Sacrifice In Boccaccio's Tale

In “Federigo’s Falcon” by Boccaccio and “The Wife of Bath” by Chaucer, the theme of love is shared by these two stories. The theme of sacrifice in Boccaccio’s story by showing how far some people are willing to go to demonstrate their love and the theme of power in Chaucer’s story by stating that what people want most in a relationship is to have power is the main difference between these two tales.

In Boccaccio’s story of love and sacrifice it can be seen that only a sacrifice will reveal the true intentions of someone. Federigo is so in love with Monna that he spends all his riches until he ends up penniless. When she shows up to his house for dinner and he has nothing to serve her he kills his own prized falcon as “a worthy dish to set before [her]” (164). In doing so, his adoration for her becomes obvious and the recurring theme of sacrifice of this story is highlighted. This is also very ironic because in killing his falcon, he ends up denying his loved one of what she desires. Later on, Monna states that she would

A knight is saved from the King’s punishment by the Queen by having to go on a journey to answer the question: what do women want most? Chaucer says that the man “must not be above her” (143) and in doing so clearly shows that what women most desire is power. Later on, after the knight has married the old woman who gave him the answer to the question, she gives him a choice. She can be young and unfaithful or stay old and remain forever faithful to him. He decides to “leave that matter to [her] wise decision” (149) and in doing so the old woman trn young and beautiful and remains faithful to the knight. This seems redundant in the sense that the woman has now reverted power back to the man when the theme of the story is clearly that people want to have power in their personal