«Sotto ristretta legge ragionato abbiamo». Èthos e nòmos nel «Decameron»

Translated title of the contribution: [Autom. eng. transl.] "Under restricted reasoned law we have." Éthos e nòmos in the «Decameron»

Cristina Cappelletti

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

[Autom. eng. transl.] In the studies of Law and Literature it could usefully be analyzed the novel of Madonna Filippa (VI, 7), which revolves around an unjust law, the statute "not less blameworthy than harsh", and reproposes a procedural indictment, in which the complaint of the protagonist is worth the absolution and - more importantly - the modification of the law. In the Decameron, however, even if in a less evident way, the law, the norm and the infractions are a fundamental element: it is perhaps worth mentioning that "the horrendous beginning" immediately highlights how the plague led to a distortion of the city reality, in which "the reverend authority of the laws, so divine as human" was "almost fallen and dissolved all". The work, therefore, is placed in a moment of vacation of the laws. The situation is also confirmed in the conclusion of the sixth day: «due to the perversity of this season, the judges have left the courts; the laws, so divine as human, are silent; and ample license to preserve life is granted to everyone ". For this reason it seems appropriate to investigate what meaning is attributed by the author to laws and norms. In the novella by Teodoro (V, 7), for example, the condemnation of the protagonist to death explains only the infringement of a law, which is not explicit, but certainly refers to the fact that Teodoro, a non-free man, would not have could marry Violante, correcting their clandestine love with a "repairing marriage". In fact, after the applause of Fileo, the story has a rapid and simple dissolution: "he who you send to die as a servant, is a free man and my son, and it is soon to tower for wife she who is said to his virginity has private; and yet you liked so much to delay the execution that knowing how to do it if she wants to be her husband, so that against the law, where she wants, you will not find yourself having done ". The law, which had condemned him as a servant, is the same one that saves Theodore after the revelation of his birth. Also in other novellas we find references to the laws, which can be human, divine (I, 3, Melchisedec; II, 7, The Babylonian soldier), or imposed by nature (Introduction to the fourth day, the story of the ducks). Then there is another law, the internal one of the text, which regulates the life of the microsociety of the narrators, and in particular the modus novellandi, a law that is suspended by Emilia, which leaves freedom of choice during her "government", but that immediately afterwards it is restored ("I judge that it is to return to the used law").
Translated title of the contribution[Autom. eng. transl.] "Under restricted reasoned law we have." Éthos e nòmos in the «Decameron»
Original languageItalian
Title of host publication"Lievito umano e estro narrativo”. Giovanni Boccaccio a 700 anni dalla nascita, «Atti dell’Ateneo di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti di Bergamo», LXXVI-LXXVII, 2012-2013/2013-2014
Pages435-459
Number of pages25
Publication statusPublished - 2014
Externally publishedYes
Event«Sotto ristretta legge ragionato abbiamo». Èthos e nòmos nel «Decameron», in “Lievito umano e estro narrativo”. Giovanni Boccaccio a 700 anni dalla nascita - Bergamo
Duration: 27 Nov 20135 Dec 2013

Publication series

NameAtti dell’Ateneo di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti di Bergamo

Conference

Conference«Sotto ristretta legge ragionato abbiamo». Èthos e nòmos nel «Decameron», in “Lievito umano e estro narrativo”. Giovanni Boccaccio a 700 anni dalla nascita
CityBergamo
Period27/11/135/12/13

Keywords

  • Boccaccio
  • Decameron

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