The Decameron (Day 2)

3.2.7: Femininity has been a focal point of society, as most women are told that they need to constantly improve upon their appearances in order to attract the opposite sex. However, the more feminine women become, the more they are lusted after, and the less a man will seek a woman out to be their mate. The mute woman in the story, Alatiel, relies on getting out of bad situations by constantly relying on her looks to help her find men from whom she can benefit, as she cannot speak the languages which these various men speak. However, in doing so, a male dominance is created with the fact that these men totally disregard the woman as a woman, but rather look upon her as a sexual device which they may exploit freely. The lust derived from these men may also expand to the point at which they become violent and kill one another in order to satisfy themselves.

“Although the lady was pale and disheveled as a result of harrowing experience at sea, she nevertheless seemed most beautiful to Pericone; and because of this he immediately decided to take her for his wife, if she had no husband, or to have her as his mistress, if he could not have her as his wife” exemplifies the generalization that just because a woman does not possess some specified form of intelligence or skill, that the woman can be made a servant to the man and to their needs, sexually, as they are made to be an object, based upon their looks, with no personality  (Boccaccio, 131).

5.3.1: The previous story shows a woman who is taken advantage of, because of the fact that she cannot communicate with those who take her into their care. The man, Masetto, on the other hand, is able to take advantage of women sexually by pretending to be dumb and deaf. This, of course, is the “muteness.” “The place is far away from here and no one knows me there; if I can pretend to be deaf and dumb, they’ll certainly take me in” shows that muteness, when in both stories, is the advantageous role of lust, as Masetto was pleasured from acting mute, as was the woman, even if this did not occur on purpose, in reference to acting (Boccaccio, 195). The point that can be concluded from both stories is that men will always take advantage of women, regardless if the women are helpless or not, and they will do by acting in such a way that makes them look frail.