Page 184 - Petru Russo | The 100 Days of Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio
P. 184
The Scholar and the Widow
This novella recounts a tale of unrequited love, cunning, and Months later, the scholar hatches a cunning plan. In the height of
poetic justice. A scholar’s love for a widow turns from suffering summer, he invites the widow to an elaborate meeting, claiming
to revenge, showcasing themes of obsession, rejection, and it will advance her romantic interests. Trusting him, she agrees.
retaliation. Under false pretenses, she is led to a tower, where she is made to
stand naked for an entire day, exposed to the blazing sun, biting
In Bologna, a scholar falls hopelessly in love with a beautiful flies, and gadflies.
widow. However, the widow, enamored of another, has no
interest in the scholar’s affection. Seeing an opportunity for cruel The widow, tormented and humiliated, endures her ordeal as
amusement, she pretends to reciprocate his love and invites him to passersby witness her shame. The scholar’s calculated retaliation
meet her on a cold winter’s night. mirrors her earlier cruelty, delivering a poignant and ironic twist.
The scholar, blinded by love, dutifully waits outside her home in Through his stratagem, the scholar achieves poetic justice, but the
the freezing snow, but she never appears. Humiliated and frozen, tale leaves readers reflecting on the cyclical nature of vengeance
he realizes the widow has deceived him and begins to plot his and the complexities of human emotion.
revenge.
DECAMERON 184 185
