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Panfilo - lover of all. Panfilo would seem to be one of the simplest characters in the brigata:
Panfilo is in love with love, in love with joy. Though it would at first appear that Panfilo is in the brigata simply to fulfill the slap-happy-fool-in-love role, a second look at his novelle reveals another side of Panfilo. Panfilo repeatedly emphasizes the need to look deeper into the stories of the brigata by presenting characters and situations which hide their true nature. Indeed, Panfilo acts as an almost direct voice of Boccaccio, in that he reminds us that the Decameron is not simply a collection of entertaining stories. It is Boccaccio's intention that we look deeper into the stories of the Decameron, so that it becomes a vehicle from which "useful advice" can be gleaned. Panfilo begins the Decameron with a story about Cepparello (I.1), a scoundrel and usurer who, through a skillful confession on his death bed, becomes glorified as a saint. We can see from this story that, unless we want to look as silly as the townsfolk who considered Cepparello a saint, it is important to look deeper into things before judging their meaning. This translates easily into looking deeper into the stories of theDecameron. When Panfilo ends his first story by saying how wonderful God is because God can transmit His message through even the worst sinner, it appears that Panfilo is going to end all of his tales with a gay and positive moral. Instead, the theme that Panfilo comes back to time and time again is the "Don't judge a book by its cover" theme - a particularly apt proverb considering the medium in which he exists. In the introduction to his second tale, Panfilo berates women for putting so much stock in their beauty that they hide who they are. He says that women... Panfilo then tells a story about a woman who, though having possibly slept with nine men, is presented to her husband as a pure virgin (II.7). The underlying theme of both Panfilo's complaint against women trying to hide what they are and his story about a woman who is not what she is supposed to be is the same as that in Cepparello - the importance of investigating thoroughly, of looking deeper than the surface of one's skin. Panfilo's fifth, sixth, and tenth stories all present similar messages: In the fifth, Cymon is presented as an idiot (V.1). We soon find out, however, that he is not that "simple." He transforms into an exceptionally brave and noble gentleman, worthy of our respect. All of these stories repeat the message, "Don't judge a book by its cover." Three of Panfilo's other five stories investigate this theme in other ways. In his third story (III.4), we see that because Friar Puccio does not investigate deeper than face value, Dom Felice makes a fool out of him while he sleeps with his wife. During Panfilo's seventh story (VII.9), Lydia and Pyrrhus deceive Nicostratus in front of his own eyes when he accepts their words without investigating for himself. Similarly, on the ninth day (IX.6), Pinuccio and Adriano get away with sleeping with their host's wife and daughter while he is in the same room with them - again because he accepts their words without looking any deeper. Panfilo's message is consistent, clear, and not nearly as simple as a first look might imply. It is only by looking deeper into his stories that we hear Boccaccio's voice telling us to look deeper into all of the stories, and indeed the book as a whole. Through Panfilo Boccaccio reminds us: "Don't judge this book by its cover." (D. S.) |
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