Decameron and the Philosophy of Storytelling - Essay Example

The Decameron The Decameron is a book written by Govanni Boccaccia between 1313 and 1375. The book consists of 100 tales toldby different authors. Among the authors, seven were young females while three were young men. The authors told the stories of the Roman ancient times. The major themes described by the authors are differences between, Judaism, Roman Catholic, Christianity, and Islam. The differences between the religions had resulted to Black Death since different people had different beliefs considering the religion they had subscribed. The other major themes described in the tales are, search for identity, search for divine, search for love and search for power. Apparently, tale one and tale three exemplify the theme of search for power as characters in the tales strain to achieve power. Tale one’s storyteller was Panfillo. The story reflects back during 400 AD. The hidden message was to criticize the Roman Catholic Church as it was practicing unlawful acts against individuals who had not subscribed to the Roman Catholic religion. The story is about a wicked businessperson named Ser Cepparello, however, most people referred to him as Ciapelleto due to his delinquent behavior. Ciapelleto had travel to Burgundy for business purposes and a favor to his friend Musciatto Franzesi. Unfortunately, Ciapelleto falls ill during his stay at Burgundy. Luckily, the Florentile brothers took and housed him until he recovered. Ciapelleto took advantage of the Florentile brothers and lies to them about his story. Unknowingly, the Friar believed him and revered him as a saint. In the story, the teller explains how people unknowingly upraise the Roman Catholic Church without knowing the evil part of the church (Kuhns, 516). The author expresses the theme of power by delineating how individuals, regardless of their action, strain to achieve power. Ciapelleto represents the Roman Catholic Church. He explains that the Roman Catholic Church is an unjust church as the leaders subject the believers to lies in order to achieve power and authority. Tale three in the Decameron also demonstrates the theme of search for power. The author for tale three was Filomena. Filomena expressed the theme of search for power using the co-existence among the Jews, Medieval, Boccaccio, and the Renaissance authors. Filomena had experienced the relationship levels among the groups (Kuhns, 512). For this reason, he wanted to depict the actual image of the ties. Apparently, most individuals among the groups had little or no information concerning the relationship status especially among the groups. In a general view, all religious groups were competitive in regards to the most powerful ethnic group. Each group considered themselves as powerful, for this reason, heated conflicts, and hatred existed among the four ethnic groups. Apparently, the Boccaccio authors had different views when it came to respecting for the Jews. The Boccaccio respected the Jews regardless of their nature. The Renaissance and the medieval authors did not respect the Jews as they considered them as wicked and evil. The Jews in this case were the scapegoats since they had sought refuge in Rome. Filomena describes the story of the four groups using two people: A powerful sultan and a wise, rich man. Sultan in Filomena’s tale was Saladin, and the rich, wise man was Melichezedek. Saladin experiences shortage in his treasury, therefore, he decides to seek assistance from Melichezedek, who he is aware that is too avaricious to lend him in a fair deal. The Sultan decides to trick him into committing unjust acts without his knowledge. Sultans ask Melichezedek that law among the Judaism, Christianity, and Islam represented the true word of God (Kuhns, 510). In Rome, questioning the religious truth about the religion laws was unlawful as it exemplified inequality among the people of Rome. Melichezedk, however, was aware of the Sultans act, instead of answering him directly; he decided to give a story that would answer Saladin. Melchezedek told him about a King, who had three sons and a precious ring. His sons, however, were not aware he had other two rings of the same kind. The King later gave each child a ring as a sign to show no one could predict his heir for his estate. In regards to the Sultan’s question, Melchezedek explained that no one could determine the power of each faith (Kuhns, 506). Here the author explains that no group was powerful than the other, and no ethnic group should despise other groups. Filomena continues by explaining that Sultan finally became honest to Melchezedek after realizing his wisdom. Sultan also receives his loan and repays its, however, the bottom line is Sultan respected Melchezedek. The hidden message in Filomena’s tale is that the authors from Renaissance and Medieval should respect the Jews sine they are unaware of the treasure that lies behind them. All tales in the Decameron reflects on events that happen in today’s life. Everything in one way or another connects to the current phenomena. Both tale one and tale three exemplify the theme of search for power in today’s world. Everyone is in search for power and authority. As the authors, explain that individuals will use any means without reflecting on the impacts of their actions. Political leaders and any leader across the society have embraced pretense as a form of attaining leadership. Many political leaders of various countries in the world, American Include, usually pretend to serve their followers (Kuhns, 506). However, the voters view the real image of the politicians after they have attained the political position. The same political leaders also include lies in their process of requesting for votes. Most political leaders promise the voters many developments from infrastructure to technology. Most citizens, however, are not aware of the lies as explained by political leaders. Most of them learn of the lines years after the political leaders have attained the position they projected. Ciapelleto also used similar lies to attain the saint position Despite, the negative features presented in the tales, there are other positive characters presented in the tales and happen in today’s life. One of the positive features is respect. The respect Melchezedek earned from Sultan is also present in every day activities. There are some decisions individuals make that require wise thought before deciding on the actions to take. Organizations deciding when and why to form a partnership require wisdom and respect that Melchezedek and Sultan Saladin displayed. Nevertheless, before the organization managers gain respect from other organizations they have to show signs of wisdom. Moreover, the achievement of the organization also will help in earning respect. Achievements that Melchezedek attained were wisely showing the Sultan that he could not fall into his trap. Work Cited Kuhns, Richard. Decameron and the philosophy of storytelling: Author as Midwives and Pimp. New York: Columbia University Press. 2005. Internet Source Read More