Ottoman Empire

One topic in which greatly interested me about the reading is how overall the Ottoman Empire was run.  To me, it sounds as if this empire was more of like a giant family and everyone cared for one another and looked out for eachother.  Everything was set up and organized prior to there ever being any issues or dilemmas towards the empire.  There was a great system for economy, government, politics, education, families, military, religion and life overall.  I would feel very confident in living if I was apart of the Ottoman Empire.  The Sultan shows a great ideal of leadership towards his people.  Because of this people respected him and looked up to him.  Another topic which interested me from this reading is that Christians, Jews, and Muslims all came together.  Although they all had different beliefs, they respected that and it allowed them to learn more about eachothers different cultures.  This to me shows a great deal of trust and togetherness for this empire.  It takes a lot for a group of such diverse people to come together as one and work as a unified system.  The Ottoman Empire showed through this reading how intelligent they were and how this allowed them to be such a strong dynasty.  I didn't know anything about the Ottoman Empire prior to this reading and I think thats a shame because I think everyone should know about how great this dynasty really was.

book of good love day 2

2. How I interpret the battle between carnal and lent is the battle between the religious want and need and the sexual want and needs.  This is just typical human nature, that is what I think its getting at in the reading.  Overall lent wins of course, but there will still always be lust and need for sexual desire.  

Book of good love

3. What is the portrayal of Love (Don Amor) in this text (as opposed to or in conjunction with what we saw in the poetry we have studied)? Why do you think this is the case? (If you want, do a "close reading" of one of the fables presented in the "tirade against love" to help in your answer.)

4. Focus on the "code of love" presented by Love to the Archpriest - specifically upon the woman he verbally paints here. What do you make of the fact that the Archpriest states that such a woman does not exist and yet he will continue to compose poetry? (Or, how might desire, the image, and poetic language / expression be connected?)

5. Why do you think there is such an emphasis upon fables in the text? What does a fable do? How does one have to read a fable? How might the use of fables comment upon the text as a whole (how much they get right to what the author is trying to do here)? Choose one or more fables to illustrate your point.

Dante

A topic in which interested me in the reading of the inferno is the topic or death and harming people and who deserves to die and the kinds of people who should be harmed and for what reasonings.

The Decameron 2

There have been many overlapping themes throughout all of the read so far this semester.  The ones I find in most readings are religion, love, power, and the role of the male and female and how they are portrayed.  Overall, I feel as though love and the role of the different sexes are the two most common.  Though the themes of love and different roles change with each reading, both of these themes can be found within the Decameron.  In one of the stories, both the roles of the usual male and female are reversed.  The male in love gets all the blame and in reality he is the one who's innocent.  He is also the one who wants to love and be loved by the woman, and the woman for once isn't playing this role.  Also in another story, a strange type of love is shown.  In this story the woman loves her husband so much that she allows him to torture her, murder their children, and he then pretends to abandon her.  Even after all this has happened, she still is truthful to him and loves him just the same.  I believe that this is a backwards sort of "love" and that none of those actions show or prove that either one loves the other.  I guess its true when people say love works in strange ways.


 

Decameron

I felt as though religion was a big theme found throughout the stories read in the decameron.  Christianity and Judaism are the two main religions.  In the first story, Ser Cepparello lies to a friar the day he dies and tricks him and many others into thinking about believing he was a good and holy man that had almost no confessions before his death.  When in reality he had plenty of sins and had never confessed in his whole life when he also lied and told him that he confesses once a week.  Because of this, he ends up becoming a Saint soon after his death.  This shows how gullible and welcoming the Christianity religion is.  In the second story, the Jew, Abraham is converted to Christianity religion after his friend Giannotto convinces him that it is a waste to follow judaism religion because he is such a well-mannered man.  Once Abraham sees how the clergy live in Rome, he decides that this is the religion he'd like to be apart of even though he doesn't like them and thinks god should condemn them all.  Yet he still gets baptized and changes over his religion to Christianity. 

Travel Literature

Overall, I think Margery Kempe is a strong and powerful women.  Not only did she embark on an adventure of movement from England to Jerusalem, but she did this alone.  She also learns a lot and gets a great experience from this journey in which she embarks on.  Being all alone on the journey and traveling for such a long period of time is an experience in itself.  The fact that she had a religious visions made her experience even more stronger.  This journey being such a long one shows a lot about how dedicated and determined she was to making it there.

Songs of Holy Mary

Overall, Mary is known and seen to be pure and rightous to all people.   Even if certain people don't follow Christianity, she still treats everyone equally.  In one song a son of a Jewish father is placed into an oven because he has received communion during a church ceremony.  When the father find out of this he is furious and attempts to kill his own son.  Mary saves this boys life and his mother then converts to Christianity.  I like this story within this song because it shows that although others aren't christian, Mary still acts and treats everyone the same no matter what their religion is.  I believe this is how everyone should treat others, the same no matter what they believe in. 

