P.A.P.E.R. Giovanni Boccaccio

Purpose of the author in preparing the document:

The author wrote this document to share his reasons for why the spread of the Black Plague occurred.   Throughout his account of the event, there were several references to how people tried to heal victims of the Black Plague through attempts at religious cures. The author also states the religious connection between the spread of the Black Plague and god’s view on humans.  He says that the plague came “either because of the influence of heavenly bodies or because of god’s just wrath” as a punishment for humans being wicked.  This shows that the author believed that the plague came because of religious reasons.  He believes people died because they didn’t live by religious standards.  This shows that the point of this piece is to show that the Black Plague occurred because of a deity or other religious figures wanted to punish humans

Argument and strategy used to achieve goals:

The author used great detail when exclaiming how gruesome the symptoms of the Black Plague were.  He talks about the size and gruesomeness of the swelling on victims. By doing this, he makes the reader feels sympathy and sadness for the victims. Then, as the reader asks himself, why such a thing could happen to so many people, the author provides an explanation: that people were not acting righteously. The author put his audience in a position where they wanted an explanation for why the Plague struck, and then he gave them his reasoning.

Presuppositions and values:

Based on the time period that the author was writing in, there weren’t many rational scientific reasons for why a plague like this could start.  Religious punishment was the only reason that many people could agree with.  Today, we can scientifically find why plagues like this have occurred.  Therefore, I disagree with the author’s reasons for why the plague hit. If I were to use facts for this text in a paper, I would not use the information about religious reasons to share my reasoning for why the plague occurred.  I would only use facts that the author could back up with evidence

Epistemology

The truth content in the text seems very credible.  Seeing as this author was in Florence while the plague hit, he had very solid information about what the infected people and city looked like. Accounts of what happened and what things looked like are most likely true. However, his reasons for why the plague hit cannot be evaluated as true, because that is his opinion.

Relate to other texts:

This text is similar to another text about the Black Plague in Florence by Marchione di Coppo Stefani, called The Florentine Chronicle.  This second text also explains the mass chaos and death in Florence very similarly to how Boccaccio did.  Because of this, I feel comfortable trusting Boccaccio’s account of what Florence looked like during the spread of the Black Plague.