Structurally, the Decameron has some obvious similarities to The Canterbury Tales, yet is has some differences in terms of the people who gather together and the reasons why they gather together to begin with.
The structural similarities shouldn't be understated. Both works revolve around individuals attempting to pass the time and in the process revealing deep insight both into their own individual selves and their society. Both are concerned with what different people in a highly-stratified society value, and what the limits of those values are. Both get their best mileage from the depiction of hypocrisy. Both approach all the biting satire with great humor. Both seem to bypass a suggestion of how humans 'ought' to act, instead focusing on the amusing contradictions implicit in human behavior. All of these, and more, similarities, are communicated as much through the structural connections as anything.
