Throughout the stories of the Decameron we see reoccurring themes such as religion, love, and fortune and how they affect positively or negatively the characters described in these stories. In particular there are two stories told that show a theme within another theme. Day one first story and day four second story both involve two wicked characters who, for their own desires, trick and deceive those around them using religion and their own particular intelligence or lack thereof. Faith and religion is a major theme of some of the stories in the Decameron, but these two stories show in particular how deception in the name of religion is used by both characters in attempt to get what they want.
Day one first story involves a wicked and sinful man by the name of Sir Ciappelletto who in right from the beginning of the story is referred to as a wicked man who “took great delight in giving false testimony (Decameron page 25). He was described as a notary by profession and was a wise man but without question a man undeserving of God’s mercy as he was a glutton, a gambler, a sinner of all sorts. “He was a mighty blasphemer of God and his Saints”, (Decameron page 26) and no other line in the story better describes Sir Ciappelletto and his attempt later to deceive those around him for his own benefit. While on his death bed Sir Ciappelletto has a friar summoned to him so that he can confess his sins and be either be cured or accepted into the Kingdom of God. He was “given an ancient friar of good and holy ways who was an expert in the Scriptures and a most venerable man.’(Decameron page 28) This is important because Sir Ciappelletto, even though he is confessing to a prominent and respectable friar of the community, still finds a way to deceive him. Upon every question the friar asked him about his sins and transgressions Sir Ciapelletto retorted with clever lies that led the friar to believe him a saintly man with a “good and pure conscience.”(Decameron page 30). The...