Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Decameron, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Love and Sex
Men and Women
Moderation and Excess
Intelligence
Class and Character
Faith vs. Religion
Summary
Analysis
On the morning of the tenth day, the members of the company amuse themselves under Panfilo’s direction, talking about “the lives they [intend] to lead in the future” until the day becomes too hot. After their customary rest, they begin the day’s tales.
The brigata, for the first time in The Decameron, look towards their lives after they leave the countryside. This is a reminder that their idyll outside of plague-ridden Florence is coming to an end and that they will have to return to their society. But it’s also a hopeful message about the potential for moderation and graciousness to fill the vacuum left by the plague’s horrors, since the lives these youth look forward to extend beyond the current crisis.
Themes
