Concetti Chiave
- Both Chaucer and Boccaccio employed the vernacular language, making their works accessible to ordinary people, but Chaucer uniquely utilized character-specific language styles to reflect social hierarchy and education.
- Chaucer's integration as a character within his work added realism, establishing him as a credible narrator to contemporary readers.
- The frame narrative structure in both The Decameron and The Canterbury Tales sets the stage for individual stories, with Chaucer focusing on detailed character portraits that represent medieval England.
- Boccaccio's framing in The Decameron uses a detailed backdrop of the 1348 plague, contrasting with Chaucer's vivid depiction of diverse pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales.
- Chaucer's work includes characters from a wide range of social classes, whereas Boccaccio's storytellers are all from the upper class.
Linguistic choices in literature
First of all both works are written on the vernacular, that is, the local language spoken by ordinay people. In an age when most English chose French, the language used at court, or Latin, the "lingua franca" used by educated people, Chaucer decided to employ the language spoken by the commoners, which nobody had dared to do before him. However, Boccaccio's elaborate style remains consistent throughout his works, Chaucer took a great care that each pilgrim should use the language according to his or her social position, cultural level and education, so that it becomes a means of characterization. Moreover, by pretending to be one of the pilgrims, he added a further touch of realism to the whole work as, in the eyes of his contemporary readers, he became a credible eye-witness.
Frame narrative structure
Secondly, both works are stricter in a frame narrative, that is, is a main introductory story that serves the purpose of setting the scene for shorter stories. The Decameron opens with the description of the plague that ravaged Florence in 1348, which even young men and three women escaped by fleeing to a villa outside the city. To pass the time pleasantly, each of them will tell a story for every one of the ten nights spent together. This framing devices is certainly similar to the Prologue in The Canterbury Tales, but while Boccaccio describes the effects of the epidemic on the society at length, Chaucer focuses his attention on the people, presenting each pilgrim in such a lively Ms detailed way they the prologue becomes a full-size portrait of medieval England. Moreover, Boccaccio's story-tellers all belong to the same upper class, whereas Chaucer's include representatives from all social conditions, including several members of the clergy.
Domande da interrogazione
- How did Chaucer's use of language differ from traditional literary choices of his time?
Chaucer chose to write in the vernacular, the language spoken by ordinary people, rather than the French or Latin typically used by the educated and at court. This was a bold move, as it was uncommon for writers to use the common language, and it allowed him to characterize his pilgrims according to their social status and education.
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