Decameron (Day 6)

9.2: How do the Abbess actions/ her physical appearance
change the outlook of the Nuns at the end of the story?

This story is very similar to a previous story I remember reading. In story 9.2 the other nuns play a trick upon a nun who is sleeping with a man. However, when they tell the Abbess to hurry up and catch the nun in the act, she herself is in bed with a priest. I found this very ironic; in another story Boccacio mentions that priests commonly sleep with women, yet I think it's a whole different thing for a priest to sleep with a nun. Talk about taking lust to the next level. Trickery is a prevalent theme in this story- the nuns trick the sinful nun, the Abbess tricks those very same nuns and attempts to chastise the nun who had been committing the exact same crime she was. And after the Abbess was found out because she mistakenly placed the priest's pants atop her head. I found this hilarious, especially how she so quickly changed her tune after being caught herself, and how both nuns from that point on got to continue fulfilling their desires. 

9.3: What is Boccaccio trying to show with the reoccurring
theme of women causing conflict and the physical abuse that
result from it?
I also really loved this story because of its comedy and sense of uniqueness. Trickery is the main theme here, too. Calandrino is tricked into believing he is pregnant and that it is his wife's fault for -of all things!- sleeping on top. The top is considered a position of power and control, and in the Middle Ages and even, sometimes, in this day and age the bottom is considered the proper place for women. Calandrino's wife Tessa is a modest woman, although apparently this is mostly an outer facade since in story 9.5 she physically and verbally abuses her husband. However, in this story Calandrino says that if he were well, he'd "give her such a beating {he'd} break every bone in her body."