Narrative Analysis & Boethian Comology

Please help me edit and revise, also more input if I need more analysis of the story.
A. Pick one novella* from one day of the Decameron and undertake a structural analysis of its narrative while addressing how the tale's structure supports or challenges (or both) a Boethian cosmos and the role chance plays within it.

In day five story three, a story told by Pampinea tells us the story of how a lover's romance is torn apart and brought back together after almost facing death, because of their affair. A theme that runs throughout all of day five where all short stories emphasizes on love and beauty, and either the consequences or the good side of love and beauty. Through Boccaccio's work he focuses on the wheel of fortune and how fortune plays a role throughout the Decameron, explaining how chance inputs into every story. Reality is there is no chance because providence already sets what is already supposed to happen, so throughout all of the days we see providence is being played. As for the Boethian perspective towards chance is that chance only exist to humans, this is because as humans we are ignorant to the significance that the divine keeps all things in order. In the Decameron most people that read would simply say that The Decameron is derived from fortune, although we see that for humans it makes sense because to us when things happen that was different from what was supposed to happen it is considered chance according to philosophy. Boccaccio's stories all seem to lead us to think that it is by chance that things happen the way they do in the stories day after day. For people that have knowledge or a belief of a God they would simply reply that God mad things happen the way they did, that our life is all set up, and that chance is only a human perspective to why things happen the way they did. So that we can in a way change our "Fate" as some would say, for as the Boethian perspective would say "no this is how things are supposed to happen, the divine has already set the order for everyone's life".

Even though we do have choices all throughout our lives, humans' mistake this as chance playing it's game such as if I would have done this then this would have happened. According to the Boethian perspective of this they would say that this is still providence. For humans with a faith on God it would be completely understandable that their lives are already set out regardless of whatever choices they make, their fate is already set up. For humans that are lack knowledge of this would say that chance gives them the ability to change their fate. However this cannot be changed for chance is just a helping hand for Providence that helps to arrange things in their proper place and proper times. Such is true in this short story in the beginning the story we see the example of how a love affair goes through many obstacles before they can be happy at last. Gianni loved Restituta more than his own life and he would risk anything just to go see her. Boccaccio emphasizes on how much their love meant to each other that he inputs a series of events considered as chance to allow humans to understand the reasons why things happen the way they do. Although as I stated above chance does not exist, chance is just for the ignorant human that does not comprehend the set order that Providence has already put throughout one's life. For instance when the young girl Restituta happens to be at the seashore all by herself wondering off doing her own thing just trying to get shellfish with her knife, she happened to walk into a group of Sicilians that thought they could use her beauty to gain something and because she was alone with no one to defend her she gets abducted by Sicilians it is not by chance that she happened to be there, but Boccaccio uses the word happened to make the reader think it is by chance that on that specific day she gets abducted (pg 430). Philosophy would argue that this is chance because something that was supposed to happen occurred with a different outcome than what Restituta had planned before she was just going to get some shellfish but instead she ended up being abducted. This is controversial to Providence that has already arranged what was supposed to happen to Restituta and when it was going to occur. For as ignorance leaves humans blind to the idea that this was already set to happen we must call it chance.

Another example of what may seem like chance that appears in the story is when Gianni begins to wonder around La Cuba where Restituta is being held. He walks all over and catches a glimpse of her through a window, where they catch eye contact. Even though Gianni was just walking around trying to find her, this proves that even with Boccaccio using the words "by chance" it is clearly not by chance because he meant to find her. This helps support the idea that Providence is really what set up this form of chance in this scenario of the story. For as philosophy would say Providence predestines everything in place before it even happens. So as for Gianni Providence already knew he was going to find Restituta but made it seem as if it where chance, whereas this situation contradicts what philosophy defines as chance.

Eventually after he had found her, and had done what she had asked him to do and climb through the window so that they could share their love together for the night. Gianni was pleased to have been able to express his love to her, her desire was to run away with him. As for he began to jump to the conclusion that this plan would not succeed, the next morning the king along with a few servants walked in on them. This is another example of providence even though words where not used here to show that this was a form of chance philosophy explains how Providence already knows what the actions of a mortal man are going to be. As for the human eye we would begin to blame Gianni for not trying to make the plan of taking Restituta with him, or that why did he have to stay there. That it is his fault that he got caught with Restituta by the king and was now going to be punished for it. This is not a mistake by Providence because Providence does not make judgments that are not definite to have indefinite outcomes otherwise Providence would be just like any mortal man. This sort of thinking for events in the story would be what the ignorant man would call chance, for they would see these series of events and wonder if they had changed their choice it would have a better outcome. Which providence proves is impossible to mistake why things happen, because as the old saying is things do happen for a reason among the eye of Providence.

Both Gianni and Restituta's love affair lead them to being separated, then reunited and once again separated. Their "sin" caused them to lead up to almost death, but saved by Ruggierri the admiral who "happened" to know both of the young lovers and after hearing their story since the beginning, he pleaded the king to have sympathy for them. Since they were both offspring of two powerful men. This makes the king feel horrible after all his anger did rush him into the conclusion that killing them would be better off than letting them live. All these events where all lead by Providence with the help of chance in the human eye because at the end they both got what they wanted in the first place and that was marriage. Providence set up the order of events in order to teach the Gianni that what he had done in the first place was wrong but after all the grace of a God (providence) allowed him to make his "sin" forgiven. For he was pleasing what his flesh wanted not what was considered right in the divine.

As chance was a helping hand in this story it is true to say that Chance doesn't exist but is only a way of humans to justify why things happen. In reality there is no freedom to choose what will happen because Providence has already set a pathway for us. Where it might lead that is the question for humans that is why Chance exist so that we can have a way of "changing" our fate, because we cannot really change anything, it is already set before we even know what will happen.

Write 'belief in God'. You put an article before God, meaning someone/something you admired/respect to, not God as the spirit.


I know this. Some people use this pattern. However, you'd better write in Standard English sentence structure, which is acceptable as standard forms. So, you can't split into two different areas: Can and Change. Write' In a way, we can change our...'