This study explores the concepts of imagination, love and reason as portrayed in the stories of two characters in Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron. Through Cimone and Calandrino, the author shows how Boccaccio intertwines imagination and the passion of love, manipulating their fragile relationship with rational thought. A primary purpose of the novella of Cimone is to point out the weaknesses that underlie notions of idealized, stilnovist love; and the fourth tale of Calandrino is its humorous counterpart. Of special interest to this study is the fact that Boccaccio displays the concept of love with an emphasis not only on its failure to bring one to wisdom, but on its potential for danger. The essay also argues that while Boccaccio uses these tales to demonstrate the destructive force of erotic love, through them he also portrays the complicated ambiguity of the imagination.
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