The portrait of the beloved displays various levels of…

Ma come la Natura tutte quante di pura terra fe,’ cosi sen’ vanno di quella ornate dal capo alle piante; (904) (As Nature made all of them of pure dirt, so they go around decorated with it from head to toe;)

Since they are always tending animals, they are said to assume subhuman aspect. Ornamentation and make-up, which in medieval texts were considered a source of suspicion and evidence of the woman’s evil nature, have become symbols of civilization and refinement in opposition to the roughness and filth of mountain women. The element of dirt, stressed in the bodily representation of the marginal female Other, reinforces the poet’s agenda to impose the hegemonic position of the elite, and to revile the vulgar for their lack of cleanliness, civility, and decorum. Here the female Other is depicted through revolting physical details (‘e i capei folti, bosco da pidocchi, / e gli denti smaltati di ricotta,/e le poppe, che van fin a’ginocchi’; thick hair is a forest of lice, the teeth are covered with cheese, and their breasts fall down to their knees), which confirm the condition of filth in which these women live. Perhaps because of their work herding, mountain women have developed the sturdiness of horses and donkeys, and indeed they have horseshoe feet, says Mauro; in short, they have acquired animal-like features: ‘Pie’ da cavalli che non posan mai./E par ch’abbian ferrati gli talloni / a guisa di somari e di cavalli’ (906) (Horse feet that never rest. They look like they have horse-shoed heels like donkeys or horses). Otherness in the denizens of the peripheral mountain areas is completely devoid of that subtext of erotic attraction that can be found in the rustic capitoli of Strascino, Berni, and Firenzuola. (904–5) (They have such strange beauty in their faces that they make Love sigh in sadness and lower the head of lust). Read more “The portrait of the beloved displays various levels of transgressions of the canon and produces some grotesque images” →