Celestina- Day 3

1. Celestina's actions towards Areusa lend much insight into her character. First, we can see that Celestina still has desires and feelings towards women. This sequence of events begins with Celestina commenting on Areusa's bed. She says that her bad smells sweet, and then she even gets into bed with Areusa. Then, even thought it is not implicitly stated, we can assume that Celestina molests Areusa. The dialogue includes Celestina saying that she will feel Areusa to attempt a diagnosis of the illness, and then is followed by Areusa telling Celestina that the pain is farther up, over her stomach. Finally, Celestina comments on Areusa's breasts and her youth, and advises her to enjoy it while it lasts. While I feel that this conveys a sense of lust towards Areusa, I also believe that Celestina is jealous of Areusa and her youth. She gets frustrated when Areusa talks of having only one lover, and I think it is because she cannot have any lovers, and she detests Areusa's waste of this advantage.

One thing that puzzles me about this act is Areusa's illness. I cannot guess it's exact nature, but I can only imagine what type of illness it might be.We are only given a few clues about it. The first is that Celestina is familiar with it, and that this familiarity is due to her sins. Then, we know that Celestina's prescription for a cure is sex. She also says that after Areusa is done having sex with Parmeno she will wake up pale, but be cured. The only guess that I can fathom as to Areusa's illness, is that perhaps Areusa is menstruating. We know that Areusa is rather young, due to a remark that Celestina made a little earlier in the act. If Parmeno sleeps with, and impregnates, Areusa, she will miss her period the next month. While this inference may be far off-kilter, it is the only one I have.

Celestina- Day 2

1. At the end of act three it is easy to see Celestina's uncertainty about how Melibea will respond to her ministrations. First, she finds it necessary to create a talisman of sorts to use on Melibea. This is in the form of the thread that she anoints with oil and the prayer she says to Pluto. This becomes even more obvious with the final words she says; "or so I think." I think that Melibea has good cause to be hesitant about the success of her plan. She certainly realizes that the "love" between Calisto and Melibea is merely lust. She would also realize how capricious lust can be. This can be seen in the very essence of the story, when Calisto wanders into Melibea's garden and suddenly falls in love with her.

2. Throughout the novel, Celestina's fame seems to proceed her wherever she goes. Interestingly enough, the only person who doesn't know who she is is Calisto, and as a result he is the only person that genuinely trusts her. Celestina's reputation is one that can be a double edged sword. In the case of Lucretia, it helped her cause, because Lucretia is related to one of Celestina's prostitutes. In the case of Melibea, Celestina's reputation, compounded with the discovery of her true goal, almost caused Celestina's demise. I find that this says a lot about individual interpretation. First, due their different backgrounds, Lucretia and Melibea both interpret Celestina's reputation differently. Lucretia is more favorably inclined to Celestina because of her upraising. As a cousin of the one prostitute, it can be assumed that Lucretia is the female counterpart to Parmeno, at least in the sense that she most likely came from the underbelly of the city and is striving to better herself. Melibea's response was far from favorable though. I believe this is due to the fact that Melibea was raised in a different world, and sees no place for Celestina in it.

Celestina- Day 1

1. I found the discussion that Calisto and Sempronio have at the beginning of Act 1 to be quite amusing. As a matter of fact, I have been entertained throughout the entirety of the first two acts. The characters and their dialogue is so funny, that I find myself chuckling out loud. Anyway, I digress. When Calisto and Sempronio are talking, I do not interpret Calisto's illness to be one of love. Perhaps it is one of lust, but I would favor another theory over that one. I believe that Calisto is merely bored with his life. The reason I discard love as the cause of his melancholy stems from his reaction to a joke that Sempronio made about the people of Sodom. In response to this joke Calisto says:
"Damn you! You've made me laugh, a thing I hadn't expected to do this year."

This shows that Calisto doesn't care to cure his "love sickness", but that he would rather mope around and garner sympathy from his servants. This is similar to Romeo's reaction to Rosalind's scorn, where he locks himself away and makes people worry about him.

As to their discussion about women, I believe I found a reason for Sempronio's misogynistic view. In his discourse on the topic he says that women can't stop lusting for men and that this is their great weakness. I think that the reason he believes this is because he is in love with one of Celestina's whores. I do not think he realizes exactly what she is though, and because of this he finds all women to be like Elicia.

Decameron- Day 6

9.3- While at face value it may seem that Calandrino's friends are at fault for Calandrino's foolish behavior, I would beg to differ. The root of the problem is really Calandrino's foolishness, and this makes him guilty. First, he is foolish to keep Bruno and Buffalmacco as close friends. They continually torment him and cause problems between him and his wife. Due to his ignorance, he doesn't realize this though.

