Answer the questions relating to the article Giovanni Boccaccio - The Decameron
- What is the main idea Boccaccio is trying to communicate in this excerpt from
The Decameron? How does he describe the reactions of the citizens of Florence?
- What is the author’s bias? What might have motivated Boccaccio to describe the Black
Death’s impact in Florence?
- What was the context in which Boccaccio was writing? Where and when was this
Document written, and what was going on at that time (beside the plague epidemic)?
- Who was the intended audience for The Decameron?
- Can you connect The Decameron to other things you’ve learned about, either in class?
Or elsewhere? How might this source add to our understanding of history?
Sample Solution