THE SUBMISSIVENESS MOTIF OF А WOMAN: THE GRISELDA TALE BY GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO

Abstract

This paper presents the analysis of Griselda, the main female character of the last novella of Decameron. Tis novella has had different classical and feminist interpretations due to its central position and the violence caused to Griselda by her husband, marquis Saluzzo. The main methodological tool used in this article is the one applied by Marilyn Migiel in her works The Ethical dimension of the Decameron and A Rhetoric of the Decameron, the rhetorical reading. The same tool, through the close analysis of the speech acts of Griselda shows us her powerless social position and the lack of self-awareness, but also the carelessness showed by mainly male critics in the process of analysing this novella.