At the beginning of Boccaccio's Decameron, both male and female narrators hesitate to discuss the seemingly obscene topic of sexual intercourse. On the first day the Florentines discuss various topics, but only one narrator has the courage to introduce sex as a theme: Dioneo. This male narrator quickly develops as the boldest of the Florentines, happy to push past the invisible limits the group has set for itself when it comes to sex. This gives him a particularly important role in the first half of the Decameron as he successfully encourages the other narrators to discuss illegitimate sexual relations. Having achieved his goals as a storyteller and mediator of discussions, Dionaeus becomes less controversial and his stories less distinctive in days VI, VII, and VIII of the Decameron in favor of an external presence to his stories. Known now as the controversial narrator of the Decameron, it is Dionaeus' actions outside of the stories that speak to us most these days. However, its role in the first three days of the Decameron is essential to develop the open discussion on sex and more taboo topics considered obscene on the first day, and for the fascination that the ten Florentines have for various sexual illegitimate people. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay On Day One, Dioneo immediately stands out to the reader by discussing sexual relationships with surprising openness. His story (I.4) features a monk and an abbot, both guilty of having sex with a young peasant girl. The shock of this story comes first and foremost from our knowledge of the supposed sanctity of both the monk and the abbot. For monks, having sex is a serious sin, because it contradicts their complete devotion to God. The monk recognizes this "heavy punishment he had incurred", which Dioneo also defines as a "misdeed" (40). As holy men, both the monk and the abbot recognize the implications of their actions with the young woman, but seem to completely forget their devotion to God in favor of consistent sex. At this point, the narrators have heard only three stories before Dioneo, some of them potentially controversial. The first story, which talks about Ser Cepparello's challenge to Christianity, could certainly have offended the narrators. The narrators, however, find Dioneo's story more controversial than any previously heard because of its open discussion not just of sex, but of forbidden sex. The three stories told before Dioneo received only praise and laughter. Dioneo's story also elicits laughter, but in addition to another reaction: “it first caused the ladies a certain embarrassment, judging by the modest blush that appeared on their cheeks” (42). The fact that the women's first response was embarrassment demonstrates the shock that this story caused them. We sense that sex is a sensitive topic for the women of the Decameron, which the main narrator confirms by saying that "they had rebuked him with a few kind words, to make it clear that such stories should not be told when women were present" (42 ). After reading this, one would expect the sex stories to stop completely, but the effect is exactly the opposite: sex becomes a topic of increasing interest for storytellers. By choosing to talk about illegitimate sex from day one, Dioneo opened up a new and vast theme for the Florentines: a theme that perhaps surpasses all others. We can already say that it will play an important role both in starting new discussions and in discussing others. In the Conclusion of the First Day, Dioneo presents himself as an essential character and narrator whenhe asks to speak freely on any topic he chooses, and to speak last every day. He courageously defends this request to speak last by saying: «so that no one thinks that I ask this favor because I don't have many stories to tell, I am content from now on to always be the last to speak» (57). Dioneus is proud of the his narrative and is eager to demonstrate it to others. He asks to tell his stories last to demonstrate his aptitude as a storyteller. The Queen honors his request, “knowing full well that he asked for this favor only to distract the company with some amusing story, should they tire of the common theme” (57). By granting Dioneo this right, however, he essentially gives him a position of power that no one else, not even the King or Queen of the moment, can have. Only Dioneo has complete freedom to discuss whatever he wants, and he immediately makes use of this right. Interestingly, the Queen thinks her request is simply to tell fun and entertaining stories. While Dioneo certainly does that, he also has his own agenda: to use his freedom to present stories that challenge the limits the group had seemingly set. Dioneo's openness with sexuality on day one encourages some narrators to do the same on day two, but most narrators still refrain from talking about sexual encounters. Marilyn Migiel also recognizes this in her essay “Beyond Seduction: A Reading of the Tale of Alibech and Rusticus (Decameron III, 10)”, in which she states “on the second day, it is the three male narrators and Pampinea (never to be surpassed by one of his male companions) who talk about sexual encounters” (161). Only the other two men and Pampinea, the older, more confident woman, feel bold enough to follow Dioneo's example. Filostrato begins with the scandalous tale of Rinaldo d'Asti (II.2), who has sex with an unknown woman already engaged to someone