Literature of antiquity and the Middle Ages - Summary - 2019

Corn
Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375)

The name of the work is symbolic: the raven is a bird that sticks out the eyes and brain, that is, blinding and depriving the mind. About such love we also learn from the story of the protagonist.

So, the disappointed lovers dream of a dream. He turns out to be alone in the night in a gloomy valley, and he meets a spirit that warns him that the entrance to this valley is open to anyone who is attracted by voluptuousness and recklessness, but this is not easy to get out of here, for reason and courage will be required for this. Our hero is wondering what is called the unusual place in which he found himself, and hears in response: there are several variants of the name of this valley - the Labyrinth of Love, the Charmed Doll, the Pancreas of Venus; and the inhabitants of these places are the unfortunate ones that once stood at the Court of Love, but lost by it and exiled to exile. The spirit promises to help the lover to get out of the labyrinth, if he is frank with him and tell the story of his love. We will find out the following.

A few months before the events described, our hero, a forty-year-old philosopher, a fine connoisseur and connoisseur of poetry, spoke to his buddy. The speech came about outstanding women. At first, the heroes of antiquity were mentioned, then the interlocutors switched to contemporaries. The friend began to praise one familiar lady, listing her dignity, and while he spoke, our storyteller thought to himself: "The lucky one is who the favored Fortune will give the love of such a perfect lady." By secretly making a decision to try his luck in this field, he began to ask how her name, what is her title, where she lives, and for all questions she received exhaustive answers. Having left with a friend, the hero immediately goes to where she hopes to meet her. The blindfolded beauty of the one he had only heard before, the philosopher realizes that he has fallen in the network of love, and it is decided to confess in her sense. He writes the letter and receives a reply, the essence and form of which leaves no doubt that his friend who so much praised the natural mind and exquisite eloquence of strangers, or he is deceived in them, or wants to deceive our hero. However, the flames raging in the chest of a lover did not go out of it at all, he understands that the purpose of the note is to push him to new letters, which he immediately writes. But the answer - neither written nor oral - is not received. at all, he did not quit, he understands that the purpose of the note is to push him on the new letters he writes immediately. But the answer - neither written nor oral - is not received. at all, he did not quit, he understands that the purpose of the note is to push him on the new letters he writes immediately. But the answer - neither written nor oral - is not received.

The surprised spirit interrupts the narrator: "If the matter did not go away, why did you yesterday cry with tears and with such deep sorrow, he called for death?" The unfortunate answers that two reasons led him to the brink of despair. First, he realized how stupid he behaved, believing on the move that a woman could possess such high virtues, and, entangled in the networks of love, gave her freedom and subjugated reason, and without that soul he became slave. Secondly, the deceived lover was disappointed with his beloved when he found out that she had opened his love to others, and for this he considered it the most cruel and insidious of women. One of her numerous lovers, she showed the letters of our hero, grumbling over him like a carrion. The lover dismissed gossip throughout Florence, and soon the unfortunate philosopher became a laughingstock in the city. The Spirit listened carefully and responded with an outline of his point of view. "I understood well," he said, "as to whom you fell in love and what led you to such despair. And now I will mention two circumstances that can be brought to your attention: your age and the nature of your occupations. They should have taught you caution and warn against love temptations. You should know that love exhausts the soul, knocks down the path of reason, takes away memory, destroys the ability. " All this I experienced on myself, - he continued. "My second wife, having mastered the art of deception, went into my house under the sight of a dagger, but soon turned into a snake. Ruthlessly oppressing the relatives, refueling almost all my deeds and taking money into the hands of the hands, she brought home not peace and rest, but disunity and misfortune. One day, unexpectedly, I saw in her house her lover and realized that he, alas, not the only one. Every day more and more I had to endure from this fellow woman whom my reproaches were less than that, and my heart was plagued with so much torment and torment that it could not stand. This insidious woman was happy with my death; she settled down next to the church to hide away from the eyes of others, and gave her liberty an insatiable lust. Here is the portrait of the one you were in love with. It happened so that I visited your world just the next night after you wrote your first letter to your lady. It was already at midnight when I went into the bedroom and saw her having fun with her lover. She read a letter aloud, scoffing at each of your words. That's how the wise lady with her madman's lover danced over you. But you must understand that this woman is not an exception among others. All of them are executed by treachery, the passionate desire to rule overflows them, no one compares to malice and suspicion with the female sex. And now I want you to take revenge on this unworthy woman for the offense, which will benefit both you and her. "

The shocked hero tries to find out why the spirit of this man, whom he never knew during his lifetime, responded to his suffering. To this question, the spirit responds: "The guilt for which I was commanded to condemn you for the sake of your own good is partly lying on me as well, since this woman was once mine and nobody could know all of her submissive and tell you about it so, like me That's why I came to treat you from illness."

The hero woke up, began to reflect on what he had seen and heard, and made a decision for parting with pernicious love forever.