The Decameron [2.5, 2.6, 2.7, 2.9, 3.1]

3. I thought that this story was very interesting. The trickery and deceit that the lady goes through to end up where she is at the end of the book is quite funny. This story is definitely a mockery of femininity and I am surprised that such a story would be told to a court of royalty. It proposes that women are as permiscuous as men in the medieval times and that it is common for a woman to sleep with many men [just as long as she doesn't tell anyone]. I feel as though the gender roles are completely switched here. Usually you see the men more sexually open and more easily convinced than women, but in this story, the lady gets upset when she realizes that he love at the time is gone and cries, then quickly gets over it and moves on to the next man. I think that the theme of lust is very important in this story and it is what drives the men. Each man wants to prove that they are better lovers than the man before, so they fight [even if it causes a death] to get the lady, all out of lust. Overall, the story is making a commentary on what would happen if women acted a little more like men in the medieval times. We also have to ask, was it really like this? Were the women pretending to be virgins when they married, or is this a story based on false pretenses?

5. I think that the first story of the third day is very interesting. It is almost opposite as the seventh story of the second day. One story involves a mute woman who is unknowingly whoring herself, while the other involves a mute man who is also unknowingly whoring himself. Both characters are very sought after people by the opposite sex. While the mute woman does not say anything because she does not know the language of the other men, the mute man does not speak because he was physically mute because of a disease he got. Both say that the opposite sex has a way of having a power or force over the other. The nuns are very surprising in this story because they are all very eager to sleep with the mute man. They unknowingly all end up sleeping with him which causes the question, why would the nuns sleep with him in the first place?

Both stories of mute people bring up the question of who is really in power in the situation. I also think that it's funny that these stories are being told to the court who are supposed to obey the church. These stories are obviously making fun of the church and creating a mockery. What does this say for the rest of society?