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Day 3: Third 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
Panfilo tells the next tale, which will illustrate a saying that many people accidentally send someone else to Paradise while they’re trying to get into heaven themselves.
Panfilo’s introduction picks up and plays with Filomena’s prayer that God would grant her a happy fate, noting that oftentimes people’s religious efforts and prayers have unintended consequences.
Active
Themes
When Puccio di Rinieri gets on in years, he becomes a Franciscan tertiary of great piety. Friar Puccio attends mass and recites his prayers faithfully, as well as fasting and performing self-discipline that may include flagellation. However, his young and pretty wife, Isabetta, suffers from his strict regimen, which frequently entails offering her a sermon when she would prefer to have sex. Things stand this way when Dom Felice, a handsome young monk, returns from Paris and begins to cultivate Friar Puccio’s friendship—mainly because Puccio feeds him well.
Tertiaries were not full monks or nuns but were laypeople who took simple vows and lived according to some parts of a monastic order’s rules, while still living outside of the monastery and conducting their own business affairs. In the 14th century, most tertiaries were attached to the Franciscan Order (a type of religious observance founded by St. Francis of Assisi in 1209), and many were involved in the flagellant movement—meaning that they practiced extreme forms of physical penance for their sins, most frequently whipping themselves. Friar Puccio’s piety seems to be sincere, in stark contrast to the hypocrisy and sinfulness that characterizes most agents of the Roman Catholic Church (monks, nuns, and priests) in the tales. Dom Felice’s interest in Friar Puccio’s generous meals illustrates this hypocrisy, suggesting that he’s prone to the sin of gluttony (excessive consumption of food or alcohol).
Active
Themes
Dom Felice soon notices Isabetta and, with meaningful looks, kindles her desire. But they’re prevented from acting on them because Isabetta will only agree to an assignation in her home, which Friar Puccio never leaves. After a great deal of thought, Dom Felice comes up with a plan.
Active
Themes
Dom Felice takes Friar Puccio aside and praises him for his saintly aspirations. He offers to teach Puccio the secret method by which the Pope and other clergy achieve holiness. The knowledge is secret because if it leaked out and laypeople could easily become holy, the church would lose its main source of revenue—charitable donations from pious layfolk. After swearing Puccio to secrecy, Felice explains the method.
Active
Themes
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After confessing his sins, Friar Puccio will need to abstain from even touching his wife for forty days. During this time, he will spend the whole night propped against a plank with his arms outstretched (in imitation of the crucifixion) while looking into the heavens and praying 300 paternosters and 300 Hail Marys. Allowed only a short rest in bed, Puccio will then spend the rest of his day occupied in prayer.
Active
Themes
Friar Puccio plans to start as soon as possible. When he explains the plan to Isabetta, she endorses it and agrees to join him in fasting. During Puccio’s long penance, Dom Felice comes by to share a lavish meal and spend the night in Isabetta’s bed.
Active
Themes
One night when they’re particularly loud, Dom Puccio thinks he hears something through the wall, so he calls out to ask Isabetta what’s happening. Isabetta, maintaining her presence of mind even while riding Dom Felice, calls back that she’s shaking on account of the fast. Gullible Puccio accepts her at her word and returns to his prayers. Thus, all the while Puccio did penance, it was his wife and Dom Felice who were in Paradise.
