Decameron Blog #6

9.2: How do the Abbess actions/ her physical appearance

change the outlook of the Nuns at the end of the story?

At the beginning of the story, it appears as if the Abbess is the perfect stereotypical nun.  She stays up all night to catch another nun who has been accused of taking a lover.  While the Abbess is waiting up to catch the other nun in the act, she goes on about how immoral this is.  Contrary to the previous stories we have read in the Decameron about nuns, it seems as if this Abbess will actually uphold to the moral standards that a nun should have (but as we have seen, this is not always necessarily true).   When the Abbess is about to leave to catch the other nun in the act, she puts the priest's pants on her head thinking that it is her veil.  As she walks in on the immoral act, the nun sees the pants and realizes that the Abbess has also been up to no good.  Therefore, the nun is forgiven for her mistake and allowed to keep seeing her lover.  At the beginning of the story, the reader feels against the nun because of her wrong deeds, but at the end of the story, the reader is more critical of the Abbess.  The Abbess' actions completely change the outlook of nuns in the story because the Abbess is the highest position there is as a nun.  Therefore, it is expected for an Abbess to uphold all moral codes that are entailed in being a nun.  However, the Abbess is more of a hypocrite than anyone because she chastises others for what she is doing herself.