Marco Polo's Travel Account Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Marco Polo's Travel Account - Essay Example After having analyzed Marco Polo`s travelogue in detail along with the second hand accounts on his writings written afterwards, a few patterns can be identified conveniently. These accounts suggest that the Mongolian Empire which belonged to the Kublai Khan (1214-1294) was a highly glorified one, in the sense that the architecture of the farfetched land, especially Kublai`s palace was beyond imagination, also the Mongolian culture unlike that perceived by the Westerners is a highly enriched one which escalates the senses of anyone experiencing it. Moreover, though Marco Polo had also mentioned the hardships and distance which he had to face in detail, which implies that the journey was a highly difficult one, even after they possessed the VIP pass, however on experiencing their cultures and having the experience of staying close to Kublai Khan for so long, he finally concludes that the hardships were worth it. However, those who have reflected on the works of Marco Polo have further doubted the credibility of Marco Polo on the account that neither had he learnt the Chinese language during all those years, and adding insult to injury, some of the accounts which he had presented are way too amazing to be true. "When a man is riding through this desert by night and for some reason -falling asleep or anything else -he gets separated from his companions and wants to rejoin them, he hears spirit voices talking to him as if they were his companions, sometimes even calling him by name. Often these voices lure him away from the path and he never finds it again, and many travelers have got lost and died because of this. Sometimes in the night travelers hear a noise like the clatter of a great company of riders away from the road; if they believe that these are some of their own company and head for the noise, they find themselves in deep trouble when daylight comes and they realize their mistake.† ---- Marco Polo  Travels Quoted above is an account from the Marco Polo travels, an excerpt which indicates the hardships which he and even his companions had to face on their way to Cathay. Analyzing the excerpt, like the one quoted above, one may literally experience the intensity of hardships on the way, also the feelings of helplessness and extreme hunger and isolation while there is no way back. One might even start imagining that he is rather accompanying Marco Polo on his journey, given the quality of writings produced by Marco Polo where he has poured his heart out. Since Marco Polo`s father was a great merchant who had visited Cathay early on for trade, he had the honor of having met Kublai Khan, the emperor of Cathay, and thus the emperor had bestowed the merchant with a VIP passport, which allowed them to access horsebacks and other necessities and luxuries when the Polo brothers were to accompany their father. Relying on these where he experienced an adrenaline rush all that time while he was away, having gathered both good and bad tim es with him driving on either extreme like a pendulum. However, his stay in Cathay being close to Kublai Khan was rather more of a compensation for all he had experienced during his journey, and once Kublai Khan died, the miseries of Marco Polo still continued however these miseries contributed towards the writings