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Holy Friar
Abraham appears in Neifile’s first tale (I, 2). He is friends with Jehannot de Chevigny As an extremely rich moneylender and a Jew, he represents commonly reviled categories in medieval Europe. But his wisdom and virtue earn him Christian friends and eventually lead him to convert despite the evident sinfulness of church leaders. In this way, he represents the medieval idea of the “virtuous pagan,” and his conversion is a means to prove the superiority of Christian theology to other religions.
Abraham Quotes in The Decameron
The The Decameron quotes below are all either spoken by Abraham or refer to Abraham. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Day 1: Second Tale
Quotes
“[Nobody in Rome] who was connected with the Church seemed to me to display the slightest sign of holiness, piety, charity, moral rectitude, or any other virtue. On the contrary, it seemed to me that they were all so steeped in lust, greed, avarice, fraud, envy, pride, and other like sins and worse (if indeed that is possible), that I regard the place as a hotbed for diabolical rather than devotional activities. As far as I can judge, it seems to me that your pontiff, and all of the others too, are doing their level best to reduce the Christian religion to nought [sic] and drive it from the face of the earth, whereas they are the very people who should be its foundation and support.”
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Decameron LitChart as a printable PDF.
Abraham Quotes in The Decameron
The The Decameron quotes below are all either spoken by Abraham or refer to Abraham. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Day 1: Second Tale
Quotes
“[Nobody in Rome] who was connected with the Church seemed to me to display the slightest sign of holiness, piety, charity, moral rectitude, or any other virtue. On the contrary, it seemed to me that they were all so steeped in lust, greed, avarice, fraud, envy, pride, and other like sins and worse (if indeed that is possible), that I regard the place as a hotbed for diabolical rather than devotional activities. As far as I can judge, it seems to me that your pontiff, and all of the others too, are doing their level best to reduce the Christian religion to nought [sic] and drive it from the face of the earth, whereas they are the very people who should be its foundation and support.”
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
