Point of View

The book is narrated in the first person-perspective. The narrator is meant to be Boethius himself and the book is largely autobiographical. Like the character in the story, the real Boethius was waiting in jail for his execution at the hands of King Theodoric. However, the nature of his crime, historically, was not as it is described in the book. In reality, Boethius was sentenced to death for treason; he was alleged to have conspired with the Byzantine Empire, one of Rome's enemies. In the book, however, he claims to have been sentenced to death for standing up for the Roman senate, which Theodoric had also sentenced to death on trumped up charges of treason. Why Boethius would change this detail should be fairly obvious. While it is possible that he was falsely accused by Theodoric, the real facts make him out to be a victim...