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.