Giovanni + Lusanna Essay, Research Paper

In the story Giovanni and Lusanna , written and researched by Gene

Brucker, there is a woman who has taken her alleged husband to court,

because he has married another woman. The story is a factual account

of what transpired during this court case and the remainder of

Giovanni?s life. There are several similarities between their world

and ours, but for the most part we live in a totally different

environment. Our standards of living have greatly improved, but more

than that our society has grown more tolerant toward the people who

deviate from everyday standards.

The story starts out with Lusanna as a married woman who caught the

eye of a wealthy young man named Giovanni. As time wore on they

allegedly fell in love and enjoyed all of the pleasures of their love.

It was later claimed by Lusanna that Giovanni had promised to marry

her in the event of her husband?s death. Her husband soon died a

questionable death that left open the possibility of poison. Unlike

today?s world divorce was unheard of, and unacceptable. Giovanni then

refused to marry her in a public wedding because his social status

would be greatly hurt to marry some one in the working class of

Florence. This is another example of why today?s society is so much

different from how it was when they lived.

Another strange thing about their society is the open humiliation

that people were subjected to. It was said that Lusanna first husband

was called a ?cuckold ? to his face. People who were said to earn

money in a dirty fashion often had blood or paint thrown on their

steps. These kinds of things are just not normal or permitted in

today?s world. It is true that they do sometimes occur, but the

responsible party often ends up looking worse that the person they

were trying to hurt.

Lusanna was said to have had several lovers. She was not able to

become pregnant due to medical problems. This pretty much left her

free to have unprotected sex with as many lovers as she wanted. It is

true that there are women today with this same type of free love

attitude, but there are serious consequences in todays world that will

greatly hamper such a life style.

One thing that is very similar about their time and today?s world in

the fact that women will condemn each other for being guilty of

immoral acts. It seemed as though many of the women in this story

were aganist Lusanna because of her actions. There is no question

that women in today?s world act in a very similar manner. A difference

about women in this day in age is that they have ea great deal more

freedom. It was said in the book that a woman was not supposed to look

a man in the eye while in public. They were with out question second

class citizens.

In this story Giovanni ended up having his way probably because of

who he knew and what family he was a member of. In this world, no

matter when or where a person lives, the upper class will always have

the power. The fact is, money is power, and with the greed that is

naturally built into every human, money will consistently come out on

top. It is very true that there are some similarities between this

time and that one, but it should be apparent that people of today?s

world have socially evolved.