Humanism in Boccaccio's The Decameron
The early years of fourteenth century Europe were plagued by many miseries. Recurring wars in Florence and Naples provided a turbulent backdrop for famine, financial crises, and worst of all, the Black Death, a scourge for which the century is best remembered. All of these events disrupted the social fabric of Florence and, given Florence's importance, the wider Italian scene as well. Boccaccio reflected upon the various upheavals being experienced during this time period in his work and this honest exploration of the human condition is best exemplified by his greatest Florentine work, The Decameron.
The "Ameto," Boccaccio's first work in this Florentine period, contains numerous allusions to local history, including prominent Florentine families. Boccaccio followed this work with the "Amorosa Visione," a long poem that reviews the delights of earthly pleasures such as power, wealth and sensuality. The "Amorosa Visione" was completed 1345 by a later work, the Elegia di Madonna Fiammetta, which tells the story of the disappointed love of Fiammetta. The final work before The Decameron is the "Ninfale fiesolano," a pastoral love poem that explores earthly pleasures such as sensuality and praises the middle class virtues of maternity, home and family.
Boccaccio's keen sense for common characters and realistic settings, his concern for social questions, and the celebration of earthly life and emphasis on earthly values in his work are all combined to inform the construction of the next great Florentine work, The Decameron. The vitality of Boccaccio's The Decameron and the work's humanism can be viewed as the author's reaction to the impartiality of the Black Death and the tumultuous nature of this period of medieval Italian society. Boccaccio suggests as much in the introduction to The Decameron which describes the plague-stricken city of Florence.
The onslaught of the plague ...