Bocaccios The Decameron

1) Topic and Outline

You will submit a Topic/Outline of your writing project a few days before your final paper. This

assignment will require you to identify the topic you are working on and to present a detailed plan of your essay, and its basic organization. Include a section for the introduction with a possible thesis, body paragraphs with arguments you plant to make, and concluding points. (See Canvas for examples)

Requirements for Topic and Outline: 2-5 pages, 1-inch margins, double-spaced, 11 or 12 font size
Due Date: Monday, July 16 by 11:59PM

Essay Topic

Sources: Bocaccio’s The Decameron

Pick one of the following topics: gender, religion, honor, nobility in Boccaccio’s The Decameron. Trace one of these topics through at least 3 of the novellae (stories) and explain how Bocaccio and his contemporaries would have understood one of these ideas during the early Renaissance (14th – early 15th century). What do these stories tell us about the importance/meaning of your chosen topic? Does this topic seem to have different meanings or components in the early Renaissance? Explain in your conclusion how Bocaccio’s understanding of your chosen topic is different from our modern understanding. Feel free to use stories from The Decameron we did not discuss in class.

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Solution Preview

Introduction
The Decameron is a collection of 100 tales told by ten storytellers seven of whom are women and three men. The stories setting is in a secluded villa that the storytellers take refuge in to escape misery in their town. The writer has acknowledged the importance of women in the story and portrays the women in the stories as having the perseverance to endure problems and challenges not because they want to but because they lack any other option. The society as seen through the writer’s eye does not respect women and their standing in society is low as compared to men.

(757 words)