The Author’s Defense of His Stories

The Decameron

This flow traces the narrator’s explanation of why he writes about love, women, pleasure, and imperfect human conduct.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

Comfort Remembered Comfort Remembered from "The Decameron". Comfort Remembered Personal beginnings The author recalls receiving consolation during his own painful experience of love.

Comfort Remembered from "The Decameron". Comfort Remembered Personal beginnings The author recalls receiving consolation during his own painful experience of love.

Comfort Remembered Personal beginnings The author recalls receiving consolation during his own painful experience of love. Gratitude motivates him to offer comfort to others. Intended readers He especially addresses women in love, whose confined circumstances, he argues, give them fewer diversions than men.

A Hundred Tales Promised A Hundred Tales Promised from "The Decameron". A Hundred Tales Promised Purpose and form The author promises one hundred stories told over ten days by seven ladies and three young men, with songs for their…

A Hundred Tales Promised from "The Decameron". A Hundred Tales Promised Purpose and form The author promises one hundred stories told over ten days by seven ladies and three young men, with songs for their…

A Hundred Tales Promised Purpose and form The author promises one hundred stories told over ten days by seven ladies and three young men, with songs for their recreation. Pleasure and counsel He presents the tales as both enjoyable and potentially useful. Their examples may show readers what to avoid and what to pursue.

The Plague Explained The Plague Explained from "The Decameron". The Plague Explained Historical setting The narrative describes the 1348 plague and the collapse of familiar civic and family routines.

The Plague Explained from "The Decameron". The Plague Explained Historical setting The narrative describes the 1348 plague and the collapse of familiar civic and family routines.

The Plague Explained Historical setting The narrative describes the 1348 plague and the collapse of familiar civic and family routines. Its grim opening gives a reason for the company’s departure. Contrast in tone The author warns that this brief account leads into a more pleasurable narrative. Suffering establishes the need for the later retreat and its stories.

Criticism Answered Criticism Answered from "The Decameron". Criticism Answered Charges against the author The author reports objections to his praise of women and to his continued writing about them.

Criticism Answered from "The Decameron". Criticism Answered Charges against the author The author reports objections to his praise of women and to his continued writing about them.

Criticism Answered Charges against the author The author reports objections to his praise of women and to his continued writing about them. Critics also question his age, style, and practical usefulness. A comic defense He answers through the story of a sheltered young man’s first sight of women. The anecdote makes natural desire a reply to those who condemn his subject.

Stories Offered Without Apology

Stories Offered Without Apology The author’s response He argues that stories can be used well or badly according to their readers. Imperfect tales need not make the whole collection worthless. Ending the work The conclusion thanks God and the women for whom the work was made. The narrator rests his pen after defending its purpose and variety.

The Proem, before the plague narrative

The end of the Proem

The opening of Day One

The opening of Day Four

The final conclusion