The Decameron (Day Two / 2.5, 2.6, 2.7, 2.9, 3.1)

Answer at least two questions or come up with your own analysis of the stories.

1. Story 2.5: Analyze the educative process that occurs with Andreuccio (do NOT simply recount the events of the story). Do you see any repetition occurring here? How do you read this repetition? How does this contribute to his education? What does he learn here? What might the message be for a wider audience? Use specific examples from the text to support your analysis.

2. Story 2.6: What does this story have to say about humanity (especially considering that the central character becomes a kind of ‘wild-woman’)? How might this view of humanity influence the story of a whole? Use specific examples from the text to support your analysis.

3. Story 2.7: What do you think this story has to say about femininity? Gender? Desire? Lust? What might the message be for a wider audience? Use specific examples from the story to support your analysis.

4. Story 2.9: What does this story have to say about crossing ‘borders,’ especially that between female / male? (This is not the first time we have seen this in the Decameron). What might this have to say about gender and our ideas concerning gender identity in a larger sense? Use specific examples from the text to support your analysis.

5. Story 3.1: In story 2.7 we read about a ‘mute’ woman who does not speak because nobody speaks her language. Here we read a story about a ‘mute’ man in a convent. What are the differences / similarities here? How do you read this ‘muteness’? How might this play into a politics of gender, power, etc. that may or may not be related to speech? Use specific examples from the story to support your analysis.