# Guiscardo — The Decameron character guide

> Guiscardo in The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio.

**Role:** major

**First appearance:** 0040-the-first-story

## Snapshot

A servant of low birth whose quiet dignity wins a king's daughter, proving that nobility of heart outranks the accident of blood.

## Who they are

Guiscardo is a household servant in the court of the Prince of Salerno, invisible to the great until Ghismonda, the prince's widowed daughter, chooses him above every noble suitor. Their love is conducted in secret and in defiance of rank, and its danger lies precisely in that defiance — a prince's pride is not easily reconciled to a servant's embrace. He matters because his story forces the Decameron's listeners to weigh virtue against birth, and to feel how brutally a father's honor can answer a daughter's desire.

## In the story

### [Day the Fourth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_decameron_se/chapters/day-the-fourth)

Ghismonda's lover, executed by Tancred.

### [The First Story](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_decameron_se/chapters/the-first-story)

A young serving-man of humble birth, Ghismonda's lover, strangled by Tancred's order.

### [The Ninth Story](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_decameron_se/chapters/the-ninth-story)

The jealous husband who murders his friend and serves his heart to his wife.

### [The Ninth Story](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_decameron_se/chapters/the-ninth-story)

The lover who is killed by Roussillon and whose heart is fed to his beloved.

### [The Eighth Story](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_decameron_se/chapters/the-eighth-story)

The knight in the vision who explains his eternal punishment for suicide and his pursuit of the damsel.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_decameron_se/characters/guiscardo
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_decameron_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_decameron_se/characters