Reading Journal 3

The Context of this story is set when the author introduces the problem setting up the following action, in this fable it is the idea that men are driven to hell by their wives, and that this is a problem that the devils of hell want to deal with. This sets the stage for a devil to go and love with a wife and allows all the following action to happen. The three context elements are all present when 1) Belfagor becomes a human, 2) Belfagor takes a wife, and 3) he falls in love with her and she drives him to ruin. These three elements are followed by mini stories, the anecdotes, to set up and explain them. For example, the first anecdote, in which Belfagor becomes human, describes the way in which he was chosen, the constraints and rules placed upon him as a human, and then his actual transformation. The turning point of the story is started by the sentence “Thus, living such a tumultuous and unsettled life and having already consumed all is ready cash in extravagant expenditures, Roderigo began to live in the hope of the profits he expected from the Eastern and Western investments.” The actions of the main character start after Rodrigo promises to make Gianmatteo rich in exchange for helping him escape his pursuers. The actions are 1) Gianmatteo hiding and saving Roderigo and then learning about how to become rich, 2) his expelling Belfagor from the daughter of the Florentine noble, and 3) his expelling Belfagor from the daughter of the King of Spain. One moral of the story comes after Gianmatteo returns home, to “enjoy a peaceful life.” He is not greedy but is content with his lot and is happy to live in peace for the rest of his days. This moral is fairly obvious. The other moral of the story is a more subtle one which insinuates that women are trouble making and will bring about your ruin if they are allowed to have free rein. This is set up in the context of the story but is also supported by the fact that the girls who are possessed are the cause of a loss of a lot of money for either distraught fathers, and by the fact that in order to pursue his peaceful life Gianmatteo does not go home and seek a wife but seeks a life alone. The wife is also, in the end the undoing of the power of the devil, and therefore is a troublesome entity. The reversal comes when Belfagor possesses the daughter of the King of France. This upsets Gianmatteo’ plans for a peaceful and happy life, or it forces him to confront the devil. However, there is only one reversal, after that comes the resolution to the story in which Gianmatteo confronts and outsmarts the devil and, thanks to his resourcefulness, sends him back to hell. And the final resolution comes when Gianmatteo returns home to enjoy the peaceful life that he had wanted in the first place.