The Decameron Literary Elements

The Decameron Literary Elements

Genre

Collection of stories

Setting and Context

Set in 1348 and written in the context of religion.

Narrator and Point of View

Third-person narrative

Tone and Mood

Sad, horrific, terrifying, disheartening

Protagonist and Antagonist

Dioneo is the central character in the book.

Major Conflict

The central conflict is that the city of Florence is infected by a plague that has caused chaos and disaster among the people.

Climax

The climax is when seven young women gather in Santa Maria Novella church to pray and avoid the vision of death.

Foreshadowing

Black Death foreshadowed the plague that invaded the city people.

Understatement

The power of prayer is understated. When the women go to church to pray, they are hopeful that they will evade the plague.

Allusions

The story alludes to the absurdity restricted within the Decameron, which does not engross the church.

Imagery

The imagery of the city of Florence in the 14th century depicts sight enabling readers to see how the Black Death subjected people to misery and death.

Paradox

The main paradox is when the three men accompany seven women to church to pray. While in the church, it is satirical that these characters start telling stories that are not related to prayer.

Parallelism

There is parallelism between prayer and natural disasters. People need to be prepared on how to handle plagues.

Metonymy and Synecdoche

Black Death is a metonymy for disasters that are beyond human control

Personification

N/A

Update this section!

You can help us out by revising, improving and updating this section.

Update this section

After you claim a section you’ll have 24 hours to send in a draft. An editor will review the submission and either publish your submission or provide feedback.

Cite this page