Belfagor Fable

Three Context Elements:

People in Hell complain that their wives corrupted them.

Pluto sends Belfagor, a devil, to take a wife.

Belfagor marries a wife and is very prominent.

Turning Point:

“But the opposite occurred, for in addition to these crushing expenses, Onesta’s arrogant nature brought him countless problems.

Actions:

Belfagor flees his creditors and hides at with Gianmatteo. Belfagor promises him riches in return for saving his life. When a women would become possessed (by Belfagor) Gianmatteo would call out his name, and the women would be free. Gianmatteo frees one woman, and then frees another, the daughter of a king. Belfagor says Gianmatteo can never bother him again. Belfagor possesses another king’s daughter. Gianmatteo is forced into freeing her. Belfagor says Gianmatteo will be hanged. Gianmatteo tricks Belfagor by saying his wife had returned, and frees the woman.

The explicit moral is that wives are the cause of man’s downfall which is pretty explicit, but there is an underlying moral of money management or money is the root of all evil.

One reversal is that Belfagor gets angry at Gianmatteo.

The resolution is that Gianmatteo tricks Belfagor into thinking that his wife is returning home so that he runs back to Hell while Gianmatteo understood women and was happy.