Page 230 - THE DECAMERON: 100 Days on 100 Etchings by Petru Rusu

“Griselda“
A man called Gualtieri becomes Marquis of Saluzzo. He’s not married
and spends all of his time hunting, so his people are worried about
the future of his estate. They urge Gualtieri to marry and provide
them with an heir. Gualtieri finally gives in on one condition: he
gets to choose his own wife and they’ll have to honor her as
their lady, whoever she is. His people agree and eagerly await his
choice. Gualtieri had taken a liking to a poor girl in his locality, so
he approached her father and made a bargain for marriage. Then
he returns to his own people and gives them the news, reminding
them of their promise. The people, who never believed he would
settle down, are joyful. Gualtieri and his people plan a lavish wedding.
He has a dress made to fit his bride and buys rings and crowns for
her. Just one thing: he has to tell the girl that she’s marrying him. So
on the day of the wedding, Gualtieri rides out to the village to get
his bride. Since she has no idea that he intends to marry her, she’s
standing around with the other village girls, trying to get a look at
the lucky bride. We learn that her name is Griselda. Gualtieri sits
down with her and her father and asks her a series of questions. He
wants to know if she’ll obey him, no matter what. When she agrees,
Gualtieri brings her outside to his waiting kinsman. Then he strips
her naked in front of all the men and women present. Only then
does he call for the new clothes he’s had made for her (perhaps
he should have done that before the stripping). He asks her if she’ll
accept him as her husband (she does). He accepts her as his wife.
It’s a done deal. There’s a huge party at Gualtieri’s house, just as if
he’d married a high-born lady. And in fact Griselda turns out to be a
treasure. She has excellent manners, treats her husband’s subjects
well, and is totally compliant with Gualtieri’s wishes. Everyone adores
her. Griselda has a daughter and Gualtieri is super happy with her.
But then, something disturbing happens. Dioneo says that Gualtieri’s
“seized” with a desire to test Griselda’s goodness and begins treating
her badly. She responds with total submissiveness and Gualtieri is
pleased that she is passing his tests. But he doesn’t tell her that.
He’s also not finished with her. He tells her that his subjects are
complaining about this low-born daughter of theirs. So one day, a
servant appears to Griselda and implies that Gualtieri has ordered
him to take the infant out and murder it. Griselda obeys and hands
over the baby even though she’s heartbroken. Gualtieri actually
sends the child to be raised by a kinswoman in Bologna, but he lets
Griselda think she’s dead. Griselda then has another child, a boy.
Gualtieri decides to play with his wife’s emotions some more. He tells
her that his subjects resent that they’ll be ruled by the grandson of
a farmer, so he’s going to do the same thing to the boy as he did to
the girl. Not only that, he’s going to look around for someone better
to marry. Griselda says that he should do whatever makes him happy.
She’s nobody, anyway. So the boy baby is taken from her in the same
230
way, and Griselda responds as she did before. Gualtieri’s subjects also
think he’s had his own children killed and they hate him for it. The
women who surround Griselda console her, but she simply says that
her husband’s word is law. Everyone loves Griselda even more because
of her sweet nature and all the abuse she suffers. Years pass, and
Gualtieri decides it’s time for one more test. He’s going to divorce
Griselda and marry someone else. Gualtieri takes the cruel scheme to
a whole new level: he pretends to have received papers from the Pope
that allow him to divorce Griselda. He brings Griselda before his people
and tells her his intentions. Griselda shames him with her humility
and steadiness. She says that she never believed she was worthy of
him, so she doesn’t blame him for taking these steps. But would he
please let her leave with a slip on so that she doesn’t have to show her
nakedness to the world? Gualtieri wants to cry at her goodness, but he
keeps at it. Okay, he says, you can keep your slip. So Griselda returns
to her village thirteen years after her marriage and takes up her old
sheep-herding job. Gualtieri’s subjects are not happy. But he’s not done
yet.He tells everyone he’s going to marry again. Since he no longer has
a wife or serving women to set the place in order for the wedding, he
calls Griselda back to do it for him. Amazingly, she complies. She cleans,
arranges the bedrooms and sends the invitations. She also has to stand
by and greet all the guests as though she were still lady of the house.
Meanwhile, Gualtieri sends to Bologna for his children to be returned.
At this point, the girl is 12 and the boy is 6. He orders his kinsman to
say that the daughter is to be Gualtieri’s bride. At the wedding feast,
Griselda greets the new “bride” and treats her well. Griselda sits at the
meal in her disgusting old dress and listens to the guests compliment
the new, young mistress. She compliments the young girl as well.
Gualtieri is so astounded at the patience of Griselda that he decides
enough is enough. Finally. We can’t take one more second of this. He
asks Griselda what she thinks of his new bride, and Griselda lets a little
bit of her emotions show. She warns him not to treat her as roughly as
he treated his “previous wife,” since the new lady is high-born. Gualtieri
reveals his purpose in tormenting her all those years: to keep the peace
in his household (for himself, of course), to teach her how to be a wife
and to teach his people how to choose a proper wife. He then discloses
the identities of the young lady and her little brother and professes
undying love for his perfect, obedient wife. But Griselda does not.
Somehow, she still loves this guy and is overjoyed by his revelations.
And somehow, everyone forgives Gualtieri and actually believes he’s a
wise man for that entire he’s done. In the end, they feast for days and
Griselda is restored to her rightful place. Her father’s set up properly in
a comfortable house and the daughter is married off to a gentleman.
Dioneo ends by saying that Gualtieri probably didn’t deserve Griselda.
After all, most women, being turned out in their slips, would have found
a sugar daddy to buy them a fine dress. That’s all he can say about it?
“Griselda” retrieved from publicly source: shmoop
<https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/decameron/summary/tenth-day-tenth-story>