The story of Lisabetta da Messina and that of Torello and Saladino

The novella about Tancredi and Ghismunda is in many ways similar to the fifth novella of the fourth day. Protagonist of this story is Lisabetta da Messina, who falls in love with a servant belonging to her three brothers, called Lorenzo. Before you read on, have a look at that story first, here.

The novella about Tancredi and Ghismunda is in many ways similar to the fifth novella of the fourth day. Protagonist of this story is Lisabetta da Messina, who falls in love with a servant belonging to her three brothers, called Lorenzo. Before you read on, have a look at that story first, here.

The first notable similarity is that both Lisabetta and Ghismunda fall in love with a young man of a lower class. Being well aware of this, they meet their lovers in secrecy, but unfortunately their relationship is discovered by their brothers and their father respectively, who feel ashamed because of the lower status of the young men. Subsequently Lorenzo and Guiscardo are murdered, leaving the two young women disconsolate. A body part, the head and the heart respectively, is then taken from the corpse, after which Lisabetta and Ghismunda cry over these remains of their beloved. In the end both women die, albeit differently, but some justice has been done: the brothers have to leave the village they did not want to leave, and Tancredi’s most beloved, his own daughter, takes her life, but most importantly their love is not anonymous anymore and is known to the world. These two characters are not submissive; on the contrary, they take matters in their own hands by inviting their beloved to their quarters, where it turns out they are being spied on, and in the end by digging up the bodies of their beloved and then taking their own life.

Apart from the story of Tancredi and Ghismunda, there is another novella in which a cup is of importance to the story, namely the ninth novella of the tenth day about Torello and Saladino. After more than a year, Torello returns from a crusade. Because he was thought to be dead, his wife Adalieta is about to remarry. Torello, changed in appearance and wearing foreign clothes, is not recognized, and at a certain point clarifies to Adalieta that it is customary in his country of origin that the future spouse in circumstances like these offers to the foreign guest a cup filled with wine. When the guest has finished drinking, the bride drinks what is left. It happens exactly like this, but Torello let a ring, given to him a year before by his wife, secretly slip into the cup. Then he closes it and a servant returns it to Adalieta, who finds the ring and knows that the stranger is her husband.

The resemblance with the moment in which Ghismunda receives the cup is quite striking given the difference of the novellas: this cup is of great value as well, being gold-plated, and it is handed over to Adalieta by a servant, which is exactly the way Ghismunda receives her cup. In the cup they both find a gift which indicates a turn in the narrative: Ghismunda knows she has to take her own life, whilst Adalieta knows her husband has returned.