1. The Tenth Story of the Tenth Day: Why is Griselda being tested?

I believe that Griselda was being tested only for her husbands own amusement.  It even states in the text “…Gualtieri was seized with the strange desire to test Griselda’s patience, by subjecting her to constant provocation and making her life unbearable” (Norton 1359).  Whatever desire he had, to me it seems as if he himself is astonished that he chose such a wonderful wife, especially for someone who never had any intention of marrying, and maybe being a bit skeptical, wants to test her loyalty to him.

2. Compare the frame tales in the Decameron, and The Thousand and One Nights. In each case, what is the reason for telling stories? Do the stories accomplish the purpose for which they are intended? How important is the relationship between the tale and the teller?

I believe that in each case, the tales were meant to pass the time, and while also doing so, there is a lessons woven into the stories.  The Thousand and One Nights, Sharazad ends up accomplishing what she set out to do, stop the king from killing innocent young woman, and she ends up gaining his trust.  I think that with the Decameron, it is a little different in a way because the stories don’t necessarily try to gain anything, they let you decide for yourself.  (Each story seems to contradict the previous one with a opposite view).    With stories such as these, I think that the relationship between the tale and the teller is important, and the teller is speaking from some experience and the story correlates with the tellers life.  I think that there has to be some type of parallelism.

3. In Laustic, what does the nightingale symbolize? Explain your answer.

According to the text “The nightingale that she invokes to quiet her jealous husband becomes a symbol of this yearning to escape, and when her husband brutally kills it and throws its bleeding corpse at her, we can understand that the stain it leaves on the breast of her tunic is this outward sign of a broken heart” (Lanval 1197).  To me, however, I would add that the nightingale also symbolizes a secret, with the death of the nightingale, her secret affair also dies as well, for she will no longer be able to see her lover.