The Decameron, part 3

I found this story especially interesting because it possesses the theme of one-sided love. Though Beltramo could not want her less, Giletta continues to pursue him. She first falls in love with him when she was a child, feeling “a boundless love, one which was far more passionate than was suitable for her tender age” (266). This love appears to be an obsession, bordering on unhealthy. One unusual quality is her undying love for him through the years, starting when she is young, which is often when a person feels overwhelming and uncontrollable love for another without much power over it. Giletta maintains this love for him as she grows up, loving him “most passionately” (268), unable to let go of his image after he leaves for Paris, and turns down the offers of many other men. Her affection for him seems strange due to the fact that he does not seem to know her very well at all: the author remarks that he knew her and had seen her, but was obviously unaware of her infatuation. Most strangely, she still wants to pursue him after the death of her father, and seems more interested in her newfound opportunities to travel to him, rather than with grieving. She is even “overjoyed” (267) to discover that the King of France is sick and needs a physician, because it means she will have the chance to see Beltramo again-and she even plans to marry Beltramo while there. Here we see her using someone else’s sickness to her own advantage, all in the name of love. Quite ironically, Beltramo has no interest whatsoever in Giletta, since her lineage is not noble enough; he even leaves her after the wedding, and sends harsh words back to her, implying that they will never be lovers. Unfortunately for Beltramo, there is no way to escape someone who is determined to seek their lover; and Giletta manipulates her way into his life until she gets what she wants. Giletta peculiarly bemoans “all that she had done out of love for the Count, and pointed out what had come of it” (270), not seeming to grasp the concept that he does not have feelings for her like she expects him to. To fulfill her long-held fantasy, she moves to Florence to be close to him, pretends to be another woman whom Beltramo cares for, and pays off the family of the woman in order to assist her in this ruse (not considering that the woman would actually want and merit a relationship with Beltramo; this woman’s feelings do not matter, as is evident in Giletta’s choice not to include her in on the details of the plan). Giletta seems in denial of the fact that Beltramo doesn’t like her, so she plays the other woman’s role, leading her to bear his children and receive his ring (the two qualities he said she would never possess as his wife). At the end, she reveals her true self, and Beltramo eventually accepts her. It is interesting that she changes herself to someone else so that he will love her; she is so desperate for his affection that she will even accept his loving someone else instead of her, as long as it is directed towards her. This love seems wrong in too many ways.