Travel Literature

For a woman like Kempe to be in Jerusalem and Rome, is very spiritual and surreal. Since she was in these places of high significance that held the last hours of jesus christ, she was ovewhelmlingly suppressed and saddened. She cries so loud as if she had seen the torture the Lord was put through. She cried in sympathy for Holy Mary as well, and cried as if she was Mary herself looking at her son being nailed to the cross and battered with all sorts of horrible treaters weapons. This travel gave Kempe a chance to rejuvenate her soul and for her to be forgiven of her sins. She gets that and more by the Lord and Mary. The travel was not just to reach destinations but to obtain the fulfillment of being in the presence of what she felt were spiritual beings such as the Lord. Her tears were rewarded by the an assurance of the Lord that she would make it through the trip despite her abandonment of her crew. There are many valuable spiritual and cultural experiences that she wouldn't have gotten without these travels. She came to Jerusalem and Rome to show her devotion and love for the Lord, and to be forgiven. She got much more than that, and the Lord protected her through the trip to Rome. Mandeville's travels were spoke about through myths and stories commonly heard of. The appeal of the world is to see if his stories of the disturbing things he had seen were real or not. The spiritural connections one gets from visiting holy lands are the main of point of interest for traveling to them. When he speaks aboout non christian cultures he speaks more about the materials and spices that are there. However he relates the Koran to christianity and says that the Koran is God's messenger. 

Book Of Good Love (Day Two)

The mountain girls are perceived and described by the archpriest as an ugly, vile, deformed creature.The girls represent a sense of hell, sins, and the devil. The archpriest even says "That mountain girl had the devil in her, may Saint Julian take her. She and the other mountain girls make a living off capturing people that try to cross to their lands and threatening them with ultimate starvation and being frozen to death. The first mountain girl said she would strip him down if he did not bribe her with jewelry and other expensive goods. These women are very masculine and over sexualized. The mountain girls are desperate for premarital sex because they have no lover of their own. These mountain girls are very threatening and scary to the archbishop, as he is being confronted by the second mountain girl, he asks for Gods help, "God keep me from harm!" He spends little to no time with her and takes, "the cowards way out." The third mountain girl is desperate to marry. He tricks her by saying he would gladly marry her. As if that wasn't enough, she tells him she wants jewelry if he wants her hand in marriage. The girls are all deceiving and sell their souls for money and expensive items. The last mountain girl is a monster. He describes her as the word apparition he has ever seen. The archpriest takes a journey into devil bound souls. He sees the non existent ethics in morals in the mountain girls. It teaches him that in order for your soul to last for eternity, you have to comply with "good" morals and ethics.

Book of Good Love

There is a huge emphasis on fables because of the way it is written, in verse. Fables include mythical creatures, plants, inanimate objects, and nature. Supernatural and unrealistic qualities are given to certain characters. The mythical creatures are given human characteristics, which is the point of a fable. A fable's purpose is to illustrate a lesson or a moral of the story. At the end of each short story, a fable comes about. The lesson Juan Ruiz is trying to teach to men is to not involve themselves in "foolish" love but to embark on a "journey" such as he did to find a "good" love. The fable makes it easier for the author to get right to the point or the moral of the story. The moral of the story is to devote your love to God, and to resist from sexual sin. He says something very powerful about the existance of women, "If when God made man he had intended woman to be a bad thimg, he would never have given her to man as his companio, nor formerd her from him. If she were not made for good, she would not be so noble." He goes on to say that if man were not so fond of woman, love would not hold so many people captive.  

Songs of Holy Mary

Song #4
This is a story of great treachery, violence, and abuse. The son of a jew had a communion and was blessed the Holy Mary. His father asked him about his day and his son told him that he had just had his communion. Being that he is jewish, his father lost sanity and his right mind and threw his son in the furnace. However because he was baptized and had a great deal of appreciation for the Holy Mary and Christianity as a whole, Holy Mary looked after him and protected him from any pain just as God her son did for Hanananiah, Azriah, and Mishael. There was a direction connotation to Holy Mary holding her son in her arms on the alter. It was as if the little jewish boy was her son whom she held on to for dear life. The theme in this one is the opposite of song five. It is about faithfulness, acceptance for other religions, especially since Jesus himself was Jewish. It's also about believing and committing to your belief. Holy Mary obtains the role to save the Jewish boy whom showed faith and hope in Holy Mary. There is a religious commentary concerning Jews and Christians and the unsettling separation of the two. This story shows just how dangerous and violent religion is. It shows how it alters situations and personalities.
Song #5
The plot of this song is the way the empress over came many struggles and tribulations with the help of Holy Mary. The main theme in is the vindictive way of the people during this time period when they thought someone did something wrong or decitful. They acted upon only what they heard from each other and didn't act upon pure evidence. It was a series of bad events for the empress because her beloved emperor had to leave to Jerusalem show his loyalty to god. Under the alone supervision of the emperor's brother, he admitted to her that he loved her. He is betrayed his brother proving the theme of vindictively driven people and betrayal. The role of the Holy Mary is to help the empress in her time of need, in the ocean, during her beatings. Holy Mary saved the empress from hunger and gave her the strength and ability to cure. In terms of a political analyasis of this, there is no governmeant or judge to hear one's story. The people join together to dismiss and kill anyone they belive to have betrayed someone or stolen. The empress was continulosuly hurt by people who had love for her. Her emperor, a lover whom she didn't know killed a baby she was supposed to look after, and her brother in law.

