that can be found in everyday people because, after all, it's so much harder for them to behave well. Who's more generous: the king or nobleman who has every resource available, or the average man who struggles for everything he has? Accepting her argument, we wouldn't consider Bill Gates praiseworthy or particularly generous; he's just doing what's expected of a billionaire and can hand out zillions of dollars without it really affecting his own financial security.

Low- born Griselda's humility is pretty gut-wrenching at this point, as Gualtieri's doing his best to crush her spirit with his faithfulness test. This story is one of the strongest arguments for virtue being independent of social class. Griselda's faultless character puts her husband's to shame. Earlier in the story, as Griselda proves herself such a graceful, virtuous, and compliant wife, Gualtieri's praised by his friends for being able to see the "noble qualities that lay beneath her ragged and rustic attire." But she's a class act. He's not.

What Dioneo says here may not sound revolutionary to us, but it does go against a long established understanding that those who are born to nobility are actually, well, noble people. Boccaccio allows Dioneo the opportunity to say what everyone's thinking and understands from personal experience: nobles can be jerks while lowly maidens can be truly celestial.