Troubadour and Trobairitz Poetry

I found it very interesting how both authors of these poems are about the same topic of love, but yet the poetry is completely different.  This shows that both men and women have different feelings and beliefs toward love and have had different experiences with love as well.  In Troubadour's poems, the male has a needy, greedy, obsessive kind of love.  This is the reasoning which eventually allows him to be alone forever because he is so obsessed with the certain idea of love that he has.  In Trobairitz's poem, she is truly in love with her mate and she would do anything for him.  It is such a strong feeling that it takes over all of her and all that she would do for him.  She knows that she would never betray her man, yet and then she finds out that she has been betrayed by her man.  This shows that you can have all the love in the world for one person and still that doesn't mean they will equally feel the same or treat you the same way back.  

1) In the Dove's Necklace, a lot of interesting things are said about love.  Not only does the poetry not really define love but instead "signs of love" are forms of explaining what love is.  This really interested me because with each kind of love, people look at it differently and feel different things.  This really allowed the reader to get their own understanding of what love means rather than a set answer.  Another theme found in this reading is how others change for love.  Sometimes people change without even knowing that they've changed and this is found a lot throughout the poetry.  People get so caught up in "love" that they don't even see or realize themselves that they have changed.  But in other circumstances, people can change who they are on purpose so that their lover is more accepting of them and they turn into someone whom their lover wants or looks for in a partner.  I think this reading was very interesting and I really enjoyed reading the different ways in which love affects people.

Ovid metamorphoses books 4 & 6

There is a commons theme between most of the five main myths in the readings.  One of the themes in which is found in two of the readings is lovers coming together as one.  Pyramus and Thisbe both kill each other which then allows them to be together in death.  This is also ironic because her father didn't like the idea of her with him so as it was they were already planning on running away together.  When in reality they could've actually joined one another and lived happily together, instead they both die and are together in the afterlife.  Another example of when two people are joined together literally are Hermaphroditus and Salmacis.  Salmacis asks to be one with their lover and yet they literally become one being.  This reading is a little bit more strange and unrealistic than Pyramus and Thisbe's story. They both have no other option but to actually be with one another because of what their actions were to be together as lovers.  Love can be a very strong and powerful feeling that can change a lot and make people do things they normally wouldn't.  We see this throughout the readings of Ovid in book 4. 

metamorphoses books 1&3

Tireseas story, to me, seemed to be the weirdest of them all.  During the readings in both books, a lot of the readings had some stories that were a little far fetched from anything that could ever happen in real life.  It was Juno that brought forth Tireseas within the story to ask for his opinions.  I believed it to be very strange that he became a women for seven years, not only that but then on the eighth year, he is transformed back into a man.  I also think that its strange that instead of him being able to see as a punishment, he gains knowledge of the future and is proud of it.  So what sex is Tireseas really? I mean I understand he is born a male, but then changes to a women, but how will he live his life?  Does he have any wives or husbands throughout his life?  This is something that I don't understand.  Not only are there physical differences between both sexes, but also psychological differences as well, does this also change as he changes gender?

The conversation between Echo and Narcissus is also strange.  I couldn't tell if Narcissus was making up Echo as an excuse to say what he really thinks or wants to hear?  It seemed as though Echo is a fake character made up by Narcissus.  Echo only repeats the last word or phrase that is said.  Echos should only do one of the two.  It seemed as though the Echo only chose specific words or phrases to repeat, but I don't know for what reason.  This is why I think Narcissus made Echo up for his own self.

Odyssey books 11-15

Odysseus learns a lot when he descends in hades.  He finds out his future and his fate from talking to Tiresias.  He then speaks with his late mother Anticeila.  She explains to him how she died waiting for his return and the state Ithaca is in now that he is no longer there.  He meets famous heroes and gets to hear their stories of heroism and how they died and what they're known for.  This is a great learning experience for Odysseus and I believe its a very important part of the book.  Without his descending into hades, he would never have seen his mother again, nor would he know what his future truly holds.

odyssey 6-10

I feel as if Calypso 's island is a main topic in the overall story of the odyssey.  It is where Odysseus is stuck during his journey.  He is placed on Calypso's island by the goddess herself and thats where she keeps him held captive.  While everyone back at home is waiting for his return and thinking that Odysseus is either dead, never returning, or trapped somewhere, he is really resting on a beach.  Not only is Calypso a goddess, but she is keeping him held captive for herself because she wants to keep Odysseus there.  This is where Penelope comes into play because Odysseus loves and misses his wife back at home.  This really bothers Calypso because she wants to keep him there and doesn't want him returning home back to Penelope.  Odysseus's temptation skills are tested while he is on the island with Calypso.  She is a threat to Penelope and Odysseus and having her around causes a problem.

odyssey 1-5

I think that in book one, the story of the odyssey really gets a great introduction.  It explains where the story is at now and it also explains a background in what has happened in the past.  It also does a great job of introducing some of the characters from the book.  I like the fact that in the story there is both gods and human.  They have their differences but yet still work together.  At first you can't tell where the story is going to be headed but know about the people introduced.  Once the story starts picking up you realize that the story is started with Telemachus's journey.

genesis 25-28 32-33

Before Jacob and Esau were even born, it was known that one brother would serve the other.  Not only does Jacob have Esau's birthright, but also he stole his blessing from his father Issac.  Throughout the readings you can see that both twins differ in many ways.  Overall they are two completely different people.  The way they are treated and the way that they treat others show this.  The parents also differ in the way they see both of their sons.  Rebekah favors Jacob and goes behind Issac's back and deceives Issac into thinking that Jacob is Esau.  Issac gives Jacob his blessing before he dies instead of Esau.  This makes me believe that Rebekah cannot be trusted by anyone, not even her own husband.  Her husband is who she deceives.  Overall I feel that the two acts that Jacob has done that were wrong is the reasoning for what will happen to him in the future of his life.  He took his brother's birthright and his blessing, both are wrong and don't belong to him.