else. Pampinea, after hearing Philostratus' story, talks about the young Alexander (II.3), who unknowingly has sex with the daughter of the king of England and then marries her. Pamphilus speaks of Alatiel hiding her sexuality from her father and marrying the king of the Algarve (II.7). Thinking back to the consequences of Dioneo's first story on the first day, we remember that he was only scolded by women. There was no mention of men, and so we see men (and Pampinea, who has challenged standard female gender roles from the beginning) taking Dioneo's side. They pursue a topic that women see as taboo. Most women stick with their day one beliefs about sexuality on day two, refraining from discussing it. They tell funny stories that entertain the storytellers, such as the first story of the day, and many encouraging stories that follow the theme of overcoming misfortunes, but don't talk about sexuality. However, the sexual stories that appear on the second day show that Dioneo has begun to break down the foundations of modesty and what Florentines consider appropriate for discussion. The tale of Alibech and Rusticus on the third day is the pinnacle of Dioneo's importance as a narrator within the world. the Decameron. By the third day, sex has become a common topic for the narrators and almost everyone, both male and female, discusses it. The supposed modesty of the women of the first day has disappeared; there are no more reproaches for stories of illegitimate sex, and the narrators constantly laugh in response to these stories. Migiel agrees, saying that "by the third day, when the group moves into a lovely walled garden, the desire to tell stories about sex, but especially illicit sexual relations, has spread like the plague" (161). Nonetheless, Dioneohe still tries to push the boundaries of their discussions, and does so in his tale of Alibech and Rusticus, which is perhaps the most controversial story ever contained in the Decameron. It overshadows every other Day Three story with its blatant sexuality. The explicit metaphor of returning the Devil to Hell as a symbol of sexual genitalia, along with the subtle implications of rape and child molestation, takes the notion of sexual fantasy and illegitimacy to a new extreme. It is not surprising that Dionaeus told this story, considering his position as the most daring of storytellers. But why did Dioneo decide to go so far? His sexual history? It almost seems like it's a competition at this point: Who can create the most scandalous story? After most of the stories are about illicit sex on the third day, only Dioneo remains, and since he was the one who started these sexual stories, he has to go a step further to show his leadership in the matter. As a result, the story of Alibech and Rusticus turns out to be extremely obscene and immoral in nature, and we still consider Dioneo the most daring and controversial of storytellers. After the third day, however, Dioneo's role as narrator becomes progressively less important than the others. began telling more controversial stories in his place. On the fourth day Dioneo tells the story of a doctor's wife and her lover. According to his previous habit, he should have spoken openly about their sexual encounter, but Dioneo barely talks about it. She only says that they "had fun" (290), which is mentioned so quickly that it's easily missed (as I did when reading her the first time, thinking she was completely abstaining from sexual discussion). The subtlety of this sexual encounter is surprising, especially since Dioneo had previously spoken extensively about sex. The sexual subtlety of Day IV shows a new Dioneo: a narrator who may not always speak openly and controversially about sexuality, which foreshadows his position as a figure outside the picture rather than a narrator in Days VI, VII, and VIII. He's already pushed the group to speak as freely as they do about sex, so even though he continues his earlier themes of illegitimate sex in his Day V story, we see by Day IV that Dioneo begins to abstain. Dioneo reminds us of his previous role in the Decameron when the Queen asks him to sing a song in the Conclusion. The other narrators, when asked, would simply begin singing without question. Dioneo, however, presents a real challenge to the Queen (Fiammetta) when he refuses to take her seriously and chooses to make a joke out of the question. He offers the queen only crude songs, to which she initially responds with laughter but then becomes increasingly angry. Dioneo suggests songs like “'Monna Aldruda, come, raise your tail, You will never like the news I will bring you'” (361), a patently obscene song. It also offers many other songs of the same nature. In this section of the Decameron we see Dioneo as we remember him in the first three days: one who is not afraid to push the boundaries when it comes to women's sexual modesty. We also see that Dioneo loves the attention he receives, as the women's laughter only encourages him to continue delivering his bawdy songs. However, he ends up singing a more serious love song, because the Queen forbids him to continue with his nonsense. This shows that although women have become more tolerant of sexual fantasies within stories, they are not eager to continue such discussions outside of their stories. Dioneo seems to have reached his limit with sexuality here, which perhaps explains why he finally settles for a serious song 2013.