The Heptameron contains a collection of stories. These stories are about human relationships. Some of the stories that are contained in the novel include The Story of Saint Aignan and his wife, The Mule driver’s story, The story of the king of Naples and Florida and Amador’s story. These stories are about love, the pursuit of love and betrayal.
In the stories, various narrators tell a story to reinforce their ideas about love. Some of the ideas that were brought about by the stories are that chastity is paramount in marriage. The story of Saint Aignan and his wife clearly shows this. Saint Aignan’s wife was promiscuous and had various affairs with men including the bishop of their church. These affairs made her husband mad with rage and he killed one of his wife’s lovers who was a young man. The moral of this story is that adultery not only destroys a marriage but also causes more disastrous actions like murder.
Another issue that was brought up by the stories is that men should not coerce or force women into relationships with them. Various stories including that of the mule driver consist of a man in love with a married woman and intends to rape the woman in order to fulfill his desires. The mule driver raped and killed his master’s wife because she had refused his advances. In the story of Florida and Amador, Amador got weary of keeping his love for Florida hidden and attempted to rape her.
The stories in the novel therefore advice individuals on the proper ways to woo a partner, how to keep a relationship stable and fulfilling and above all the effects of negative actions such as adultery on a marriage.
