In 14th century Italy, the life of an unmarried woman could be summed up in one word: caged. Women were supposed to stay at home at all times in order to save themselves for marriage, some not even allowed to look out their windows (S.). In The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio, the narrator retells a collection of stories intended to help housebound women alleviate their pent-up emotions. The stories originated from a group of Florentine called the brigata, who moved into the countryside to escape the bubonic plague. Over the course of 10 days, they told stories about what it means to be human—to have compassion, reason, and love (S.). The theme of Day 4 is love that comes to an unhappy end. In Day 4, Story 5, Lisabettaʼs failed relationship reveals how obsessive love, characterized by an intense fixation, inevitably leads to oneʼs tragic demise. Her unhealthy understanding of love and pursuit of the relationship are both products of oppressive norms, underscoring the destructive consequences of a patriarchy that denies women their autonomy.

Lisabettaʼs attraction towards Lorenzo begins as an infatuation and festers into an obsession following his death. The anomaly of Lorenzoʼs undecaying corpse showcases her unfading and excessive attachment to him. Their affair began when Lorenzo noticed she was “unusually attracted” to him (Boccaccio IV.V 137). The word “unusual” connotes a sense of strangeness and abnormality, portraying Lisabettaʼs attraction as something outside the boundary of a healthy relationship. The description suggests that her fixation on Lorenzo is odd and excessive, which is something that persists even after his death. Despite his “long absence,” Lorenzoʼs corpse “showed no sign of decay or decomposition” (138). The perfectly pristine state of his body symbolizes the enduring nature of Lisabettaʼs obsessive love. Her fixation on him keeps his image alive in her mind. This idealized, unchanging image showcases the everlasting nature of an obsession so intense that it defies the natural passage of time.

The undying corpse is one of the many fairy tale elements present in the story. Another fairy tale element is Lisabettaʼs vision that illustrates her debilitating mental state and reveals the truth of Lorenzoʼs murder. Ever since Lorenzo disappeared, heʼs all she could think of. After she “finally cried herself to sleep” one night, “he appeared to her in a dream” and described to her how heʼd been murdered (138). Lorenzoʼs ghost transforms the narrative from a plausible account to that of a fairy tale. The word “finally” alludes to the fact that Lisabetta had been in a constant state of grief crying over Lorenzoʼs disappearance. Her intense longing combined with her anguish for closure manifests as a supernatural dream where he directly communicates with her. It treads the lines of delusion and highlights the all-consuming nature of an obsession. Furthermore, the supernatural intervention serves to reveal the truth which had been concealed—that Lorenzo had been murdered by Lisabettaʼs brothers.

Nevertheless, Lisabettaʼs closure on the disappearance of Lorenzo is not enough to quench her obsession. Through the use of hyperboles, Lisabettaʼs tears are emphasized as a symbol of grief, demonstrating her unwillingness to move on from his death. After she digs up Lorenzoʼs body, she cuts off the head and plants it in a pot of basil. Everyday, she cries a “flood of tears,” enough to bathe the basil so “thoroughly” that it “grew luxuriantly” (138-139). The hyperbole exaggerates the amount of crying, thereby intensifying Lisabettaʼs grief. The tears are a materialization of her tumultuous psychological state—instead of moving on from the death of her lover, she allows grief to consume her life. The combination of water and soil produces an abundance of life. In this case, however, as the basil flourished from her tears, so too did her grief. Rather than cultivating life, she nurtures her sorrow. Her perpetual fixation with Lorenzo causes her grief to escalate, which eventually causes her to become physically ill and ultimately leads to her death.

Lisabettaʼs grief stems from her warped perception of what it means to love someone. From the beginning, their relationship is implied to be deviant through the use of euphemism, reflecting the oppressive social norms of the time. Their “affair” is described as the thing they “desired to do more than anything else” (137). This indirection euphemism, which substitutes premarital sex with an ambiguous insinuation, asserts Lisabetta and Lorenzoʼs relationship as forbidden and unspeakable. At the time, “[a]ll sex outside of marriage was universally considered sinful” (Decameron Web). Their physical intimacy is considered so immoral that it is not directly named, underscoring how oppressive norms force individuals to conceal their desires. An affair usually refers to a sexual relationship between two people, where one of them is married. This kind of language reinforces their relationship as transgressive of social norms and something that must be kept in secrecy.

When that hidden love is discovered, punishment ensues. The comparison of love as the driving factor behind both Lorenzoʼs murder and Lisabettaʼs grief characterizes love as a destructive force. Lisabettaʼs brothers murdered Lorenzo “out of concern for their family honor” and they made sure that “no one had any idea what had happened” (137). It was the duty of the brothers to arrange Lisabettaʼs marriage. Driven by their love for honor, the brothers commit the murder so that they will not be scrutinized for failing to keep their sister under control. Their love for honor is what breaks apart the family. Women are supposed to be obedient—Lisabetta is not. She defies societyʼs expectation to remain celibate until marriage and chooses a relationship for herself, thereby exercising her autonomy. The brothersʼ love for honor led them to commit murder, while Lisabettaʼs love for Lorenzo pressures her to hide their love out of fear. Love and murder are presented as two sides of the same coin—each driven by fear, control, and the pressure to conform to societal expectations. The brothers use murder to regain control of Lisabetta, once again confining her into the cage that the patriarchy has enforced upon women.

Lisabettaʼs attempt to chart her own path ends in bitter tears and shattered hearts. With her bodily autonomy stripped away, she was never given the freedom to pursue a relationship of her choice. This unfulfilled desire can easily develop into an unhealthy fixation. Like most women of the time, the fate that awaited her was an arranged marriage. Her secret relationship with Lorenzo was her only opportunity at exercising individual agency, which is why she completely attaches herself to him. When that relationship is forcefully taken away from her by the men in her life, she loses her purpose along with her will to live. This highlights how 14th century Italy is a patriarchal society where men have the final say over womenʼs lives, even in their most personal and intimate decisions. The patriarchy still stands—men holding authority over women. Even seemingly harmless humor, such as an overprotective father beating up his daughterʼs boyfriend, reflects a cultural mindset that women are incapable of making their own decisions and need a manʼs guidance. If Lisabettaʼs story were to serve as a warning, let it be known that oppression will only lead to resistance. But such resistance is, more likely than not, destined to end in tragedy.