The Decameron, part 2

My favorite story from our reading was that of Alatiel (Day Two, Seventh Story). I enjoyed this story for a few reasons: the first is the way the narrator, Panfilo, takes an unusual perspective on beauty. Panfilo renounces the ways women try to make themselves more attractive, and even names this as a sin: “…and you, gracious ladies, sin in a most particular way: that is, in desiring to be beautiful—inasmuch as, finding the attractions bestowed upon you by Nature to be insufficient, you go to astonishing lengths to improve upon them” (128). Panfilo demands a woman in her most natural state, viewing it as her best form. His (somewhat unconventional) argument is that women, in their great vanity and need to improve themselves, do not realize how some other are cursed with great beauty; and such is the story of Alatiel. Alatiel is so striking that nearly every man who encounters her does all he can to possess her. She is stolen and transported from place to place several times without any say in the matter; she is treated more as a pet than a person most of the time (a treatment further enhanced by the fact that she does not speak the languages of any of the countries or cultures she is brought to and is therefore mute). Eight different men consummate their lust for her (though the majority do not marry her.) On the other hand, though Alatiel’s beauty tends to make her life difficult, it still provides her with a deep-rooted sexual power over men. Though Alatiel is never seriously harmed, many men are killed in argument over her (and even a war is begun due to one of her kidnappings); meanwhile, Alatiel is noted by Giovanni to eventually become content with Fortune and her newfound life after every relocation. And though the men may believe that they are the only ones whose satisfaction is important, and therefore only consider their own sexual activities, nobody realizes that Alatiel is also satisfied with her sexual relationships and is therefore enabled by the men who perpetually kidnap her. She constantly exercises her resources of beauty to her own advantage, making Alatiel less often a victim and more often the prosperous receptor of what she wants from the men. This in a way gives her character stereotypical male qualities (which are echoed by the male characters of the text): she considers sexual gratification to be more important than anything else, and since she is receiving it, she is pleased, and is living in complete satisfaction.