Hello
Thanks for the interesting question about Boccaccio and Chaucer. As
you know, people aren't certain whether Chaucer had read the Decameron
and I'll mention something about that later. First I'll pick out some
possible areas of discussion for comparing the Decameron with the
Canterbury Tales.
STRUCTURE, STYLE, CHARACTERIZATION
Both have a similar format of 'stories within a story', or 'framed
stories', similar to the Arabian Nights. But Chaucer's story-tellers
are a varied lot, not all Florentine nobles, so he has more scope to
vary the tone of his tales and bring out the individual qualities of
his pilgrims.
"No single literary genre dominates The Canterbury Tales. The tales
include romantic adventures, fabliaux, saint's biographies, animal
fables, religious allegories and even a sermon, and range in tone from
pious, moralistic tales to lewd and vulgar sexual farces."
Background on Canterbury Tales
http://www.classicnote.com/ClassicNotes/Titles/canterbury/about.html
It's not just that all Boccaccio's story-tellers are nobles. Chaucer
did indeed take advantage of the varied backgrounds of his characters,
but is also generally considered to have gone a lot further than
Boccaccio in drawing them as individuals. Some critics talk about
'innovation' or 'originality' here and feel his characterization sets
him apart not only from the author of the Decameron, but from his
contemporaries in general. Everyone remembers the Wife of Bath, for
example, as a character in her own right, not just a story-teller.
"Chaucer borrows some of his stories from The Decameron but he
improves on it by describing the story tellers in fascinating detail
and matching the stories to the story teller's personality. For
instance, the chivalrous and courtly knight tells a story of courtly
love while the Nun's Priest tells a gentle story of farm animals. "
The Canterbury Tales
http://iws.ccccd.edu/andrade/britlit/chaucer/blInfoCanterbury.html
Both works can be discussed as early fore-runners of the novel (like
the French fabliaux which are often mentioned in the same context).
This is partly because they deal with ordinary people and their
ordinary lives. While that may not seem revolutionary to us, it was
very different from other poetic works of the same period.
" [Boccaccio's] greater concentration on earthly themes and subjects "
Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375)
http://www.ilnarratore.com/anthology/boccaccio/boccaccio.html
"The style is simple, vigorous, and straightforward; the time is the
present, and the settings real, familiar places; the characters are
ordinary sorts -- tradesmen, peasants, priests, students, restless
wives; the plots are realistically motivated tricks and ruses. The
fabliaux thus present a lively image of everyday life among the middle
and lower classes."
http://icg.harvard.edu/~chaucer/special/litsubs/fabliaux/
However, you are on dangerous ground if you call these stories
'realistic'. Ordinary settings and everyday people maybe, but the
events are hardly taken from daily life.
MORALITY, WOMEN, RELIGION
All Chaucer's tales have a 'moral' of some kind. While both authors
claimed their stories were instructive, you can discuss endlessly what
their moral attitudes actually were. Was it simply a 'serves you
right' or 'fools are funny' approach or were their attitudes deeper
and more considered? At one level they both enjoy challenging
hypocrisy, practical jokes, dishing out 'justice', tricking the
gullible and irreverent humor - plenty of examples of these in both.
But you could make out a case that Chaucer was more concerned with a
serious underlying morality, not just laughing at hypocrites. If so,
is this a good thing, giving more depth to his work? Or does it make
him censorious and less exuberant? Or perhaps you think his ability to
tell a story, create memorable characters and make us laugh is more
important than the underlying morality?
Here's a reference to an article written by someone who thinks Chaucer
was serious about morals:
"......Chaucer's struggle with "his conscience" as an artist.
Following the bawdiness of the Miller, Reeve, and Cook, the Man of
Law's Prologue is Chaucer's "half-humorous" concession to morality
which he quickly rescinds in the Man of Law's bombastic tale. Yet
Chaucer finally chooses morality over aesthetics in Parson's
Prologue."
"The Man of Law vs. Chaucer: A Case in Poetics" , by Alfred David
http://colfa.utsa.edu/chaucer/ec28-6.html
You may want to look at the levels of bawdiness in both works. Though
both were very upfront by the literary standards of the times, you
could argue that Boccaccio showed more sexually assertive women and/or
was more determined to show sexual hypocrisy amongst the religious.
This is a matter of opinion but you should find plenty of material in
the tales!
The role of women in general is another point for comparison between
the two authors. You could make an interesting comparison between
their attitudes to women. Boccaccio was very accepting of women's
sexuality. He realised that they might be expected to keep the "flames
of love" hidden and discusses this in the preface to the Decameron:
"In fear and shamefacedness they conceal within their delicate breasts
the hidden flames of love, whose strength is far greater than those of
evident love, as is well known to those who have suffered them.
Moreover, women are restricted by the authority of fathers, mothers,
brothers and husbands."
One commentator thinks there is "a pagan exuberance [in] Boccaccio, a
frank and wholesome celebration of the flesh; in contrast to medieval
Christianity's loathing of woman..."
