ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the notion that narration can have a prophylactic function in times of plague. Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron illustrates this idea, not only within the cornice, but also in the stories recounted within the frame. In the Decameron, many stories illustrate the important function of language in life-threatening contexts; these stories demonstrate how language acts as a powerful, healing, fate-altering tool. There are scholars who believe that Boccaccio's brigata served as a kind of "chorus" in the Decameron and that with few exceptions, individual characters are indistinguishable from one another. A significant portion of the novelle narrated by the brigata reflects the importance of verbal intervention. The young men and women of the brigata want to distract themselves from the plague so that their emotional and physical health will remain in balance. Despite their efforts to compartmentalize their emotions about the pestilence, many of the tales of the Decameron are filled with accounts of illness and disease.
