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Day 2: Fifth Tale
Themes
and Colors
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
The entire company listens to Fiammetta’s tale with uproarious laughter. Emilia assures her companions that the happy ending of her story will contrast with the unbelievably “intense and protracted” sufferings that arise from fortune’s “erratic course.”
In contrast to the previous few tales, Emilia’s has a much more serious, even tragic, tone. She thus reminds her companions (and readers) that the twists and turns of fortune aren’t always humorous.
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Themes
Arrighetto Capece is an esteemed courtier of the Sicilian King Manfred. He has a lovely and aristocratic wife, Beritola Caracciolo, and a son named Guisfredi. When Manfred dies in battle with King Charles, Arrighetto prepares to flee, but he is captured before he can get his family to safety. Fearing the worst, a pregnant Beritola flees with Guisfredi, giving birth in exile to a son whom she names The Outcast. She hires a nurse and books passage on a ship to return to her family in Naples.
As in other tales, social and political upheavals of the late 13th and early 14th centuries provide context for this tale. One’s personal fortune is dependent on uncontrollable factors, such as which political party or king is in ascendency.
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Extreme winds force the ship to shelter behind an island for several days. Beritola finds an isolated cave where she can privately grieve her ill fortune each day. While she is crying in the cave, pirates capture Guisfredi, The Outcast, and their nurse along with her ship, and Beritola finds herself alone. Abandoned, anguished, and afraid, after a day she is reduced to eating grass like an animal. While foraging, she encounters a female deer who leads her to the cave where her two little male fawns lie. Beritola nurses them, and the deer come to accept her companionship.
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After several months, a ship carrying Currado Malespina and his wife is also driven to shelter at the island. When Currado’s dogs catch the young bucks’ scent and chase them to their cave, Beritola chases them away with a stick. Finding a noblewoman on the island greatly surprises Currado and his wife, who coax Beritola into telling her sad story. Currado’s wife ultimately convinces Beritola to leave with them, and they bring her three deer companions along. Beritola assumes the name “Cavriuola” and lives a quiet life as a lady-in-waiting to Lady Malespina.
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In the meantime, Beritola’s sons and their nurse are handed over to a Genoese merchant-pirate named Guasparrino d’Oria, who puts them to work as domestic slaves. The clever nurse, worried that the boys will be harmed if their identities are revealed (and hoping that fortune might eventually relent), begins to call Guisfredi “Giannotto” (The Outcast gets to keep his name). Guisfredi (Giannotto) finds servitude distasteful and after several years he runs away and becomes a sailor. Eventually, he finds employment with Currado.
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While Guisfredi (Giannotto) serves Currado, he falls in love with Currado’s daughter Spina. The intensity of their love overpowers caution, and one day her parents catch them making love in the forest. Dismayed by his daughter’s dishonor, Currado plans to execute them both. Although his wife counsels mercy and convinces him to spare their lives, he imprisons them and makes their existence full of sorrow, starvation, and loneliness.
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While Guisfredi (Giannotto) languishes in prison, the political winds shift. On hearing that King Charles has been expelled from Sicily, he complains to his guards that this good news comes too late since he is held captive. They wonder how the affairs of kings could possibly matter to a servant, and Guisfredi (Giannotto) reveals his true identity, now that his father’s enemy has been ousted. A guard carries this information to Currado, who confirms the story with Beritola—without revealing the source of his information. Currado then realizes that he can salvage his honor (and Spina’s) by marrying her to her lover.
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Currado visits Guisfredi (Giannotto) to complain about his dishonorable actions with Spina. But since he has learned that Guisfredi (Giannotto) is a “man of gentle birth,” he offers the chance to turn their “dishonorable friendship into an honorable marriage.” Although this is exactly what the young man wants (since he’s still deeply in love with Spina), he won’t allow such remarks against his character to stand. He defends himself, swearing that his love for Spina was pure, unmotivated by desire for power or riches. Any impropriety was the fault of his youth, and he reminds Currado that he was once young, too. He says that he would have asked for Spina’s hand in marriage honorably if he had thought that Currado would have consented. The noble sentiments Guisfredi (Giannotto) expresses in self-defense only make Currado respect him more.
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Currado sets the stage for reunion. He asks Cavriuola (Beritola) if she’d like Guisfredi back and Spina as a daughter-in-law. Then he asks his wife if she’d like Guisfredi as a son-in-law. Of course, neither would object. Similarly, Guisfredi (Giannotto) tells Currado he would like his mother back, but he can’t imagine that she survived her terrible misfortunes. He and Beritola didn’t recognize each other in Currado’s home, but when Currado presents the bride and groom, Beritola can now see that the servant she knew as “Giannotto” is her son, and Guisfredi recognizes his mother. The two reunite tearfully.
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Guisfredi asks Currado to retrieve The Outcast from Guasparrino. While he is initially reluctant to believe that his lowly slave is a noble, once Guasparrino verifies the truth he is ashamed by his contemptuous treatment of The Outcast. To make amends—and because Arrighetto is a well-connected man—he offers The Outcast his own daughter as a wife. Guasparrino’s party arrives at Guisfredi’s wedding along with the happy news that Arrighetto has survived and is now in possession of his old land and titles.
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After the wedding, Beritola, Guisfredi, Spina, The Outcast, his wife, and the nurse sail back to Sicily under favorable winds, where Arrighetto greets them with exceptional joy. As far as anyone knows, they live long, happy, and peaceful lives, always grateful for the blessings God has bestowed on them.
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