Comment on the Decameron
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0451627466/qid%3D985661944/sr%3D1-2/ref%3Dsc%5Fb%5F3/002-4594280-1728002
But is Chaucer willing to see women as sexual beings? Or did he stick
closer to conventional morality?
One critic "argues that the traditionally 'female' virtues of patience
and pity are central to Chaucer's moral ethos".
comment on: "Feminizing Chaucer" by Jill Mann. Boydell and
Brewer(2002)
http://www.boydell.co.uk/4100.HTM
There's material on different ways of looking at Griselda here:
Article about shifting interpretations of morality in the Clerk's Tale
http://www.english.ubc.ca/~sechard/clerk.htm
Here's an article by someone who thinks Chaucer was just as 'naughty'
as Boccaccio:
The Miller's Tale - discussion
http://www.sogang.ac.kr/~anthony/Chaucer/Miller.htm
When it comes to the Church, you can argue that Boccaccio was willing
to take his anti-hypocrisy campaign to the highest levels, while
Chaucer kept his criticism to the lower ranks. He was certainly in
tune with medieval Christian convention on anti-semitism. Chaucer
seems to have shared the anti-Jewish attitudes of his contemporaries
(see the Prioress' Tale), while Boccaccio was more enlightened.
"As early as his second tale, Boccaccio shows great sympathy for the
Jew, Abraam."
Antisemitism
http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Italian_Studies/dweb/religion/culture/antisemitism.shtml
COMPARISONS OF SPECIFIC STORIES
If you are making specific story-to-story comparisons these are the
tales to focus on:
Clerk's Tale: Day 10, Tale 10
Franklin's Tale: Day 10, Tale 5
Merchant's Tale: Day 7, Tale 9
Pardoner's Prologue: Day 6, Tale 10
Reeve's Tale: Day 9, Tale 6
Shipman's Tale: Day 8, Tale 1
Harvard's Chaucer site
http://icg.harvard.edu/~chaucer/special/authors/boccaccio/
You may get a few pointers here:
Comparing the Franklin's Tale to Boccaccio
http://www.siue.edu/CHAUCER/franklin.htm
HAD CHAUCER READ BOCCACCIO?
This has been debated for years; there isn't any hard evidence, but
current thinking seems to be 'yes'.
"Chaucer must have known about the Decameron, though there is no proof
of this, since he never quotes it directly. Most likely, he knew the
work, had even read it, but did not own a copy. Yet comparing
Chaucer's and Boccaccio's treatments of the same traditional stories
yields interesting contrasts in their views of literature and of the
world."
"There is a slim possibility that Chaucer met Boccaccio, who was
living in Certaldo, just south of Florence, in the 1370's when Chaucer
was in Italy. Donald Howard, in his biography (Chaucer: His Life, His
Works, His World, New York, 1987 [PR1905.H58 1987]), speculates that
the two did indeed meet in Certaldo; Derek Pearsall (The Life of
Geoffrey Chaucer, A Critical Biography, Cambridge, MA, 1992 [PR
1905.P43 1992]) is more cautious."
Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375)
http://icg.harvard.edu/~chaucer/special/authors/boccaccio/
Remember that Chaucer had other sources, e.g. French fabliaux:
"The Miller and the Two Clerks, a close analogue of the Reeve's Tale.
The Priest and the Lady, a distant analogue of The Shipman's Tale."
The Fabliaux
http://icg.harvard.edu/~chaucer/special/litsubs/fabliaux/
FURTHER RESOURCES
Don't miss the Harvard site on Chaucer:
http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/
The other must-visit site is the Decameron Web:
http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Italian_Studies/dweb/
Review of "Chaucer, Boccaccio, and the Debate of Love: A Comparative
Study of The Decameron and The Canterbury Tales", by N.S. Thompson
Oxford: Clarendon (1996)
http://www.uwo.ca/modlang/ailc/old/fsommerset.htm
You might want to track this article down in a library:
"Chaucer and the Decameron Reconsidered" by Donald McGrady. Chaucer
Review 12 (1977):1-26.
This "challenges the traditional opinion that Boccaccio's Decameron
had no influence on Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, critiquing previous
discussions and marshalling parallels between Chaucer's and
Boccaccio's tales, especially between Miller's Tale and several tales
of Decameron."
Canterbury Tales - references
http://colfa.utsa.edu/chaucer/ec28-1.html
Tut, Tut Mr. Chaucer
http://www.gspp.com.au/tut_tut_mrc.htm
Top Ten Reasons why Boccaccio is Better than Chaucer (funny!)
http://www.sfu.ca/~finley/reasons.html
"Decameron and the Canterbury Tales - New Essays on an Old Question",
by Leonard M. Koff and Brenda Deen Schildgen . Fairleigh Dickinson
University Press (2000)
I hope this is helpful. Good luck with your project.
Please feel free to get back to me, via a request for clarification,
if anything needs further explanation.
Regards - Leli
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