In Dioneo’s fourth tale (IV, 10), the Trusted Maid serves Mazzeo’s Wife faithfully and helps her conduct her affair with Ruggieri d’Aieroli. She helps her mistress dispose of his body when they think he’s suddenly died and convinces the judge to drop the charges against him. She demonstrates the intersection of concerns about class and female sexuality; while noble Andreuola was praised for not having sex with the magistrate in an earlier tale, part of the humor of Dioneo’s tale is the way the maid readily acquiesces to his demands for sex in exchange for Ruggieri’s acquittal.
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Trusted Maid Character Timeline in The Decameron
The timeline below shows where the character Trusted Maid appears in The Decameron. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Day 4: Tenth Tale
...weeping, she begins to think about what’s necessary to protect her honor. She summons her Trusted Maid to help her.
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...settle on a place to leave Ruggieri d’Aieroli where his death won’t implicate them, the Trusted Maid suggests that they put him into a trunk that’s outside of a nearby carpenter’s shop,...
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...d’Aieroli’s arrest spreads quickly through Salerno, much to the astonishment of Mazzeo’s Wife and the Trusted Maid , who were sure that he was dead. They start to suspect that maybe the...
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Mazzeo’s Wife begs the Trusted Maid to help her save Ruggieri d’Aieroli without revealing the affair. The maid goes to Mazzeo...
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The Trusted Maid wheedles her way into an interview with the judge, and because he thinks she’s a...
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