On women’s faithfulness and ghosts: about Decameron 7

Abstract

The seventh day of Decameron is devoted to “policies and deceits that women have used for beguiling of their husbands, either in respect of their love, or for the prevention of some blame or scandal”. The first story of this section is preceded by the exegetical paratext “Gianni Lotteringhi hears knocking at night on the door; he awakens his wife, and she makes him believe that it is the ghost; they conjure him with a prayer, and the knocks cease”. In this chapter I aim to analyze the ghost as a comic and pseudo-religious motif in this novella. The role of the tale within its literary frame will be studied in order to determine the function of the delusion concocted by the wife in the global context in which it appears. The tale will also be analyzed taking into account the different roles of its characters and the dichotomy between feminine and masculine worlds it implies since its very beginning.