Page 202 - SUMMARIES OF GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO’S DECAMEON : A Visionary Journey In 100 Stories And 100 Etchings By Petru Russu

The Master and the Thief : A Farce of Folly and Fraud

In the Decameron’s Ninth Day, Fourth Novell, Giovanni Boccaccio spins a
tale that dances between comedy and cruelty, exposing how appearances
can outwit truth and how folly often masquerades as cleverness.

Francesco Fortarrigo, a man of noble birth but ignoble habits, is a
compulsive gambler with a knack for losing everything, including his
dignity. Traveling with his master and friend, Francesco Angiulieri,
Fortarrigo squanders not only his own funds but also Angiulieri’s money

at Buonconvento, a town known for its inns and dice tables. Faced with
ruin and shame, Fortarrigo concocts a scheme as brazen as it is absurd:
he strips Angiulieri of his horse and fine clothes, dons them himself, and

rides off toward Siena, leaving his master barefoot, penniless, and clad
only in a shirt.

Angiulieri, stunned and humiliated, chases after Fortarrigo, shouting
that he’s been robbed. But his disheveled appearance and frantic cries

make him seem more madman than victim. When a group of peasants
intercepts the scene, Fortarrigo, now dressed like a gentleman and
mounted on a palfrey, spins a convincing tale that Angiulieri is a lunatic

who escaped from his care. The peasants, swayed by the contrast in
appearances, seize Angiulieri and allow Fortarrigo to continue on his way
unchallenged.

The story ends not with justice, but with irony. Fortarrigo’s deception goes

DYNAMIC MOTION AND unpunished, and Angiulieri is left to stew in his humiliation. Boccaccio
LAYERED CONTRASTS REFLECT offers no moral resolution, only a smirk at the absurdity of a world where
FORTARRIGO’S CUNNING ESCAPE,
clothes and confidence can outweigh truth and virtue. This novella is a
USING DISORIENTED FORMS TO
masterclass in comic inversion, where the fool triumphs and the honest
CAPTURE MANIPULATION AND
MORALITY. man is undone by circumstance.
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