Wilder's nontraditional staging methods are continued in act ii when the stage manager

d. murder of a son and cooking the son for a feast

procne murdered her son and served him to tereus, her husband and her son's father. she did this out of revenge. tereus raped her sister, philomela, and cut her tongue out to keep her from talking. philomela managed to communicate it to procne and procne sought revenge.

tantalus murdered his son and fed him to the gods because he was angry with the gods. the gods punished him by putting him in a pool of water that evaporates when he tries to drink and having fruit hang just out of his reach.

boccaccio employs the voice of his narrator dioneo to represent his ideas on the tension between masculinity and femininity.  while dioneo excites the members of the brigata and recognizes women for their unique skills and independent ideas, he concludes the decameron with a story reminiscent of the society from which these young aristocrats escaped, revealing misogynistic overtones.  dioneo boccaccio is able to explore the gender disparity which is inherent in 14th century florentine society.