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Madonna Oretta appears in Filomena’s sixth tale (VI, 1). A Florentine noblewoman with a reputation for conversational wit and good breeding, she exemplifies these traits when she gently teases a knight for telling her a good story badly. She is also the wife of Geri Spina, who appears in another tale (VI, 2).
Madonna Oretta Quotes in The Decameron
The The Decameron quotes below are all either spoken by Madonna Oretta or refer to Madonna Oretta. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Day 6: First Tale Quotes
Whereupon this worthy knight, whose swordplay was doubtless on par with his storytelling, began to recite his tale, which in itself was indeed excellent. But by constantly repeating the same phrases, and recapitulating sections of the plot, and every so often declaring that he had ‘made a mess of that bit,’ and regularly confusing the characters, he ruined it completely. Moreover, his mode of delivery was completely out of keeping with the characters and the incidents he was describing, so that it was painful for Madonna Oretta to listen to him. She began to perspire freely, and her heart missed several beats, as though she had fallen ill and was about to give up the ghost.
Related Characters:
Filomena (speaker), Madonna Oretta
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
447
Explanation and Analysis:
The theme of Day VI is clever comebacks and retorts, and Filomena’s first tale showcases a fine lady wittily yet pointedly critiquing a knight for his botched telling of a fine tale. Although storytelling isn’t a main theme for The Decameron, it contains several defenses of the practice throughout, some attributed to the narrators of the brigata, and others in the mouth of Boccaccio-as-narrator. This passage, found embedded in a tale, is a delightful catalogue of what can ruin a story, and, by extension, what makes for a good one in the opinion of the narrators themselves. In general, it seems, the brigata favors stories that are linear and proceed smoothly from beginning to end rather than those engaged in digression or marred by backtracking. It’s also important to keep the characters straight. Perhaps most important, the register in which the story is told—its use of language, metaphor, and humor (or not)—must match its theme.
Bad storytelling, this tale suggests, is so terrible that it can make a refined person like Madonna Oretta physically ill. But because the tales in The Decameron aren’t marred by these storytelling sins, this passage also obliquely contributes to Boccaccio’s bragging over his skills. This is most clearly seen at the beginning of Day 3, where he explains that his silly little tales have become the victim of others’ envy, thus suggesting that they are neither silly nor little after all.
Get the entire The Decameron LitChart as a printable PDF.
Madonna Oretta Quotes in The Decameron
The The Decameron quotes below are all either spoken by Madonna Oretta or refer to Madonna Oretta. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Day 6: First Tale Quotes
Whereupon this worthy knight, whose swordplay was doubtless on par with his storytelling, began to recite his tale, which in itself was indeed excellent. But by constantly repeating the same phrases, and recapitulating sections of the plot, and every so often declaring that he had ‘made a mess of that bit,’ and regularly confusing the characters, he ruined it completely. Moreover, his mode of delivery was completely out of keeping with the characters and the incidents he was describing, so that it was painful for Madonna Oretta to listen to him. She began to perspire freely, and her heart missed several beats, as though she had fallen ill and was about to give up the ghost.
Related Characters:
Filomena (speaker), Madonna Oretta
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
447
Explanation and Analysis:
The theme of Day VI is clever comebacks and retorts, and Filomena’s first tale showcases a fine lady wittily yet pointedly critiquing a knight for his botched telling of a fine tale. Although storytelling isn’t a main theme for The Decameron, it contains several defenses of the practice throughout, some attributed to the narrators of the brigata, and others in the mouth of Boccaccio-as-narrator. This passage, found embedded in a tale, is a delightful catalogue of what can ruin a story, and, by extension, what makes for a good one in the opinion of the narrators themselves. In general, it seems, the brigata favors stories that are linear and proceed smoothly from beginning to end rather than those engaged in digression or marred by backtracking. It’s also important to keep the characters straight. Perhaps most important, the register in which the story is told—its use of language, metaphor, and humor (or not)—must match its theme.
Bad storytelling, this tale suggests, is so terrible that it can make a refined person like Madonna Oretta physically ill. But because the tales in The Decameron aren’t marred by these storytelling sins, this passage also obliquely contributes to Boccaccio’s bragging over his skills. This is most clearly seen at the beginning of Day 3, where he explains that his silly little tales have become the victim of others’ envy, thus suggesting that they are neither silly nor little after all.