Troubadour & Trobairitz

These two poems share a similar story of longing, heartbreaks, and unfulfilled desires. The emotions love brings out of these poets are very strong. Jaufre Rudel speaks about how his lover is "lands away" from him. He speaks about his longing to see her. He says I must love and not be loved. The depression and heart aches are evident. Sometimes being broken up with is easier than being apart from your lover because it forces you to move on, and you know it's the end. However the separation allows no reassurance and sense of commitment. The two poems in troubadour and trobairitz share a similar foundation of faithless, hopeless lovers. Rudel says, "But the path is blocked to my desire, a great curse on this godfather who doomed to be unloved." He also says how he wishes he were a prisoner for her. The extreme emotions love brings out are spoken about in both of these texts.
The Countess of DIA clearly brings forth a women's voice and thoughts. The poem starts off with her speaking about how she is longing for a lover. When she finds out she feels uncertain and worried. "I pray him to believe my words and not let anyone persuade him that i ever would betray him, except I found myself betrayed. Her lovers name is Floris, and she sings a song to him and tells him how she has been "tricked and cheated" by him. She finds comfort in the deiciving vindictive break-up. "There's one thing though that brings me recompense: I've never wronged you under any circumstance , and I love you more than Seguin loved Valensa. At least in love I have my victory. This is a very feminine trait and mentality because a man would not make that connection or recgognieze it. She tries to figure out why he has wronged her and decides it is his desire to sustain pride and superority. She says, "too much pride has undone many men."

Arabic Poetry

The signs of love indicates that love can easily be seen from looking into one's eye. This adds proof to the idea that love is indeed possible at first sight. It is added that "the eye is the wide gateway of the soul."The central idea of this story is that love is blind and causes us to act differently. This is a central theme for the two readings. In The Dove's Necklace, the idea that people become more suspicious and un trustworthy when they are in love. They question and interrogate their lover to ensure the truth comes out. "Lovers have evil thoughts of one another ; each suspects every word the partner utters and misconstructs it willfully." Once love emerges it is seemed to be infinite. "Love cleaves to such people's hearts and once it lays hold of them never looses grip." Love causes us to act different than we normally would especially to your lover specifically. Betrayal is not easy to overcome as most lovers would act violent and act upon blind fury. Love at first sight is condoned in this reading. "Often it happens that love fastens itself to the heart as a result of a single glance." As a result of this it is assumed that love will not last as long when you fall in love after a single glance. "The quicker they grow, the quicker they decay."

The Dove's Necklace carries into the Poems. The two of them stress the importance of the cause of one's relationship and admiration for one another. "Ibn Hazm states, "It's only cause is the will, and no one knows any cause but that, when we discover that a thing is its own cause, then it is an existence that is unperishing."The Dove's necklace states, "Every love affair must necessarily have some original cause" It is stressed by the two readings that the cause and foundation for love plays a huge part in the outcome and success of it. In the poem Ibn Hazm it is stated that, "...When we find its cause is something other than itself its destruction will come about when we lack that which gave it existence." This quote is the central theme or idea for both stories, it's a common ground.

Plato's Republic

It is suggested that the best of the kings are the best philosiphers, warriors, and that they sustain the vaule of their ethics. The ruler should also focus on virture and aspiration, as this is was the foundation for this greek culture. Their idea of the perfect government is a very Sparatan-like one. Their focus is to ensure power for the ruler. The role of the people is to be warriors. Occupations such as farming and other forms of manual labor will not be compensated for. Their idea of an equal economy amongst the people is presented. Their obligation is to be a fit, strong warrior. Escentially, the people will be fighting for money and the desire to be wealthy will be their life goal. This is because whoever has the most money will be the most powerful and can rule over poorer people. The people who do not have power or money succomb to being what they considerd evil. Socrates entitles these people"drones." 

Eventually the oligarchy dissolves into a democracy because their are few rich people left and the country is in poverty and the "drones" rebel against the rich and they are killed. Now the power is determined by the property you obtain. The freedom of speech is given to everyone, founding the idea of democracy. The democratic man succombs to his "unnecesary desires" but in the end appreciates all the luxorious things money can buy. The idea that we are persuaded by wrong and selfish desires founded our form of government. We live and work for money and power as oppose to trying to stabalize peace and harmony as well as equality.