AGAINST THE IDEOLOGY: DEBATES WITH IN DECAMERON

This paper studies Decameron written by Italian writer Giovanni Boccaccio under Althusserian Theory. Louis Althusser’s neo-Marxist theory makes the notion that Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs) exist in societies and unknowing rule the members of that society. For this study three stories of Decameron, which are told by the character Dioneno, are scrutinized and the ISAs present in the stories are recognized. These ISAs are then analyzed in relation to the historical, cultural and social setting of Boccaccio’s 14th century Italy. The study reaches the results that Boccaccio has employed Dioneo has a speaker for himself in the tales and uses the stories to shed light on the norms of his society and often, in disguise, stand up against them.