Page 90 - SUMMARIES OF GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO’S DECAMEON : A Visionary Journey In 100 Stories And 100 Etchings By Petru Russu

The Three Young Men & Three Sisters : Passion’s Exile

This unflinching tale of love and ruin paints Crete not as a haven but
as a stage for jealousy’s fatal flourish and loyalty’s heartbreaking cost.
Amid the allure of romance and defiance, Boccaccio reveals how quickly

paradise may twist into exile.

Three young men, enamored of three spirited sisters, defy societal
constraint and flee together to Crete, seeking freedom and passion
beyond the bounds of propriety. For a time, the new life pulses with

possibility. But love, when shadowed by envy, cannot remain pure.

The eldest sister, blinded by jealousy and insecurity, strikes down her lover in

a moment of violent rage. The aftermath threatens to unravel them all. The
second sister, both brave and desperate, offers herself to the Duke of Crete to
protect her sibling, an act of sacrifice painted with quiet horror.

Yet her selflessness births greater ruin. Her lover, maddened by betrayal

and grief, murders her in cold blood and escapes with the eldest sister,
now complicit in both love and crime.

The remaining pair, the third sister and her lover—find themselves
accused of the murder, ensnared in political vengeance. Tortured and
coerced into confession, they bribe their way to freedom and flee to
Rhodes. But exile brings no absolution. Without resources, reputation, or
hope, they die in obscurity, their love choked by sorrow.

THIS COMPOSITION BURNS LIKE
A FRESCO TORN FROM FATE’S This novella ends not with redemption but devastation. It is a cautionary
DARKEST TAPESTRY, EACH FIGURE lament: of unchecked emotion, moral erosion, and the burden that
FRACTURED AND TOSSED IN
sacrifice can place on love. In Boccaccio’s hands, the bright spark of
MOTION, ECHOING THE NOVELLA’S
CASCADE OF RUIN AND REMORSE. youthful desire is extinguished by the dark tide of consequences.
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