# Day the Fourth Introduction explained — The Decameron

> Chapter companion for The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio.

## What happens

Boccaccio defends his work against critics who accuse him of overindulging in pleasing women, being too old for such tales, and wasting time on frivolous stories. He tells a partial story of Filippo Balducci, who raised his son in isolation, only for the youth to be irresistibly drawn to women ('green geese'), illustrating that nature's pull is stronger than any restraint. The day's theme of unhappy loves is set under Filostrato's rule.

## Themes in this chapter

### Love and Desire

The irresistible natural attraction to women, as shown by Filippo's son's immediate desire for the 'green geese'.

### Suffering and Redemption

Filippo's grief and retreat from the world, and Boccaccio's own suffering under envy, framed as a test of patience.

### The Power of Storytelling

Boccaccio defends his tales as worthy and natural, using a story within the introduction to argue for the value of his work.

## Character check-ins

### Filippo Balducci

A townsman who, after his wife's death, retreats to a hermitage with his son to shield him from worldly temptations.

### Filostrato

The king of the day, who commands the company to tell stories of unhappy loves.

### Fiammetta

The first storyteller of the day, chosen by Filostrato to begin the tales.

## Key lines

> I had conceived that the boisterous and burning blast of envy was apt to smite none but lofty towers or the highest summits of the trees; but I find myself mistaken in my conceit, for that, fleeing, as I have still studied to flee, from the cruel onslaught of that raging wind, I have striven to go, not only in the plains, but in the very deepest of the valleys...

Boccaccio thought envy only attacked the famous, but he finds it has reached him even in his humble, low-profile writing.

_Boccaccio's opening defense against critics._

> Father mine, I prithee get me one of these green geese.

The young man, seeing women for the first time, asks his father to bring one of them back to their hermitage.

_The son's innocent yet powerful desire for women, whom his father calls 'green geese'._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_decameron_se/chapters/day-the-fourth-introduction
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_decameron_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_decameron_se/chapters