Why Boccaccio Began Decameron with Eyewitness Account of the Plague - Essay Example

Why Boccaccio began Decameron with eyewitness account of the plague, when the rest of the characters and stories are fictional. Boccaccio, the author of the Decameron, introduces Day 1 of his book by giving an eyewitness account of the Black Death plague which hit Florence in 1348. The extent of the plague was so devastating that almost the entire city was brought into ruins. For example, in the description of the mysteriousness of the symptoms, the author likens the swelling in the groins or armpits to the size of an egg or apple. They were generally referred to as gavoccioli. As soon as one contracted the plague, the swelling would spread to cover the entire body. Other symptoms include black spots covering the whole body. As the author puts it, Florence was a no gone city. Death almost became inevitable to all those who contracted the plague. Dead bodies spread all over the city until churches ran out of space for burying the dead bodies. The solution was to adopt mass graves. Neighbours avoided each other for the fear of contracting the diseases. In fact, some citizens decided to leave the city. It was simply devastating. However, Boccaccio’s choice to introduce his work by this vivid eyewitness account leaves a lot to question especially that the rest of the characters are fictional. In my view, Boccaccio’s decision to introduce Decameron with an eyewitness account was to give the narrative its setting, both time and place. It was certainly written in medieval period and in Florence. This eyewitness account was also to justify the reasons for his characters to leave their city and base their stories in another place. In addition, this eyewitness account serves to add credibility to the author’s stories. For example, it would have been very difficult for him to set grounds as to why the seven women and the three men had to leave their Florence into another city. Furthermore, since this society was traditionally patriarchal, it would have been so hard for Boccaccio to convince his readers the reason as to why the men decided to give up their powers so that they could be ruled by the women. Therefore, the eyewitness account served to exemplify how the plague affected the social set-up of the society such that there was even a reversal of gender roles. 2. Summary of Saladin and Melchizedek The story revolves around Saladin, an Islam sultan and Melchizedek who was a wealthy Jew. Saladin was both generous and easy to lead his people into war. This attributes caused his treasury to run short of money. Saladin only option was to approach Melchizedek in the hope that he would bail him from bankruptcy. Unfortunately, Melchizedek was miser and he would hardly lend Saladin the vast amount of money which he needed. On the other hand, Saladin had no intention of forcefully taking the money from the Jew. Therefore, he devised a plan which was meant to embarrass the Jew thereby leading him to surrender his money. He ordered Melchizedek to come to his palace. Acknowledging the reputation of the Jew in terms of wisdom, the sultan asked him to state which of the three religions, which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam, is authentic. Melchizedek was quick enough to notice that the sultan’s intention was to lead him into unwinnable argument. Therefore, in order to answer this question, he chose to use story of a ring which was bequeath from generation to generation. Whoever owns the ring becomes the heir apparent to the wealth of the original ring owner. This tradition became the order of this society as successive generations kept on with the practice. However, there reached a point when this ring fell to man who had three sons whom he equally esteemed. In a bid to treat all of them equally, the father made two master copies of the original ring and bequeaths each to all of the sons. This automatically meant a tussle for inheritance once the father died. Careful inspection of the ring could not reveal the original ring and, therefore, the claims of these sons on the father’s property remained unresolved. In summary, Melchizedek likened the story to the three great religions – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Each of these religions asserts that they are the true heirs of God’s truth. Therefore, as is the case with the rings, the case remains unresolved to date. Melchizedek outwitted the Saladin who latter decided to directly ask for the loan. Unexpectedly, Melchizedek loaned the sultan who latter repaid the loan in full. They remained friends henceforth. The author’s main message to his audience is that all religions should treat each other equally since nobody knows exactly God’s truth. Boccaccio’s decision to use an Islam and Jew as main characters was to ensure objectivity in his reasoning. He did not want to appear to favour Christianity since he was also a Christian. 3. The message of Pico della Mirandola Pico della Mirandola was a Christian humanist. Therefore, at the beginning of his work on “Oration on the Dignity of Man”, Pico makes a reference to a Muslim philosopher to just to indicate his appreciation for other religions. He did not want to appear subjective in his reasoning since his work talks about the gift of free will that God has given to humanity. In other words, humans have the choice to become what they want. This famous quote is “there is nothing to see more wonderful than man” (Bondanella 180). This quote relates directly on Pico’s overall theme where he esteems man above all the other things. Humans are divine in nature and their realms in almost next to that of angels. Whatever man conceives is what he becomes. I agree with Pico that the free gift of our free will ultimately will lead man to control their destinies. The manner in which man was created was with no specific restrictions in his thinking capabilities. Therefore, when man learns how to philosophy, he raises in his ranks towards that of angels, and later on he becomes able to commune with God. For instance, he writes “....mans place in the universe is somewhere between the beasts and the angels, but, because of the divine image planted in him, there are no limits to what man can accomplish....”  (Bondanella 181). On the other hand, when such man fails to use his intellect, he descends to a vegetative state. Pico, for instance, based his argument from his own personal experience. He argues that by exercising intellect, philosophers such as him have become the most dignified in their society. The reason for this dignity is lies on the claim that only human beings have been given the ability to determine their destinies through free will. This is unlike other changes in nature which are normally instigated by some outside forces Work Cited Bondanella, Julia C, and Mark Musa. The Italian Renaissance Reader. New York: New American Library, 1987. Print. Read More