Thursday, January 18, 2007

Reading Journal-Assignment 3

In Machiavelli’s “The Devil Who Took a Wife” the set up for the story includes the use of standard European “three context elements.” For example, the wife, Onesta, chosen by Roderigo (the devil) has three sisters and three brothers. Also, Machiavelli uses three possessed girls to propel the fable’s plot. In my opinion, the “turning point” in the story is when we read of Roderigo’s financial troubles (caused by the extravagant lifestyle he was living and his brothers-in-law who squandered his investments) that quickly compel him to run away. From that point, Roderigo makes a deal with a man, named Gianmatteo, which stimulates the rest of the story. Some general core “actions” of the main character consists of: Roderigo running away from his problem of his debt and his wife, who was making him mad; making a deal with Gianmatteo to make him a rich man in return for saving his life; Roderigo possessing two girls to fulfill his promise to Gianmatteo. Gianmatteo being forced to come exorcise the third girl and risking his life could most likely be considered the “reversal” in the story. The “resolution” is that Gianmatteo manages to save his own life by tricking Roderigo out of the third girl’s body. This happens because Roderigo returns to Hell in order to avoid the alternative of being forced to live with his wife again. As far as I can tell, the “moral” that Machiavelli is trying to convey is this: women do in facet make men’s lives miserable and everything will work out fine for the person who is upright and keep’s his vow. I particularly like the ending of Machiavelli’s piece because I think the way in which Gianmatteo succeeds over Roderigo is very humorous (scares him back to Hell with the thought of his wife). I thought the various twists in plot were entertaining and organized in a nice way for the reader. The one think I didn’t like is Machiavelli’s concept (if he’s being sincere) that women are responsible for the miserable qualities of men’s lives. However, I tend to think that this is more of a satire, rather than Machiavelli’s actual opinion of the relationship between men and women.

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