Religious parody and the economy of significance in Decameron day five Public Deposited

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Last Modified
  • March 21, 2019
Creator
  • Essary, Brandon K.
    • Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Romance Studies
Abstract
  • According to some critics, the fifth day of Boccaccio's Decameron represents a return to order. After Day Four's theme of tragic events and unhappy endings, the queen of Day Five, Fiammetta, requires that only stories with happy endings be told. Ironically, however, even though Day Five's stores are supposed to end happily with the celebration of marriage and the triumph of love, nearly all the events leading up to the irenic conclusions are shaped by tragedy, fear, violence, coercion and even death. Rather than acting as a peaceful and socially unifying force fundamental to order and stability in society, the institution of marriage in Day Five is built upon a foundation of strained an unpropitious circumstances. The resultant representation of marriage is parodic, and the goal of the present study will be to underline Boccaccio's efforts to create a near total parody of the marriages witnessed through Day Five and to analyze how the various novelle utilize love and marriage to undermine social order. In addition, in chapter two, this study will seek to understand this parody in economic terms as employed by Boccaccio, a writer of a mercantile and commercial background.
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  • In Copyright
Advisor
  • Cervigni, Dino S.
Degree granting institution
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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  • Open access
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