Based on a careful reading of the text and Nigel Cliffs Introduction write an essay (about 1,200 words) in which you discuss how Marco Polo’s European readers might have reacted to the stories he told. Focus on the following sections of the text: The Prologue, Chapter 3, and Chapter 5.
Your essay should address MOST of the following questions or issues:
What did Marco Polo (and his co-author Rustichello) think that their reading audience would be most interested in?
How does Polo explain/describe things so that his European audience will understand them?
What does Polo say about his own point of view as a Venetian, a merchant and a Christian?
What can the poem tell us something about medieval attitudes to non-Christians, commerce, travel, violence, leadership, politics, and/or heroism?