Further proof of this is the fact that Bruno and Buffalmacco face no consequences for their actions against Calandrino. One motif common throughout these stories is the idea of justice and people getting what they deserve. It seems like the worthy always come out on top. For example, in the story about the monk bringing a girl into the monastery, he ends up "winning" over the prior because the prior was wrongfully punishing him, even thought the prior made the same mistakes. In the stories about Calandrino, Bruno and Buffalmacco always come out on top because Calandrino is the real fool.

10.10- I believe that neither Gualtieri or his wife deserve each others love. He is unworthy of her love because of all the hoops he made her jump through for no reason. There are certainly other ways to test her loyalty besides making her believe that her children were murdered and pretending to divorce her. I do not find her worthy of his love, because throughout the whole story she showed nothing but indifference to the things he was doing to her. If she truly loved him, she should have been more passionate about what he was doing to her, especially when he pretended to have their marriage annulled.

Decameron- Day 5

7.3
How does Rinaldo trick Madonna Agnesa's husband into trusting him with Agnesa? What Classical structure does Madonna Agnesa and her child become?

The trickery in this story focuses on Brother Rinaldo using Madonna Agnesa to trick her husband into trusting him . To do so, Brother Rinaldo becomes the godfather to their child. This gives him a plausible excuse for spending time with Madonna Agnesa. Throughout the stories in the Decameron there are two types of tricksters, cautious ones and incautious ones. The cautious ones, such as Rinaldo and the woman who used the monk to convey messages to her lover, always seem to succeed in their goal. In this case, Rinaldo comes close to being discovered, but the precautions he took earlier saved him from his demise. The incautious ones, however, always get caught. For example, the woman with the gay husband was caught because she took few precautions to hide her relationships with the young men.

In using Madonna Agnesa and her child as a means to infiltrate her household, Brother Rinaldo essentially turns her and her child into a Trojan Horse. He uses the pregnant woman as an excuse to spend time in their house, and spend time with her. This would be valid if he truly wanted to be the child's godfather, but in this case he merely wants to have an affair with Madonna Agnesa without getting caught.

8.3
What fable does this story remind you of? How does the trickery involved differ.

The man in this story is quite reminiscent of the emperor in the fable "The Emperor's New Clothes". In both stories foolishness leads to the main character being tricked into thinking something is different than it really is. In E.N.C., the emperor is tricked into thinking he has splendid new clothes, when in reality he has no clothes at all. In this story the main character is tricked into believing that he is invisible, when he really is not.

The largest difference between these two stories are their outcomes. In the story about the emperor, the story concludes with the emperor learning from his mistakes and becoming less gullible. In the story from the Decameron, the main character learns nothing from his mistake, and he continues a life of ignorance. I believe that this holds true to the motif of plausibility thazt is so prevalent throughout the text. It is much more likely for a foolish person not to change after one event than it is for them to have some great epiphany.

Decameron- Day 4

5.8-
What myth does Boccaccio use as a plot device in this story?

In the eighth story of day five Boccaccio uses the myth of Prometheus as a plot device to advance the story. In this myth Prometheus is punished for stealing fire from the gods and giving it to man. The punishment that he must endure is to have his liver eaten by an eagle every day for the rest of eternity. Boccaccio takes this story and modifies it for his purposes. In his version there are two people being punished, a suicidal knight, and the maiden who he loved. The knight is doomed to hunt the woman that he loved as punishment for him commiting suicide, and she is being hunted as punishment for her scorn. Ultimately, the girl ends up being slayed by the knight and her organs are fed to a pair of dogs. This process goes on every day.

This modification of the Prometheus myth is used by Boccaccio as a way to show the implications of love. In the story, the knights love is like the fire that Prometheus stole. In this case, however, the girl stole the knight's love. That is why her punishment is the same as Prometheus'. The modification to the myth really shows when the knight is being punished as well. I believe that his punishment stems from the fact that he foolishly gave his love. Because of this, Boccaccio is using him as an example to show the dangers of loving too readily.

Decameron- Day 3

3.3-

In this story the lady, who is unnamed, uses a friar to communicate with the man she is in love with. I find it interesting to note that the lady's name is hidden from the viewer. This presents the lady in the story with a level of anonymity that allows her to act as more than an individual. In a sense, she becomes representative of all women, and of the ways that women were forced to get what they wanted at the time. She also serves to show the intellect of women in a time period where that fact was often overlooked.

The way in which the lady used the friar as a means of communication was quite amusing. This way reminds me of the concept of self fulfilling prophesies in psychology. A self fulfilling prophesy is when the results of a test are false because they are expected, and therefore, unbeknownst to the researcher or not, actions are taken to create them. In this case the lady knew what she was doing and she fabricated stories about how she would like her lover to act. Once relayed to the friar, he unknowingly informed the man of what he should do to please the woman.This trickery is one that is designed to show the ignorance of the clergy at the time. This goal is one that Boccaccio might have taken due to the clergy's arrogance. I think that another reason for this is the rigid school of thought known as Scholasticism. During the Italian Renaissance this school was opposed by a school called Humanism. As a humanist, Boccaccio would have enjoyed portraying the clergy, who were Scholastics,as ignorant and clueless.

