Page 198 - SUMMARIES OF GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO’S DECAMEON : A Visionary Journey In 100 Stories And 100 Etchings By Petru Russu
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Isabetta’s Ingenious Defense
In the heart of Lombardy, the respected yet secretly amorous Abbess
Madame Usimbalda presides over a monastery where decorum masks
quiet desires. Among her flock is Sister Isabetta, a shrewd and spirited
nun suspected of entertaining a forbidden romance. The Abbess, driven
by jealousy, suspicion, or perhaps a touch of personal guilt, resolves to
catch Isabetta in the act.
One night, she rises abruptly and, in her rush to confront the young nun,
unknowingly grabs her lover’s breeches instead of her own veil. Clad in
these priestly pants, a striking symbol of her own transgression, she
storms into Isabetta’s chamber with righteous fury, expecting to find
shame and sin.
Instead, she is met with composure. Isabetta, far from being cowed, notices
the Abbess’s attire and immediately sees through the charade. With tact and
boldness, she points out the hypocrisy: how can Usimbalda, dressed in the
very symbol of her own secret affair, dare to chastise others? The room, thick
with tension, turns as the Abbess realizes her mistake has unmasked her.
Faced with the clever nun’s defiance and her own compromised position,
Usimbalda retreats. She doesn’t punish Isabetta. In fact, she avoids
raising the issue again. From that night on, Isabetta’s autonomy flourishes.
She moves with more freedom, her wit having undone the power
structure that sought to suppress her.
BOLD PATTERNS AND THEATRICAL
MOVEMENTS HIGHLIGHT The story unfurls with irony and levity, turning moral authority on its head,
DECEPTION, REVELATION, not with rebellion, but with clever observation and bold confrontation. It’s
AND QUICK WIT, ECHOING
a sharp tale of hypocrisy, power, and the unexpected ways in which truth
BOCCACCIO’S SATIRICAL
UNRAVELING OF HYPOCRISY. finds its voice.
DECAMERON 196 197
