"The Decameron". Summary of the work

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Not everyone has read The Decameron. This is clearly not the case at school, and in everyday adult life there is practically no place for books. Yes, and it is not fashionable for today's youth to read … This is slightly reminiscent of the Middle Ages, when people who know a lot were condemned by society. But this, however, is a lyric. It is very difficult to bring a summary to the work "Decameron". After all, the book itself is a collection of short stories dedicated to the theme of love in all its manifestations.

A story within a story

Italian writer Giovanni Boccaccio is the author of the work "The Decameron". The summary, in fact, could not be given by the author himself, since the structure of the whole work is a set of small short stories that are united by the main plot line. This book was published in the Renaissance, around 1354. "Decameron" content is very controversial, since for those timessuch literature was, on the one hand, and quite forgivable, but on the other, it was considered somewhat vulgar. The name itself is translated as "Ten days" and is a kind of sarcastic mockery of the author over the church "Six days". The work tells about the creation of the world, but not by God, but by the then society, and not in six days, but in ten.

The book in brief

And now directly "Decameron". Brief summary of the short stories: the events take place during the rampant plague of 1348. Three noble youths and seven ladies leave the diseased city for a villa two miles away. In order to pass the time with interest, they take turns telling each other entertaining stories. By the way, quite a lot of short stories were created on the basis of folklore, ancient anecdotes, religious and moral examples from the sermons of priests and much more.

"Decameron" - a summary of the life of the storytellers

Every new day starts with a small screensaver that tells how young people spend their time. It is worth noting that the description is rather utopian, within the framework of morality and education. But the short stories themselves are directly opposed to this utopia. In them, figuratively speaking, "a feast during the plague" appears, penetrating each line with a red thread. The story begins on Wednesday morning and there are ten short stories per day. In them you can see all manifestations of love - from the sexual context to the tragedy with cruelty.

Every day, except Friday and Saturday, a king (queen) is chosen to set the topics for the story, and all participants must adhere to them with the exception of Dioneo, who owns the privilege of "free storytelling". After listening to all the stories, young people sit and discuss them, share their impressions. At the end of each day, one of the ladies present sings a ballad. These songs are samples of the lyrics of Boccaccio, and they tell about pure love or about the suffering of those lovers who do not have the opportunity to connect. Including weekends, young people spend two weeks at the villa, after which they still decide to return to the city.

"The Decameron". Summary

All novels are made in a special style. For the times of the Renaissance, this was some kind of innovation, since the book was not written in the standard literary language, but in rich colloquial Italian. Boccaccio himself spoke of his offspring as a "human comedy".