Decameron- Day 2

The story told by Fiametta on the second day is one that focuses on learning. This goal is accomplished through the use of a character named Andreuccio and his trials and tribulations. First, I think it is worth noting that Andreuccio is not completely innocent at the outset of the story. While he was in Naples to legitimately buy a horse, he wanted to do so in a way that wouldn't benefit the seller of the horse. Because of his arrogance and ignorance, he lets it be known that he has a large sum of money on him, which gets him into the first dilemma of the story. In this case he trusts a treacherous prostitute, and because of it, he loses all of his money. Next, Andreuccio's meets two thieves, who he also places his trust in. This time he is betrayed twice, first when they leave him in the well, and the second time when they enclose him in the tomb.

This story is very repetitive in the sense that Andreuccio is constantly trusting untrustworthy people. This is a manifestation of his ignorance and lack of understanding. First off, all the people that he trusted were complete strangers to him. In addition to this he was in a strange town where he had few allies. This makes him like a girl who goes to a club all alone and then leaves with some guy. Besides this, the characters in question had disreputable traits. The first was a prostitute that lived in a very poor area of Naples, and the second pair were thieves, people who must be dishonest by nature.

The positive thing about these situations is that Andreuccio learns from them. This can be seen when he is in the bishop's tomb and he keeps the discovery of the ring a secret. Also, his naivety teaches him about the naivety of others, like when he tricks the priest and scares him away. In this case Andreuccio's lesson can be adapted to all audiences by warning them to think before they act, and not to trust everyone who comes down the pike.

Decameron- 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 2.3

1.1- One quote from this story that strikes me is:
"Ciappelletto was, by profession, a notary; he was very much ashamed when any of his legal documents (of which he drew up many) were discovered to be anything but fraudulent. He would have drawn up, free of charge, as many false ones as were requested of him, and more willingly than another man might have done for a large sum of money."

I think that this quote expresses Boccaccio's frustration with the corruption of the times. At the time Boccaccio was drafting this work, the church was a very corrupt institution. As seen in some of his other stories, clergymen were not faithful to their vows, the Pope was not an inspirational leader, and greed motivated many of the church's decisions. In fact, many would argue that similar conditions exist today.
I find this particular quote interesting because in it Boccaccio not only criticizes the church, but does so quite hyperbolically. He implies that the church acts like it does not for any particular purpose, but just for the simple fact that it is evil. As a matter of fact, later in the story he says that Cappelletto is probably the most evil man that ever lived. This opinion of the church is echoed in Boccaccio's other story about the Jew who converted to a Christian.

1.4- " Well, now! Why shouldn't I have a little fun when I can get it? Troubles and worries I can get every day!"

I chose this quote because it is reminiscent of a behavior displayed during the period of the plague. When the plague swept through Europe it destroyed 1/3 of the European population. One factor that contributed to this was the fact that Europeans didn't understand how the disease was transmitted and, once it was contracted, most died from it within a couple of weeks. This tragedy and sense of doom lead to two patterns of behavior. The first was the penitents. These were people who tried to use mortification of the flesh and prayer as a way to appeal to God and stop the plague. The other pattern of behavior was one that involved senseless debauchary. The mentality behind this was that seeing as doctors couldn't cure the disease, people should have as much fun as possible before they die. It is this behavior that Boccaccio is mirroring in this quote. Furthermore, he is likening the church to a terrible plague, and suggesting that a breaking of vows is the best way to suffer the church's policy.

Tristan and Isolde Movie

The director and producers of the film "Tristan and Isolde" took many liberties in changing the plot and story line of the original work. One such change was in the fact that there was no magic/love potion in the film, whereas Beroul's story had a love potion.

While this is a deviation from the original story, I do not think that it drastically changed the way the characters were viewed or how the story progressed. In the original the love potion served as a scapegoat for the couples illicit love. In the movie there is another scapegoat proposed. In this case the lovers meet and fall in love before Isolde is married to Mark. Just like the potion made the reader sympathize with the couple in the written work, the fact that they were in love pre-Mark creates a feeling of pathos for their situation.

Even though the two methods of justifying the relationship between Tristan and Isolde are similar, there is one prime difference. In the book, the reader's sympathy can only extend until the point that the love potion wears off. After that it becomes apparent that their love supersedes the potion and that the potion might not have been as powerful as it was once suspected. The movie, however, allows the viewer to side with Tristan and Isolde until the end, seeing as their love began innocently enough and the subsequent events were largely out of their control.