The fourth chapter examines the depiction of torture in the Decameron. Boccaccio was fascinated by torture from both an epistemological and narratological standpoint. The greatest storyteller of the Middle Ages could not ignore the enticements of omniscience and narrative closure it proffers. The chapter argue specifically that Boccaccio saw a parallel between plot and due process, on the one hand, and torture and dénouement, on the other. What does torture tell us about the sense of an ending? The torture of Martellino by the sadistic Trevisan judge (2.1) is played as farce. In the tale of Zinevra-Sicruano (2.9), torture provides a happy ending within the fantasy world of romance. In the novella of Tedaldo (3.7), the romance of torture is domesticated by due process and the contingency of the novella form. Respect for due process and plot are abandoned in controversial final novella of the Decameron, the story of Griselda (10.10). After years of imposing unimaginable suffering on his young bride, Gualtieri finally gets his happy ending—but one that makes us question the nature of all endings.

Chapter 5 examines Boccaccio’s authorial defenses in the Decameron in the light of medieval medical and literary prescriptions for lovesickness, such as those in Ovid’s Ars Amatoria and Remedia Amoris, and Andreas Capellanus’ De amore (which Boccaccio has been credited with translating). Like these didactic works, the Decameron can also be seen as teaching both how to recover from an unhappy love affair and how to procure a new liaison, thus aggravating the very ills that it is said to cure. Indeed, the book is presented metaphorically as fighting fire with fire, redressing unrequited desire by offering female readers the solace of a personal relationship with its author. But Boccaccio also recognizes that it useless to try to prevent sexual desire, and the cure may do more harm than good. The chapter’s second half examines stories that seem to draw on the dialogues between lovers of different social statuses in De amore. The attempted seductions are all unsuccessful in Andreas’ hypothetical encounters, but the corresponding novelle tend to end happily and to model healthier, more productive human relationships.

Chapter 3 explores medieval hagiographic collections, including Iacopo da Varazze’s Legenda aurea and Domenico Cavalca’s Vite dei santi padri. By adopting conventional narratives – of young men who squander their wealth, cross-dressing female saints, and ascetics tempted by demons – but charging them with new messages, Boccaccio interrogates the nature of exemplarity and the possibility of generalizing from experience. This chapter briefly discusses Decameron 1.1, then turns to individual tales (such as 3.10) that combine details from different narratives, as well as to pairs of tales (such as 2.3 and 2.9) that manipulate elements from one saint’s life in different ways. The chapter concludes by examining Boccaccio’s reprisal of apologues embedded in the Legend of Saints Barlaam and Josaphat – a Christianized version of the life of the Buddha – especially in the partial novella recounted at the opening of Day 4 and in the final novella.