The Decameron Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Decameron - Essay ExampleThe book shows that even the most noble or holy throng in title are still prone to sin and vice. Living the best life possible, accord to The Decameron, is a personal endeavor which can best be undertaken by fortifying ones mind with news reports of the moral shortfalls of others.The fiction begins with a narrator discussing the various ways in which the volume of Florence were coping with the overwhelming death ships bell and destruction of social order brought about by the bubonic plague. Some people chose to behave as though each day was to be their last (16). The narrator notes that nowadays, laws relating to pleasure are somewhat restrictive, whereas at that timethey were exceptionally lax. In contrast, however, the seven ladies of our story are found more or less in a circle, in one part of the church building, reciting their paternosters (17). The eldest of the women, Pampinea, determines it is in their best interests to leave town to nurse their lives and virtue. She states that the townspeople, prompted by their appetites, they will do whatever affords them the greatest pleasureIt is not only of lay people I speak, but also of those enclosed in monasteriesthat have given themselves over to carnal pleasures (18-19) She asks the other six women, If this be so (and we plainly perceive that it is), what are we doing here (19). In this manner, the seven women decided to leave town, ask three young men of courage and intelligence to accompany them as guides and servants (21). In this manner, the group sets itself apart(predicate) from the others in Florence that are just interested in fulfilling sinful desires before their imminent demise. Upon arriving at a well-appointed and vacant country villa, the group and their accompanying servants set up camp. To provide entertainment, they decide they will appoint a group leader each day that will determine how they will convolution their time (24). For each of the ten days th ey are in the villa, they end up telling stories - both lighthearted and tragic - that convey different moral shortcomings of men, women and clergy athe likes of. They each usually preface each tale with a comment on how to stave off the same wretched and sinful natures of the people in the stories, and so making the collection of tales a type of instruction manual on the devious temptations one should avoid in life.For instance, the third story on the first day tells the tale of Saladen, a sultan from Egypt, and a rich Jew, Melchizedek by name. Saladen asks Melchizedek to choose which religion is authentic, the Jewish, the Saracen, or the Christian (42). Because Melchizedek wisely sidesteps Saladens wicked trap, he avoids self-aggrandizing an answer that would lose him money and possibly his life. He states that he could not choose among them, just like he could not choose among three children. Saladen only asked this question because he coveted Melchizedeks money. Because his w isdom and forethought inspired Saladen, the sultan borrowed money from the man instead of entrapping him as he had originally intended ( 43-44). many a(prenominal) stories in The Decameron point out the hypocrisy of the Catholic Church of plague-era Europe. In this manner, the stories show that even church leaders are not without sinful temptation. In the sixth story, a money-hungry friar comes after people with bulging purseswhom he deemed to be lacking in faith (50-51). At the end of the story, the money-hungry friar