BOCCACCIO AND CHAUCER

Maximus lucas bonumhomo

Comparison between Boccaccio and Chaucer

ALIX MAGGINI

FRANCISCUS FRUZZaeTTI

matteus franz arraeghinus

Quotes

BOCCACCIO IN CHAUCER

Se ami rettamente puoi fare solo il bene.

GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO

For there is one thing I can safely say: that those bound by love must obey each other if they are to keep company long.

GEOFFREY CHAUCER

Table of contents

why CHAUCER AND BOCCACCIO?

social aspects

"Fortuna" in THE cinema

SIMILARITIES and differences in the life

SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES IN THEir main WORKS

THANK YOU!

The poets

BOCCACCIO IN CHAUCER

WHY CHAUCER AND BOCCACCIO?

The reason to make a presentation about these two medieval auteurs and, most of all, about the comparison between them is given by both their relevance in the origin of modern prose and the influence that one had in the works and the poetic of the other. To understand the way in which our narrative works today, we must trace the roots of it. Therefore, Boccaccio and Chaucer ought to be studied.

BOCCACCIO IN CHAUCER

The life

CHAUCHER'S LIFE

BOCCACCIO'S LIFE

• He was born in 1313 in Certaldo, illegittim son of a merchant (Boccaccino).

• He made many trips to the Italian territory.

• He (certainly) met Petrarch in 1350 and was influenced, especially in his last works, by his poetry.

• He wrote in florentine vulgar his most important work: the Decameron.

• He was born in 1343 in London, the son of a wine merchant.

• He made many international diplomatic travels.

• He (probably) met Petrarch personally and was inspired by his poetry.

• He wrote in Middle English his most important work: The Canterbury Tales.

London and Certaldo, the two fatherlands of the writers

BOCCACCIO IN CHAUCER

The works

DECAMERON

THE CANTERBURY TALES

• characters not particularly described

• characters of the same class

• presence of carnal and earthly love

• women acquire the same dignity of other characters for the first time in Italian literature:

• → she’s not afraid to express her erotic desires

• characters from different social classes

• characters described in depth

• Chaucer consecrates St. Valentine as the patron of love (Parlament of Folws).

• Chaucer appears in the play

Two figures representing many characters of the two masterpieces

BOCCACCIO IN CHAUCER

The works

DECAMERON

THE CANTERBURY TALES

• women acquire the same dignity of other characters for the first time in Italian literature: → she’s not afraid to express her erotic desires
• → she demonstrates: courage, cleverness and virtue

• → she becomes the bourgeois woman, nobility & naturalness as love with intelligence & ingenuity

• Strong female characters, like the wife of Bath:

• Conciliation between sensuality and entrepreneurial work

• Confident, lively and outspoken

• She fights against the devaluation of women

Two figures representing many characters of the two masterpieces

The works

BOCCACCIO IN CHAUCER

Video

At the beginning of this interesting (but quite long) discussion about Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, the relationship between the two masterpieces is also mentioned.

BOCCACCIO IN CHAUCER

The social aspect

DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES ON WOMEN IN DIFFERENT "MINOR" WORKS

THE LEGEND OF GOOD WOMEN

• prologue and ten stories of famous women from mythology and ancient history in nine sections:: Cleopatra, Thisbe, Medea, Phyllis, Hypsipyle, Ariadne, Lucretia, Philomene, Hypermnestra, Dido.

• exaltation and celebration of their virtues

• written at an early age

• third longest of Chaucer's works, and possibly the first significant work in English to use the iambic pentameter or decasyllabic couplets

• importance of women in the poem not only because of the majority of the characters in the poem but also for the majority of women in the audience

BOCCACCIO IN CHAUCER

The social aspect

DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES ON WOMEN IN DIFFERENT "MINOR" WORKS

THE CORBACCIO BY BOCCACCIO

( from “curbascio” or “corvo”)

• plot: in a dream, Boccaccio is saved from the pitfalls of his love for a widow by her deceased husband, who lists all the defects of the female gender to urge lovers to change their lives
• vernacular prose

• written in old age and inspired by “Adversus Iovinianum” of San Girolamo -misogynistic contents
• revolution in the previous conception of women and of the audience
• narrated in the first person

• prologue as a justification

Cinematographic heritage

BOCCACCIO IN CHAUCER

Pasolini and the freedom of the bodies through medieval frame stories

The two masterpieces of the medieval authors served as the basis of two important cinematographic transgressive works of the provocative director. These films are the first two "chapters" of the "Trilogy of life", Pasolini expresses "a violent protest against the present", using the Eros and the sex in that ancient stories to show the hypocrisy of the consumeristic, repressive, alienating society of his (and our) time.

Cinematographic heritage

BOCCACCIO IN CHAUCER

Video

In this interview, Pier Paolo Pasolini explains his point of view on many things and in particular on his Trilogy of the Life and his ideological message..

QUIZ

Question 1 of 4

When did Chaucer meet Petrarch?

we don't know, you didn't tell us, so stop asking stupid questions.

1347

1350

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Question 2 of 4

The Corbaccio by Boccaccio...

has many misogynistic parts

has a strongly feminist message

where am I?

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Question 3 of 4

In the "Legend of good women", Chaucer recounts...

ten stories of virtuous women: Cleopatra, Thisbe, Medea, Phyllis, Hypsipyle, Ariadne, Lucretia, Philomene, Hypermnestra, and Dido.

ten stories of virtuous women: Cleopatra, Thisbe, Medea, Lucy Paris, Georgy Tzols, Beyoncé, Ariadne, Glory Vizzaini, Arianna Grande, Hypermnestra, and Dido.

ten stories of virtuous women: Cleopatra, Thisbe, Medea, Joan of Arc, Hypsipyle, Ariadne, Lucretia, Philomene, Hypermnestra, and Dido.

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Question 4 of 4

What grade do we deserve?

I loved so much your presentation that I will give you my soul, and do whatever you want of my body

10

3-

Sources

BOCCACCIO IN CHAUCER

• Wikipedia
• Literary journeys
• Letteratura visione del mondo 1A
• Treccani.it
• Library.weschool.com
• Raiplay.it ("i grandi della letteratura: Giovanni Boccaccio)
• Our marvelous minds

BOCCACCIO Inside CHAUCER

Thank you

CHAUCER INside ALL OF US