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French Princess
Jeannette (Violante) appears in Elissa’s second tale (II, 8). She is seven years old when she goes into exile with her father Walter and brother Perrot (Louis). In England, she is fostered by Marshal and Madame Lamiens while she grows into a beautiful and virtuous girl. Jacques Lamiens falls in love with her and although she is happy to marry him, she demonstrates her virtue by categorically refusing to have sex with him under any other circumstances, even when Madame Lamiens tries to entice her to do so to cure Jacques’s lovesickness. She, like Guisfredi (Giannotto) and The Outcast, is a victim of fortune whose noble character cannot be tainted by her circumstances.
Jeannette (Violante) Quotes in The Decameron
The The Decameron quotes below are all either spoken by Jeannette (Violante) or refer to Jeannette (Violante). For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Day 2: Eighth Tale
Quotes
But knowing her to be a woman of gentle birth, doing penance for another’s sin through no fault of her own, the Lord above, who rewards all according to their deserts, arranged matters otherwise. One must in fact conclude that He alone, out of His loving kindness, made possible the train of events which followed, in order to prevent this nobly-born maiden from falling into the hands of a commoner.
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Explanation and Analysis:
The doctor was holding [Jacques] by the wrist, taking his pulse, when Jeannette […] entered the room in which the youth was laying. When he saw her coming in, the flames of passion flared up in the young man’s breast, and although he neither spoke nor moved, his pulse began to beat more strongly. The doctor noted this at once, but concealing his surprise, he remained silent, waiting to see how long his pulse would continue to beat so rapidly.
As soon as Jeannette left the room, the young man’s pulse returned to normal […] [The doctor] waited for a while, and then, still holding the patient by the wrist, he sent for Jeannette […] and no sooner did she enter the room than the youth’s pulse began to race all over again: and when she departed, it subsided.
Get the entire The Decameron LitChart as a printable PDF.
Jeannette (Violante) Quotes in The Decameron
The The Decameron quotes below are all either spoken by Jeannette (Violante) or refer to Jeannette (Violante). For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Day 2: Eighth Tale
Quotes
But knowing her to be a woman of gentle birth, doing penance for another’s sin through no fault of her own, the Lord above, who rewards all according to their deserts, arranged matters otherwise. One must in fact conclude that He alone, out of His loving kindness, made possible the train of events which followed, in order to prevent this nobly-born maiden from falling into the hands of a commoner.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
The doctor was holding [Jacques] by the wrist, taking his pulse, when Jeannette […] entered the room in which the youth was laying. When he saw her coming in, the flames of passion flared up in the young man’s breast, and although he neither spoke nor moved, his pulse began to beat more strongly. The doctor noted this at once, but concealing his surprise, he remained silent, waiting to see how long his pulse would continue to beat so rapidly.
As soon as Jeannette left the room, the young man’s pulse returned to normal […] [The doctor] waited for a while, and then, still holding the patient by the wrist, he sent for Jeannette […] and no sooner did she enter the room than the youth’s pulse began to race all over again: and when she departed, it subsided.
