In attempting to compose a poetic of the novella, Bonciani and Lugo y Dávila labor to enhance the moral image of the genre, while also elevating its artistic value. They achieve their goals by incorporating the novella into the Aristotelian poetic tradition. Although the novella was never mentioned by the Greek philosopher, Lugo y Dávila and Bonciani argue that this newer genre is like tragedy, epic, and comedy, in that they are all representations of human action. Both critics thus establish a connection between the novella and the fable, which Aristotle identifies as the very soul of tragedy.

While transferring Aristotelian categories to the novella, both Bonciani and Lugo y Dávila recognize that although the novella and the epic are similar in their means and mode of representation (narration, language), the novella can narrate either comic or tragic plots. Although the novella differs from tragedy and comedy in its narrative mode of imitation, it can imitate the kinds of people and actions represented by these Aristotelian genres. These critics thus embrace the Aristotelian definition of a tragedy, identifying the grave novella as an imitation of a human action that involves a change of fortune, instilling in the audience the emotions of fear and pity. Since Aristotle does not provide a detailed definition of comedy, Bonciani goes on to establish a connection between the tragic end of purgation and comedy. He thus implies that like tragedy, the grave novella succeeds in instilling fear and pity in the audience by representing the change of fortune caused by an error of judgment committed by a superior agent. Furthermore, the Italian critic transfers the concept of purgation to the comic novella, defining it as the representation of a trifling action of an extremely clever agent who commits a ridiculous error, thus producing an unexpected result that moves the audience to laughter. By establishing this connection between tragic and comic plots, Bonciani assigns a didactic end to the comic novella, defining it as a representation of a foolish, though unintended act that the audience should avoid in order to escape ridicule.

Indeed, both Lugo y Dávila and Bonciani assign a didactic end to the novella, whereby the public learns to follow or avoid a course of action.