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Masetto
The eight Young Nuns of Filostrato’s third tale (III, 1) defy conventional thinking about Brides of Christ. Their lack of kindness towards their first gardener and the abuse they heap on Masetto when they think he can’t hear them contribute to The Decameron’s anticlerical satire by showing the nuns to be shallow and mean. Moreover, all of them, including their Abbess, give in to carnal lust with Masetto. Instead of keeping their vows of chastity, they hide their sins from the world.
Young Nuns Quotes in The Decameron
The The Decameron quotes below are all either spoken by Young Nuns or refer to Young Nuns. 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 3: Conclusion
Quotes
“Now we shall discover whether the wolf can fare any better at leading the sheep than the sheep have fared in leading the wolves.”
On hearing this, Filostrato laughed and said: “Had you listened to me, the wolves would have taught the sheep by now to put the devil back in Hell, no less skillfully than Rustico taught Alibech. But you have not exactly been behaving like sheep, and therefore you must not describe us as wolves…”
“Allow me to tell you, Filostrato,” replied Neifile, “that if you men had tried to teach us anything of the sort, you might have learned some sense from us, as Masetto did from the nuns, and retrieved the use of your tongues when your bones were rattling from exhaustion.”
On perceiving that the ladies had as many scythes as he had arrows, Filostrato abandoned his jesting and turned to the business of ruling his kingdom.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Decameron LitChart as a printable PDF.
Young Nuns Quotes in The Decameron
The The Decameron quotes below are all either spoken by Young Nuns or refer to Young Nuns. 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 3: Conclusion
Quotes
“Now we shall discover whether the wolf can fare any better at leading the sheep than the sheep have fared in leading the wolves.”
On hearing this, Filostrato laughed and said: “Had you listened to me, the wolves would have taught the sheep by now to put the devil back in Hell, no less skillfully than Rustico taught Alibech. But you have not exactly been behaving like sheep, and therefore you must not describe us as wolves…”
“Allow me to tell you, Filostrato,” replied Neifile, “that if you men had tried to teach us anything of the sort, you might have learned some sense from us, as Masetto did from the nuns, and retrieved the use of your tongues when your bones were rattling from exhaustion.”
On perceiving that the ladies had as many scythes as he had arrows, Filostrato abandoned his jesting and turned to the business of ruling his kingdom.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
