Decameron
The Decameron, by Boccaccio, is a frame story written in the mid fourteenth century. There are a hundred stories told over a span of ten days. On the second day, a man tells a story about a princess, Alatiel, who was sent away to marry a king. Before Alatiel reaches her destination, she has sexual experiences with a lot of different men. Alatiel is treated like an object and allows this objectification to happen because she is so fickle and does nothing to stop the men. The fickleness of Alatiel and the treatment of her as an object is evident throughout the story.The story starts off portraying Alatiel as an object when her father, the sultan of Babylon, promises her hand to the king of Algarve (48). Alatiel has no say in who she marries. Instead she is a gift from her father to the king of Algarve. Alatiel goes with Pericone but his brother, Marato wants the princess also. Marato takes Alatiel and "a large part of Pericone's valuable possessions" to the ship they are leaving on (52). This sentence implies that Alatiel is one of Pericone's possessions. Alatiel is treated like property again when she is on the boat. Two men think that her "her love could be shared like merchandise or money" (52). Once she ge
Costanzo eventually gets Alatiel. He too comforts her the same way that many others had, sexually (57). Antioco was the next man to have Alatiel. The two became friends when Costanzo put Alatiel into Antioco's care. Their friendship developed and they enjoyed "each other most exquisitely between the sheets" (58). Alatiel goes from man to man in this story. It doesn't take her long to adjust to a new situation. Antioco dies and Alatiel lives with his best friend. Alatiel and Antioco's friend soon became intimate (59). Throughout the story Alatiel is very fickle minded. The men take advantage of her and treat her as an object. The men call her a possession and treat her as merchandise. They steal her from other men and don't even care what she thinks. Alatiel didn't do anything to try and stop the men. She ended up liking the sexual relations she had with the men. Alatiel is fickle because it did not take her long to get over one man and move on to the next. If Alatiel were not so fickle, all of the men in the story probably wouldn't take advantage of her and treat her like an object. She brings it on herself. Alatiel can't even get herself out of the situation she got herself into. Antigono tells her what to say and she memorizes it all. Alatiel also didn't realize how much she would like having sexual relations with men and this
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 923
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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