The Decameron Sixth Day Summary & Analysis

Summary: All Sixth-Day Stories

Queen Elissa begins the sixth day with the usual walk at dawn. In the late afternoon, as the ten companions assemble by the fountain, a quarrel breaks out in the kitchen. Tindaro, a young manservant, claims that a woman he knows was a virgin before marriage. Licisca, an older maidservant, insists that not one young woman in the district goes to her husband a virgin. Not only that, once women marry, they play tricks on their husbands. Elissa asks Dioneo to resolve the dispute, and he decides in Licisca’s favor. The ladies laugh heartily at Licisca’s opinions, but Elissa sends Licisca to the kitchen and threatens to whip her if she doesn’t go.

The day’s stories feature people who either return sharp answers when provoked or avoid problems by a prompt retort or shrewd action. Filomena provides a tale of a woman who gives up a comfortable horseback ride, preferring to walk rather than listen to a gentleman’s boring stories. Panfilo tells about two painters, creators of beautiful art, who make fun of each other’s ugly appearance. The last story of the day, told as usual by Dioneo, is about a friar who has to come up with a quick explanation after someone replaces his miraculous feather from the Angel Gabriel with a lump of coal. All the stories on the sixth day are quite short.

Summary of Selected Story: Sixth Day, Third Story

Lauretta’s story features the Bishop of Florence and Messer Dego della Ratta, the marshal to the King of Naples. Messer Dego, known for his pursuit of women, offers 500 gold florins for a chance to sleep with one man’s wife and pays him with false coin. The bishop ignores this scandal about his friend.

One day the bishop and Messer Dego are riding down the street. They spy Monna Nonna de’ Pulci, a beautiful young woman who has recently been married. The men ride over to the lady. The bishop claps his hand on Messer Dego’s shoulder and asks Nonna if she could make a conquest of this fellow. Nonna then tells the bishop that in the unlikely event his friend makes a conquest of her, she wants to be paid in good coin. Her rebuke makes the marshal and the bishop feel ashamed, so they ride away in silence.

Summary: Conclusion of the Sixth Day

After the tenth story of the sixth day, Elissa turns the crown over to Dioneo. He announces that Licisca inspired the next day’s stories, which will be about tricks women play on their husbands. Because the day’s stories were so short, the sun is still in the sky. While Dioneo plays dice, Elissa leads the ladies to the nearby Valley of the Ladies, which has a lovely, clear lake. The ladies take off their clothes and go for a swim. Back at the palace, Pampinea tells Dioneo about the valley, and Dioneo declares they will spend the next day there. As the evening’s music begins, he calls for Tindaro to join them on the cornemuse (a form of bagpipe). Elissa ends the day with a song that compares being in love to being captured by a wild beast. She ends her song with a piteous sigh.

Analysis: Sixth Day

On the sixth day, under the rule of Elissa, the servants emerge from anonymity and affect the actions of the main characters. An argument breaks out between Licisca and Tindaro—an unusual instance of servants’ names being mentioned at all. After Dioneo decides the argument in Licisca’s favor and everyone laughs at Licisca’s claims, Elissa threatens Licisca and sends her back to the kitchen. The implication is that Elissa is jealous of the attention Licisca is getting. Elissa’s imperious manner with Licisca is consistent with her conventional values and passionate nature. After Dioneo is crowned king for the next day, he takes his topic from Licisca’s stories, a hint that he is teasing Elissa.

The stories on the sixth day are so short that they affect the day’s structure and action. One reason for the brevity is that the topic of the day, people who return sharp answers when provoked, favors jokes with witty punch lines. It’s also possible that the companions are getting tired of the storytelling format and running out of ideas for stories. Because the stories are short, the day seems longer. There is enough time in the late afternoon and evening for the women and then the men to visit the magical valley and swim in its lake. On the sixth day, the companions spend much more time with each other and visiting a new place than they do listening to each other’s tales.

The stories on the sixth day are witty, but they also make moral points. The stories feature awkward or possibly dangerous situations, with the punch lines being examples of how to get out of the situations gracefully. Filomena’s tale is an outlet for complaint about the indignity of having to pretend interest in men’s tiresome stories. Lauretta’s tale complains about men’s assumption that they are desirable. Both stories make the point that women should stand up to men. Dioneo’s story about the friar is a commentary on the hypocrisy of holy people, one of his favorite story themes.

The sixth day breaks the established pattern for the transfer of rule. After the stories of the sixth day, Elissa crowns Dioneo the next king, but he goes off to play cards, leaving Elissa actively in charge for several more hours. (Dioneo can be casual about his new responsibilities because Parmeno, the steward, is his manservant.) Elissa leads the ladies to the lake, where they take off their clothes and swim, experiencing the next day’s entertainment in advance. The shift of scene and the ladies’ unclothed swim also increase suspense about what will happen the next day.

The conclusion of the sixth day reveals the action behind the scenes of The Decameron retreat and throws light on the character of Dioneo. Pampinea prompts Dioneo to make the Valley of the Ladies the next day’s destination, a clear suggestion that she is still the group leader and that the decision to visit the valley has already been made. Dioneo does not take the imposed structure of rulership very seriously, but he does do the job he has agreed to do, which is to make sure each day ends on a positive note. Dioneo restores harmony by asking Tindaro, the servant whose argument he put down earlier in the day, to provide music for the dancers. Dioneo then allows Elissa to perform, perhaps to make up for his siding with Licisca. Elissa’s reign over the sixth day extends well into the night.