Page 116 - THE DECAMERON: 100 Days on 100 Etchings by Petru Rusu
P. 116

“Nastagio degli Oneste“



              Nastagio, a nobleman, falls in love with the daughter of                    and the woman are already dead. Nastagio was witnessing
              Paolo Traversari. She’s way out of his league. She’s also                   the eternal punishment of two tormented souls. The knight

              a bit of a shrew and very unfriendly to him (makes you                      (called Guido) had killed himself in despair when the lady
              wonder how he fell in love with her). Nastagio’s a mess.                    showed him extreme cruelty. And the lady was thrilled that
              Sometimes he feels like killing himself. Sometimes he                       he’d died but then died herself immediately after. So Guido
              feels like trying harder to win her. But his attempts aren’t                has to chase her and kill her with the same knife that he
              working and he’s spending all his money. His friends advise                 used to kill himself and then rip her cold, cold heart from

              him to leave Ravenna before it’s too late. So he takes his                  her body to feed to the dogs. Then the lady gets up and
              belongings and sets up camp about three miles outside                       they do it all over again. It happens every Friday at the
              of Ravenna. He does okay out there and his friends come                     same time.  Guido does his thing, and Nastagio’s completely

              to visit. And then something really strange happens. As                     and utterly freaked out. But not so freaked out that he can’t
              he’s walking through the forest, he sees a naked woman                      see that he could make this experience work in his favor.
              running towards him, being chased by dogs. She’s a total                    Nastagio gets some help from his friends and family to
              mess, with bad hair and bloody wounds on her body from                      bring Paolo Traversari and his stuck-up daughter out to this
              running naked through the forest and being bitten by angry                  supernatural part of the woods. He has a banquet prepared

              pooches. Also, there’s a very angry knight pursuing her.                    and tables set up so they can see the drama playing
              He threatens the naked woman with a knife (read into that                   out.  Boy, does this tactic work. Nastagio’s cruel beloved
              what you will). Nastagio takes up a branch to defend her,                   gets the message and quickly succumbs to his attentions

              but the knight tells him to keep out of it. Nastagio says                   and marries him right away. Even better, all the ladies
              he won’t stand by while a woman is torn to pieces, and                      of Ravenna are so frightened by this spectacle that they
              shame on him. A big scary knight acting so ungallantly.                     become, according to Filomena, “more tractable to men’s
             Then the knight reveals something unexpected: both he                        pleasures” than ever before.




















                                                                                                                               “Nastagio degli Oneste” retrieved from publicly source: shmoop
     DECAMERON      116                                                                                      <https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/decameron/summary/fifth-day-eighth-story>
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