Boccaccio's
Decameron tracks the travels of ten people fleeing the death that is brought to
Florence in the form of the Bubonic Plague in 1348. The moral tone in his work
displays the reaction to The Plague that ordinary people had. This reaction was not simply to
The Plague but rather a reaction to what The Plague caused, death. In juxtaposition to this, my work, Welcome Aboard the Ship, is an embrace of Death and an
acceptance of the inevitable end. Other than the different metaphorical approach
that Boccaccio and I take towards death there are two other important areas
which deserve special attention: the modern advantages that we have over death
and the difference in the form of the work.
In
the Decameron, Boccaccio
goes into the moral and social implications of The Plague on the travelers. He says, “Husbands left wives, brothers left sisters,
mothers left children.”[1]
This differs from my own interpretation of death as something that,
instead of separating families can ultimately, potentially unite them.
This ultimately stems from the period in which either of us are reflecting.
From Boccaccio's point of view The Plague was surrounding and engulfing much of
Southern Europe leaving death and devastation in its wake.
Boccaccio's society lacked insight into the medical causes of the plague.
In short Boccaccio writes about death but as death only as a guise of fear.
Compared to Boccaccio's society, ours looks positively tame.
Technologically,
we are able to discover and effectively fight almost every major disease.
While this is dramatic, it does not necessarily make our
society less fearful of death in general.
Where I believe we have a larger
advantage is philosophically. Fortunately for us we are able to
reflect on 150 years of existential philosophy. This philosophy puts our mental state
at more of an advantage and is reflected in my poem.
Awaiting Death as a friend to walk with is drawn from Ingar Bergman's The
Seventh Seal, a profoundly existential and critically acclaimed Swedish
film of the 1950's.
The ship metaphor itself is drawn from Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra.
It is used to
illustrate the wonder with which many hold the sea.
To wonder what is on the other side of the waves has been a question that has
plagued mankind for millennium. In my poem I strive to make the ocean
a soothing idea for the average person. Instead of something to fear it
becomes something to recline and relax in. By attaching this to death as an idea
and intertwining the two, I strive to eliminate the fear with
which many people hold death. This is directly opposite of Boccaccio.
In his work it feels like the menace of death is always around the next corner.
Instead of focusing on when they might die they busy themselves in storytelling
to while away the days. This is opposed to confronting the
terrible reality of their time and coming to terms with death.
In effect it is a form escapism. This escapism is
supported in the introduction of the Decameron,
“Having withdrawn to
a comfortable abode where there were no sick persons, they locked themselves in and settled down to a peaceable existence...They refrained from speaking to outsiders, refused to receive news of the dead or
sick, and entertained
themselves with music and
whatever other amusements they were able to devise.” [2]
The second large difference between
Boccaccio's Decameron and my work is the form in which it is presented.
Boccaccio uses a frame style within his work to encompass several dozen stories.
The reason he does this is to clearly lay out moral and ethical ideas.
In addition to being about the Black Death, the Decameron is also about the
moralities of the day. The structure allows Boccaccio to
efficiently launch several tirades against the church and other powerful
institutions of his day. Aside from this it also gives him the
ability to cover a wide range of topics in a single work.
Contrary to this,
my work has taken the form of a poem in which the meter and occasional rhyme
lend more emotional weight to the words and creates,
hopefully,
an overarching effect from beginning to end. The effect is supported by the refrain
in the poem,
“Don't
be scared my lad, don't be scared my lad
of what might lie beyond
its for him to know, the black dressed man
and
for us to ponder so”
The
refrain helps to instill a sense of calm and to reduce the cloud of fear that
generally surrounds death.
In all my poem strives to create a
calm feeling towards death. In order to accomplish this I have
chosen the form of a poem with a refrain that puts the readers mind at ease.
This is in direct opposition to the Decameron by Boccaccio.
In his work he uses short stories to make a social and moral point and clearly
shows people who have recoiled from the embrace of death.
The differing attitudes towards death as presented in these two works can be
attributed to the different time periods in which they were written and by the
people who were possessed to write them.
[1]Aberth, John. The Black Death:
the great mortality of 1348-1350 : a brief history with documents. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2005.Boccaccio pg 77
[2] Aberth, John. The Black Death:
the great mortality of 1348-1350 : a brief history with documents. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2005.Boccaccio pg 75
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