Decameron 5.8: From Compassion to Compliancy

Abstract

BOCCACCIO FAMOUSLY BEGINS the Decameron’s preface “Umana cosa è aver compassione degli afflitti” (It is a matter of humanity to show compassion for those who suffer) and goes on to claim that he intends the book as a work of consolation for young ladies, confined to their rooms and afflicted with lovesickness. The content of the opening aphorism is somewhat conventional, but Boccaccio’s placement of it at the very start of the Decameron raises important questions about the collection’s purpose. Is the narrative’s putative objective only to distract its figuratively female readers while their lovesickness wanes of its own accord, or is it also to instill compassion—for women in love and for people in