Ghismonda’s self-control in the face of enormous personal tragedy is very impressive. And it is a notable contrast to antifeminist assumptions about women being weak and emotional. Throughout this tale, Ghismonda proves herself to be the self-regulated one while her father is guided by excessive emotionality. In defending her actions, she raises the specter of excessive female desire that forms an important part of antifeminist stereotypes, but her explanation remains calm, measured, and rational, based in an understanding of the human sex drive as natural and necessary. And the “enforced idleness” that contributed to her falling in love with Guiscardo recalls the lovesickness of the French Princess in II, 8 and the reasons given by Boccaccio for why women suffer more acutely from love than men in the Prologue.