Marguerite de Navarre was a very impressive lady -- sister and aunt of two Kings of France (and later, grandmother of another).  She was a well-educated lady at the court of her brother, and she played an important role in the politics and cultural life of her age.

As you read her Heptameron, you should think about several issues:

1. Marguerite clearly positions her stories in the context of Boccaccio's Decameron.  She mentions Boccaccio's work in the prologue to her own.  The title of her work and its basic premise (people playing a storytelling game while they're stranded and bored) are clearly derived from Boccaccio.  But there are also clear differences.  Compare Marguerite's stories to Boccaccio's.  What is different about the stories?  Do they serve different purposes?  Do they create different kinds of worlds?  Do they assume different values?
2. How do Marguerite's stories relate to the fabliaux and Breton lais of the Middle Ages?  How has storytelling changed since the Middle Ages?  Has it?  Are Marguerite's stories more like the medieval tales than Boccaccio's or less like them?