What strikes me is how this story has become so everlasting. Granted it is the last story, so it will undoubtedly have an accented effect, but it is unpleasant and bizarre. After Bocaccio’s version, Petrach rewrote it, then Chaucer included it in Canterbury Tales as the “Clerk’s Tale.” There is even this: The Hotel Griselda in Saluzzo. She appears in several modern plays as “Patient Griselda.” Obviously the Medieval world saw her as having great virtue, but we today see she had every right to give that marquis what he deserved when he brought those kids back. For me, it no longer works. Job was virtuous because in the end he found favor with God, which is something to aspire to. Griselda sought the happiness of just a man, and therefore her patience was for a goal that is unworthy.

 See you when I can.

Dr. K.

To begin, the seventh day just screams out “The Canterbury Tales.” Each work was about how a woman tricked her husband in some way to stay with her lover. The most shocking one I found was the story with the bath, in which the stupid husband cleans it while the lover has his way with the wife.  I honestly couldn’t picture this situation in my head. It was too odd. one huge difference I noticed between this chapter and the general vibe of Arabian Nights was that sex and love making was a natural part of a woman’s crazy gene. But for the Decameron, sex is either a very grave subject or an incredibly funny subject. It’s like listening to a nervous fifth grader telling PG-13 rated sex jokes to his friends. Everyone huddled around laughing in an uncertain manner.

The sixth day made me feel kind of dumb. With each quirky  one liner I simply sat there scratching my head. I am sure they were brilliant at the time but if I said any of those things today I would probably get my butt kicked. I had no idea that there was such a reverence for cleverness. I thought that it was much less celebrated than that of Islamic culture. I didn’t realize how wrong I was.

Finally, on the fourth day, which I had already read a bit of, was even more interesting in the second half. I really like the story about the sage and the lover who dies from rubbing it up against his teeth. I liked that they actually had a reasonable explanation. If it was in the Arabian  Nights, they would have simply stated that it was a genie.

From the very beginning of Vita Nuova, I get that Dante has elevated Beatrice beyond just Beatrice, some girl he bumped into a couple of times during her life. Rather Beatrice becomes a heavenly entity through Dante’s work. In fact, early on I believe he actually refers to her as a god(dess)– in one of the phrases that required a translated footnote. Dante even devotes an entire section or two of Vita Nuova to the dazzling effect Beatrice has on the people who encounter her, almost as a religious experience. When Dante encounters pilgrims, his first thought is that they must know nothing of the death of Beatrice, the tragedy that his town has suffered. (His second thought is an almost haughty assertion that, were he able to communicate his plight to the pilgrims, Dante could certainly cause them to weep. A little sick, yes?)

What is interesting then, is what this belief does to his poetry. The sole purpose of his work is to praise Beatrice who sustains Dante, even after her death. Love, then, becomes Dante’s religion, Beatrice is his god(dess) and his poetry is his prayer. Granted, courtly “love” thrives on this sort of extreme devotion, but what pushes Dante’s case over the edge, then, is the Divine Comedy.

Truth be told, my knowledge of the Divine Comedy before starting the Inferno was (is) limited. I get the gist, but what is interesting after reading Vita Nuova is Dante’s approach to describing this tour of Hell, Purgatory and Heaven. Dante asks Virgil how it is that he obtained permission to see what becomes of the soul before actually dying, and Virgil explains that Beatrice requested it. This answer is sufficient for Dante, thus likening Beatrice to God again. It is through poetry– represented by Virgil– that Beatrice’s message to Dante is communicated and her wishes executed. As far as Dante is concerned, Beatrice is the keeper of the afterlife. What’s more, a footnote early on in the Inferno points out that Dante rarely if ever (I don’t remember which) refers to Christ or the Virgin Mary; Dante has no need of these traditional religious figureheads as he has Beatrice.

At times it seems that Dante is attempting to translate his praise of Beatrice into praise of God, her creator, but the references relating them are few and far between, as if the use of “God” were only for emphasis. I wonder if Dante’s obsession with Beatrice would not be seen at the time as idolatry? But then again, it was not Catholicism that was quick to condemn idolatry, so perhaps not. It seems there is a fine line between traditional courtly love and idolatry, if there is a line at all, and if so, where is it drawn?

You could slit my throat
And with my one last gasping breath
I’d apologize for bleeding on your shirt
Taking Back Sunday

And another thing, in both the Tale of Kamar Al-Zaman and about three or four stories in the Decameron, women are dressing up and parading around as men. I mean, I know Boccaccio is trying to create this blended world of unknown Greek and exotic Arabic, but really? How believable is it that women could dress up as men, hide their completely different body types and mannerisms, and become kings, sultans, advisers, husbands, etc. I especially liked that the daughter of the King of England is traveling as a male Abbott. I really think the royal family may have had a problem with this.

Just thought I would add this image of Eleanor that was painted by one of my favorite artists, Kinuko Y. Craft.

Eleanor was, from all accounts, one of the most successful woman in the history of world politics. She married twice and both times she managed to out maneuver, or at least try, her royal husbands. This was a woman who knew what she wanted and did not hesitate to go after it. She controlled vast estates and armies as well she her son’s (Richard the Lion Hearted) lands when he was out on Crusade. She also arranged two of her sons’ marriages to women that she choose for them.

Eleanor was the consummate politician. She was perfectly willing to do what it took to get the job done. The fact that this infuriated the men in her life was just the icing on the cake for her. For a woman who gained control of her own lands and life at the age of 15 and who lived to be 82, this was quite an accomplishment. She outlived all but 2 of her 10 children.

Here is a web page on Eleanor from Wikipedi

The middle ages were a time of constant warfare (hell, the English and French fought over the same chunks of land for over 100 years), high infant mortality, and rampant disease. As such, death was a very real part of life, and a consequence of that was killing wasn’t really such a big deal. If you had to kill someone – over honor, property, for your country, whatever – you did it because you had to, and that was that. So when the lady asks for the offending knight’s head, it isn’t that she’s a bloodthirsty sociopath. It’s that seeing your foe’s head was a surefire way to ensure that he/she was dead, since you’d have a hard time faking that particular proof.

It’s also not that these people in the story had a hard-on for killing. From our perspective, it seems like their only way of solving any problem is to kill something. This too is a flaw of our particular vantage. Think for a minute, that you live in a world where there is no real court of law. Where there was no police force to keep the peace, and where the strong simply have their way with the weak. This is the world of the middle ages, and as such, physical violence was the favorite way to settle disputes simply because there was no other alternative. If a brigand was strong-arming a village into paying “protection” money, you couldn’t call the FBI to stop him. You had to make him stop yourself, and you had to use the only language he understood: you had to show him that you were stronger than he.

It is for these reasons that the world of Lancelot is one so brutish. For example, if you wanted to send your enemy a message, this is how you did it:

Also, happy Fuck the British Day.

(I couldn’t resist showing an “Oriental” view of America. If it offends anyone, just let me know and I’ll take it down)