This novel is not just a portrait of an evil man becoming good, although perhaps it is that on some level. Rather, it depicts the birth of self-control. The aspect of Godric that is missing in the beginning of the novel is developed through his passage through time. He goes from killing cats and selling cat blood, all the way to a life of quiet repose and religious meditation on the Bible. This transfer from the devilish self to the sublime self is one of gradual enlightenment.
His conversion is not one of guilt, but of awakening. He sees that although in life, he is a trickster, that doesn't necessarily mean he isn't also being tricked. He behaves however he wants, making money by fooling the stupid people in his village who are so religious, they buy anything. He isn't religious like them, nor is he one who blindly trusts others. The saints in town work to convert him, but he isn't persuaded. Eventually, he reaches an epiphany; perhaps he is smart enough to see through the religious suspicions of his peers, but what does he truly believe about reality?
After all, it might be intimidating to have such a long history of lying, cheating, and stealing, just to get a little bit of extra money. If the Bible's teachings about sin are in the least bit correct, than Godric must begin to wonder what his life is really heading towards. Perhaps God is a trickster like himself, and perhaps his feelings of supremacy and his tendency to "get away with" all his sinful ways—perhaps those are the set up to a punchline where he realizes that he took life for granted.
After all, why be born at all? He begins to suspect that there might something horrifying awaiting him. Why? Because his life becomes oddly synchronous after he meets Gilian, the mystic. By becoming suspicious about the narrative arc of his life, he begins to suspect that there is a God who is architecting his fate, and he gives the latter half of his life over to making peace with God and deepening his experience of reality. By becoming a transcendental mystic, he goes from ignoring the pedantic religion of the masses to a true religion of mystery, curiosity, and wonder.
