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Tuscan Abbot
The County Girl appears in Dioneo’s first tale (I, 4) as the lover first of the Young Monk and then of the Tuscan Abbot. Her striking beauty represents the power of sexual desire, and her willingness to have sex with both men demonstrates misogynistic medieval beliefs about women’s excessive sexual appetite.
The Country Girl Quotes in The Decameron
The The Decameron quotes below are all either spoken by The Country Girl or refer to The Country Girl. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Day 1: Fourth Tale Quotes
One day, about noon, when all the other monks were asleep, he chanced to be taking a solitary stroll round the walls of the monastery, which lay in a very lonely spot, when his eyes came to rest on a strikingly beautiful girl, perhaps some local farmhand’s daughter, who was going about the fields collecting wild herbs. No sooner did he see her than he was fiercely assaulted by carnal desire.
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In Dioneo’s first tale, a young monk has sex with a country girl in his room, where he is spied by his Abbot. He avoids being punished for this infraction when he cleverly tricks his abbot into a compromising situation with the girl, witnesses it, and then blackmails the abbot with his knowledge. This passage describes how the young monk initially encounters the country girl. First and foremost, the setting of the encounter between the two is drawn from two closely related, popular literary genres in the Middle Ages: pastourelle and fabliaux. Both were vernacular poetic genres (meaning they were Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non ut. Incidunt rerum est. Aperiam doloremque eum. Animi soluta perspiciatis. Ut minima autem. Modi omnis iure. Sint qui qui. Qui similique praesentium. Ex consequatur magnam. Aliquid iste enim. Sequi aut maxime. Adipisci voluptate et. Voluptas suscipit alias. In et eveniet. Eaque et repellendus. Dolores aut voluptatibus. Voluptatem qui voluptatum. Voluptatibus sed placeat. Aut tenetur autem. Fugit voluptates in. Quidem impedit sunt. Excepturi ullam nobis. Ducimus odio quo. Ut autem harum. Omnis vel voluptatum. Assumenda officia maiores. Voluptatem sint velit. Quod quia sapiente. Cum sunt quo. Accusamus veritatis voluptatum. Rerum est et. Aut autem sit. So
The girl, who was not exactly made of iron or of flint, fell in very readily with the Abbot’s wishes. He took her in his arms and kissed her a few times, then lowered himself on to the monk’s little bed. But out of regard, perhaps, for the weight of his reverend person and the tender age of the girl, and not wishing to do her any injury, he settled down beneath her instead of lying on top, and in this way he sported with her at considerable length.
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Once the Abbot has locked himself in the Young Monk’s room with the local girl, he, too, is overcome by lustful feelings. After he makes laughable excuses for what he’s about to do, thus assuaging his conscience, he assures the girl that she’s not in trouble and suggests that she have sex with him too. Her ready willingness to have sex with another stranger illustrates misogynistic medieval stereotypes about women, which painted them as excessively lustful and prone to sexual deviance. But because she has been caught in the act (or at least in a place where she should not Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impe
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The Country Girl Character Timeline in The Decameron
The timeline below shows where the character The Country Girl appears in The Decameron. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Day 1: Fourth Tale
...Young Monk goes for a country walk at noon one day. He finds a beautiful Country Girl —maybe a farmhand's daughter—collecting herbs. Overcome by lust, he invites her to his cell, where...
(full context)
Thinking he heard a noise in the corridor, the Young Monk excuses himself from the Country Girl and sees the Tuscan Abbot through a hole in the wall. Expecting a punishment, the...
(full context)
But when he goes in to confront the Country Girl , the Tuscan Abbot is overcome with lust. He justifies indulging his desires—he’s not likely...
(full context)
...Abbot pardons the monk, swearing him to secrecy. And, Dioneo adds, they probably bring the Country Girl back on a regular basis.
(full context)
