Decameron 2

Story 2.5:

This story tells of a man who goes from being gullible and easily-manipulated to being more skeptical over what people tell him so as to better prepare himself for trickery. The (less than optimistic) message here seems to be that most people’s words cannot be taken at face value, so you should learn not to be so gullible. This theme hearkens back somewhat to the vey first story of the Decameron, which warned the reader not to take what they hear at face-value. Every time that Andreuccio innocently put his faith in another person, he ended up losing out; however, when he finally started to use trickery to his own advantage, he ended up with more than he bargained for.

This story puts little faith in the concept of humanity or acting nobly/unselfishly. In the beginning of the story, we see that Andreuccio is unsuccessful in making a profit by trying to bargain for horses fairly. However, when his situation is completely reversed (he becomes a thief and a trickster) he ends up with more than he bargained for.

The story stresses the need to be les gullible and more conniving by putting Andreuccio in a series of unfortunate predicaments in rapid successive order. The reader can’t help but sympathize deeply with this man, yet as these unfortunate situations accumulate, it becomes clearer and clearer that they are arising out of Andreuccio’s gullibility. Therefore , the pessimistic, albeit amusing, message of the story is clear to the reader.