Boccaccio’s Ship of Fools: Day VIII

Abstract

A striking example of Boccaccio’s modernism occurs in the seventh tale of Day VIII, when the young scholar Rinieri, who has been sorely jilted by the Florentine seductress Elena, upbraids her as follows: “io mi conosco, né tanto di me stesso apparai mentre dimorai a Parigi, quanto tu in una sola notte delle tue mi facesti conoscere” (VIII. 7.85) (I know myself, for you made me learn more about myself in a single night than I learned during the entire time I lived in Paris) (516). Rinieri’s ironic praise holds both specific and general meaning. Specifically, he is telling Elena that her cruelty to him has educated him about the world’s wicked ways and his own innocent vulnerability to them. Generally, Boccaccio suggests that theoretical knowledge (which Rinieri acquired as a student in Paris) cannot avail us unless seasoned by worldly experience; and that we cannot achieve self-knowledge without considering ourselves within our social context.