Genesis ch 12, 16-18, & 21-23

1. Abram reacts the way he does before going to Egypt because he is trying to be prepared for anything before entering.  He assumes and expects the worst which is that the Egyptians will kill him and take his wife for themselves.  He thinks that because they will want Sarai no matter what, that telling them she is his sister will save the Egyptians from killing Abram. When Pharaoh finds out its his wife he doesn't kill him and make her his wife, he is confused as to why Abram lied to him about the fact that she is already his wife. Pharaoh doesn't want to keep her as his wife once he finds out that she is already Abrams.  This shows you that Abram was kind of nervous and scared about entering Egypt because he does not know the Egyptians and don't know what they're capable of doing.  He figures the fact that he and his wife are entering their land, that now they can do whatever they please with them because they are now in their territory. 

3. I wouldn't consider Abram, Sarai, and Hagar a love triangle at all.  There is no love found between Hagar and Abram.  Sarai is Abram's wife and they love one another and no one else.  The first human problem that arises is the fact that Sarai cannot bare a child and cannot birth any of Abram's children.  Because Sarai understands this and cares so greatly for Abram and wants him to have a child still even thought she cannot be pregnant, she offers Hagar to carry his child for him because she is her servant and does anything that Sarai asks. Once Hagar becomes pregnant, Sarai has second thoughts on what she thought was a good idea at the time and sort if regrets ever going through with it.  This shows that the egyptian servant has to do all that her master tells her to do even going as far as getting pregnant with her masters own husband for her.  Once Sarai is harsh to Hagar, the servant leaves. The Lord feels for Hagar and explains to her that he will work something out in her favor with the son.

Genesis, ch 4, 6-9

 In the conversation between God and Cain, God asks Cain where his brother is.  God already knows that Cain has murdered his brother Abel, but wants Cain to admit it to him.  In the phrase "Am I my brother's keeper" Cain is trying to explain to God that his job is a keeper of the grounds not a keeper of his brother.  Although God already knows what has been done, he responds saying that his brother's blood is crying from the ground.  He references the ground because Abel is clearly dead and on the ground his blood is spilled, but he also references it because Cain is the keeper of the grounds, therefore he is the keeper of his brother now that he has murdered him.

Although Cain is a murderer he still is protected.  Some would say this is wrong but the way that I look at it is that Cain is now a wanderer and does as he pleases.  He is now no longer apart of Adam and Eve's family and started out his own family.  Because he murdered his brother, he gets punished for it and gets the mark. 

Genesis ch. 1-3 questions

2. The way God is perceived in the first chapter of Genesis is the creator of everything.  He creates day and night, dry land, vegetation, living creatures.  Most importantly he creates man.  He seems to have thought out everything well beforehand.  All that he creates is very orderly.  I think the text presents God this way because of the fact that he is the one who created the world and everything that there is to start out with the heavens and the earth.  If he wasn't organized and created certain things for a reason, then the world might not be organized and have no reason.  The way God's creation comes into being is in a specific order.  First he creates the heaven, earth, and, day and night.  Then each day he creates something new and it has relation to what was created the day before.  In example, living creatures couldn't survive without vegetation or water.  That's why the last thing he creates is man.  This shows us that human beings need the most to survive because it was the last of all to be created.  Also, I think day and night is an example of organizing the world on when to be awake and when to be sleeping.  This is the reason why it's dark at night and light during the day.

Before Eve and Adam ate from the tree of knowledge, they didn't know they were naked.  Both Adam and Eve were just like any other living creature created on earth.  Although they disobeyed God, the fact that they ate from the tree of knowledge makes them differ from any other living thing.  The serpent deceived Eve and convinced her that if she ate from the tree surely she would not die and he was correct.  After they both ate neither of them died, if anything it made them more alive and able to see things around them differently and more clearly.  The tree of knowledge is clearly very powerful and I feel that if God didn't want them eating from it or anyone going near it, then he shouldn't have created it.  I also feel that God created it and told Adam specifically that he was forbidden of the tree of knowledge just to see how it would be that he would eat from it.  God based the rest of the world off of how they all disobeyed him.  In example, he multiplies the pain that women have in childbearing and now the man rules over the women.  I also believe Adam and Eve benefit from disobeying god, although he punished them. I feel as if they never ate from the tree that they would have stayed in the garden of Eden forever.