Love and Silence in the Renaissance - From the Italian Novella Tradition to its English Legacy

Sep 4, 2026

Uploaded by Eliana

Examines how European medieval and Renaissance traditions treat language as a central medium for love while also exploring silence as a counterforce. Focuses on Matteo Bandello’s novella III 17, where amorous speech fails and deliberate dumbness enables success, then traces its English narrative and theatrical afterlife through multiple writers. Analyzes related theoretical background from courtly love discourses and compares plot treatment across Italian and English adaptations, highlighting the bond between words, silence, and desire.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time20 min

AccessFree to download

Love, language, and silence in Renaissance traditions

Bandello’s novella III 17 and the paradox of silence

Courtly love theory: words, eloquence, and desire

Competing models of silence in amorous discourse

Italian source and English narrative/theatrical appropriations

FLAVIA PALMA 6 Love and Silence in the Renaissance: From the Italian Novella Tradition to its English Legacy Flavia Palma University of Verona Abstract The Medieval and Renaissance European literary traditions are testimony to a habit of considering language as the primary medium for love, but there were also interesting exceptions connected to the opposite power of silence. Matteo Bandello’s novella III 17 is a case in point: the tale is centred upon the impotence of amorous words and the paradoxical power of silence. Bandello to some extent appropriated a topic already present in Boccaccio’s Decameron, but it was his novella that fascinated sixteenth-and seventeenth-century England: his tale appeared in both English prose and verse translations, as well as being adapted for the stage in a comedy. This paper considers how this peculiar relation between silence and words within love bonds was treated by Bandello and then appropriated both in narrative and theatrical contexts by English writers such as William Painter, Geoffrey Fenton, John God, Gervase Markham, and Lewis Machin. Keywords: love, silence, words, Bandello, English adaptations In his De Amore, a seminal tract on love written at the end of the twelfth century, Andreas Capellanus dedicates most of his discussion to the relation between erotic desire, courtship and the power of words. He asserts that the beloved may be conquered in three ways, that is, through beauty, honour or eloquence, adding that the clever use of words can make people fall in love, even if they do not want to (Andrea Cappellano, 1980: 16-19) . The ideas developed in this treatise would influence European literature also after the TROPOS Middle Ages. Indeed, alongside the principles asserted by seminal Renaissance theoretical works on love written by philosophers such as Pico della Mirandola and Marsilio Ficino, who applied Plato’s philosophy to Christian beliefs problematizing the idea of love and creating more sophisticated theories, traces of Andreas Capellanus’s courtly love code are still present in several sixteenth-century dialogues and treatises. For instance, in his Libro de Natura de Amore (1525) Mario Equicola highlights the power of eloquence and amorous speeches, while Francesco Sansovino proclaims in his Ragionamento (1545) that‘le parole hanno più forza che tutte l’altre operazioni’ (‘words have more power than any other device’) on women (168) . However, this trend does not prevent the development of alternative literary examples representing a failure of amorous words and a contrary success of silence as a device used to induce a woman to surrender to her lover. These predominant theories only allow for silence to signify the lover’s shyness or fear, and his consequent inability to express his feelings (Betussi, 1912: 66-68) . At the same time they consider silence as a clever strategy to avoid annoying the beloved with too much talk (Sansovino, 1912: 176-77) . Thus, these few concessions to silence by contrast emphasise the centrality of words as the main means to win the beloved. Nevertheless, an evident example of the subversion of such ideas can be found in Matteo Bandello’s 1554 collection of novellas, in particular tale III 17, where amorous words are completely ineffectual, even harmful, while dumbness, at first imposed and then deliberately adopted, makes the lover finally succeed. Bandello’s tale is particularly interesting also because it influenced English literature deeply through François de Belleforest’s French version (Histoires Tragiques, 1559, 13), appearing in English prose and verse translations, as well as being adapted for the stage. If William Painter (Palace of Pleasure, 1567, II 27) and Geoffrey Fenton (Certain Tragical Discourses, 1567, 11) translated in prose Bandello’s novella, John God (or Goubourne)1 wrote the narrative poem A Discourse of Great Cruelty of a Widow (1570), and Gervase Markham and Lewis Machin the Jacobean comedy

FAQs

What core conflict does Bandello’s novella III 17 explore?

The tale centers on the impotence of amorous words and the paradoxical power of silence, where speech is ineffective while dumbness enables the lover’s eventual success.

Which English writers are discussed as appropriating Bandello’s story?

The paper considers English and theatrical appropriations by writers including William Painter, Geoffrey Fenton, John God, Gervase Markham, and Lewis Machin, along with adaptations via French versions.

How is the story of Filiberto of Virle and Zilia summarized?

Filiberto falls for the cruel widow Zilia, fails to win her through words, then is bound to keep silence for three years; after a journey connected to military reward and danger, his silence supports revenge and ultimately leads to Zilia’s release.

Sep 4, 2026

Uploaded by Eliana