"La dottrina è tarda": The Good of Marriage in Decameron 7.4

• In Event: Renaissance Marriage

Abstract

In Boccaccio’s Decameron, Day Seven’s novelle treat “the tricks that, either for love or for their deliverance from peril, ladies have heretofore played their husbands, and whether they were by the said husbands detected or no.” Lauretta narrates the forth tale about Tofano, monna Ghita, and the well. At the onset of the story, Lauretta proclaims that only Love has the power to lead Day Seven’s wives to deceive successfully their husbands. In the same breath, the narrator claims that any other dottrina – institution or doctrine – is outdated and useless in leading the wives to successful tricks and happiness. In the present paper, I will argue that Boccaccio presents matrimony as one such institution. Specifically, I will analyze how the actions between husband and wife in Decameron 7.4 conflict with some of the theoretical benefits of marriage as elaborated by Augustine in De bono coniugali and Aquinas in the Summa contra gentiles.

Author

• Brandon Essary, Elon University