Ottoman Empire

After reading the Ottoman Empire I found there to be two things that interested me.  The first being reading about how the Sultan governed the state as a trust from god.  I think it is hard to understand this way of rule because in America political leaders try and keep religion separate from what is expected and what is not expected.  In the Ottoman Empire god is looked highly at and there for decides who should rule and who shouldn't.  Or who should make the rules.  It also seems that in Turkey the leaders do not keep there lives separate from the lives of others. Like mentioned in the readings the government of the empire was regarded as an extension of the sultan's own household, but in a way it sort of is a good thing because the Sultan wants things to run the way he would run his own house.
The second interesting thing I found in the readings was how important woman are to the empire.  They really play an important role and are looked at very highly.  Mothers of reigning sultans became the most powerful political personages in the royal household and financial affairs.  In most countries beside America it is very hard for woman to have that much of a powerful role especially in politics.

Dante

After reading the essay the topic that I found most interesting was how close minded people were back then and how concerned they were about a new religion becoming present.  I can understand why the Christians might have felt the way they did about the Islamic religion.  They were unaware of what it was and afraid that it would eventually eliminate the amount of christian followers.  In any situation when something new is being introduced people become alarmed because they don't no what to expect.  The unknowing scares people the most.  To me I think it is plain ignorance.  People are freely allowed to practice whatever religion they choose too.  What makes it ok for the Christan's to say what is right and what is wrong.  It is easy to relate this topic to current situations know.  People are so quick to judge people just because they don't have the same beliefs as them.  Like in the essay the Christians pre judged the Islams, but later on began to understand what there faith is about.  That they aren't just barbarians who idolize idols. 

Decameron 2

After reading the assigned readings I chose to discuss the third day first story and the fifth day eighth story.  I chose these two stories because they both had to do with love and lust.  I found that those two themes were very common in the other readings that we read for class.  In the readings of the third day first story I was surprised at what I was reading.  That a man would come into a convent looking for a job just to have access to these woman, but I found it to be so weird that he would lust for something that he knew would be impossible to achieve.  Nuns make a promise to Jesus and god not to in cage in sexual behavior, but of course everyone has erges.  I just don't think there promise to Jesus and god is genuine especially when your having those kinds of thoughts and feelings.  It makes me question the things people will do just to gain some sort of satisfaction.  These nuns risk there faith and morals and the guy involved doesn't risk anything.  He gets to feel like he rules the world because hes sleeping with every nun at the convent.  In the readings of the fifth day eight story it depicts a different kind of love.  An evil kind of love.  Like if the woman doesn't get what she wants the man must pay and the man in this case is the innocent one who is just wanting love and affection.

The Decameron

After reading the assigned readings I decided to focus mostly on the theme of peer pressure.  I found that this theme speaks to the certain aspects of the Mediterranean cultures that we have discussed over the semester.  One specific culture aspect of the Mediterranean that I found related to the readings and my theme was religion.  During the first day, second story Abraham was pressured by his good friend Giannotto to convert to christianity.  Abraham had his concerns and daughts because he thought the whole church was corupt, but Giannotto insisted that he goes through it and Abraham finally decided to go through with it.  He felt that even though the church seemed corrupt, if christianity was still spreading then god must be the reason for it and he wanted to be as close as possible to god.  I think that through out all the readings we have read religion plays a major role in peoples lives, especially if you believe so strongly in god.  These people that we have read about just want to be closer to god because they feel like if they do what god says then they will be accepted by him.  They look to god as an important figure like a leader.  I do not agree with being pressured into a religion though.  I think changing your religion should be a decision made on your own not pressure from friends.

Book of Good Love 2

1. After reading the Mountain Girl section I felt a little disturbed.  Throughout the whole story you see that the mountain girls are very controlling and demanding.  They had the say in everything and expected things to go as they had planned.  I think in most situations you think that the guy would be the more dominate one in a relationship or a specific situation, but in this story the woman was the more dominant one.  I think when men don't have that control they start to second guess themselves on who they really are.  Like in a way they loose there dignity, but I found it interesting that he was going to the mountain girls for guidance or satisfaction.   I also found this story to be quite sexual like in a dominatrix kind of way at least in the beginning.  I think the mountain girl represents a fantasy because the story describes what they look like and there features are very exaggerated.  I read this text as someone trying to gain a type of satisfaction, such as searching for someone to marry.

Book of Good love

2) The author properly begins the text with the fable of the Greeks and Romans. Apart from being the comedy that it is there is a serious message here concerning reading interpretations and more.  I read this fable as being a competition between the Greeks and Romans.  The whole time through the poem/story i felt that the Romans were trying to gain some cultural aspects that the Greeks follow such as laws and a form of power that they portray.  I felt a lot of tension amongst the two especially when they were speaking through sign language, but eventually The Greeks saw that the Romans did deserve the laws through god.  That one common things brought there views together.  

4) After reading the assigned readings I really focused on the code of love presented by Love to the Archpriest, specifically upon the woman he verbally paints here.  When Archpriest states that such a woman does not exist and yet he will continue to compose poetry I feel hes continuing to believe something that might not be so true.  He is painting this picture of what a perfect woman should be like because he wants to be in love with a woman like that.  Also if the woman is not interested in him she just wont give him the time like in the poem when he sends the message to her. If she doesnt want any part she just wont reply.  

Songs of Holy Mary

The two narrative songs I chose from the readings were song 2 and song 4.  In song 2 the virgin Mary seems to be this powerful figure.  She really can say what ever she wants and expects people to respect her and listen to her orders.  My opinion on the holy Mary is that she feels a bit entitled because she is the virgin mother.  I can understand that and am sort of in favor of her feeling of entitlement.  That is the main theme I found in this song was the feeling of power.  She had the control and specifically said that if anyone wears the garment she had given to the saint other then him they would face death.  They should have listened to her because in the end of the song someone else did wear the garment and they were soon killed.
In song 4 I found the punishment of the little boy to be very cruel, but I guess that was something common back then.  Bringing this idea to this day and age I can completely understand the anger a parent would have if there child all of a sudden decided to switch religions and forget everything they were raised to believe in.  If I did this sort of action my parents would be extremely disappointed in me.  The theme in this song is also power.  The little boy did not care about following the rules that his parents set for him.  He wanted to do what was right for him.  The holy Mary in this song was also seen as a powerful figure and the boy was intrigued by this and was kind of caught up in her spell.
The role of Mary in each of these songs is someone who is very powerful and likes telling people what to do with there lives.
Especially in song 4 religion plays a key part in the whole plot.  I think it is important to believe in something and follow the customs of a particular religion, I just think it is hard to go against what you have been raised on.  Meaning how can you just switch religions so easily when you've been raised Jewish your whole life.  There two totally different religions with different customs.