What Makes A Man?

I was thinking on Cellini- who both fascinates me and disgusts me for many reasons and I started wondering how he would hold up in modern society. True, he was a great warrior, possessed more than a normal amount of machismo, and could prove himself the equal of almost any man in almost every category of Renaissance life but there is much more to him. His greatest accomplishments, and those which ultimately stood the test of time was his art and writing.

Cellini was considered a model of manhood and was a model jeweler. How would that translate into modern society? It seems as though a lot of what made Cellini great and acclaimed in his own time would not earn him the status he achieved in his own day. He was the equivalent of an Italian rock star and he played the flute for the pope. P-diddy and Enrique Iglesias cannot play the flute- and I'm fairly certain if they did it would not be for the pope.

In a way its almost comical how so much of his greatness would be laughed at or trivialized in modern society but I still believe he would prove himself now. He conquered everything set before him and I doubt there is something in the modern world he would fail to succeed in.

Trophy Lady

Reading the description of what a woman in court should be made my skin crawl! I don't care very much for the ideal of a courtier but the lady was far worse. Almost her entire merit and virtue lies in her ability to be pleasing to others. Her virtues and goals are confined to her appearance and the way she makes other people feel. She must be charming, witty ( though not witty enough to cause offense of course), AND OF COURSE BEAUTIFUL!

She is required to have brains and knowledge but only so long as it lends itself to pleasing conversation. She is forbidden to ever use her intellect to create anything that would cause a stir or challenge another member of the party, or for that matter contain substance. The most infuriating part is that they spend pages and pages talking about how she should focus on her appearance and the image which she portrays but only about two sentences on how important it is for her to actually possess virtue.

She is suppose to appear chaste rather than be chaste, appear intelligent rather than be intelligent, and appear like she loves you company rather being a true friend. How is this desirable? How can any wise man or woman fail to recognize that one must focus on substance and truth rather than appearance and act to attain true happiness?

FAIL CASTIGLOINE- I cast you into the Renaissance trash can

O The Places the Renaissance Mind Will Go!

While looking for a link between all the texts which we have read so far in Colloquium II I noticed that there seems to be a great need for adventure and different kinds of travel. The Renaissance mind seems to be drawn to different and new places- even if they are in a different time period or continent. Petrarch was almost obsessed with the exotic world which existed in ancient times. He himself also found the need for travel- visiting much of his modern world. The Decameron is not devoid of travel or sense of adventure. Although these travels are not often very exotic, they do often emote a sense of adventure. Sir John Mandeville's tale is clearly the most adventurous of all the writings we have encountered so far. The subject of the work is the traveling itself and it takes the reader to places far beyond the average Renaissance person's mind or experiences.

Is a sense of travel and adventure truly close to the Renaissance heart?It does appear that the two go hand in hand in the quest for the search of what it means to be human. Furthermore, people of the time enjoyed a good time just as much as we do ( if The Decameron is an indication at all) and thus sought after different forms of entertainment. It is true that travel stories do usually provide for decent entertainment and are a good basis for a story. Lastly, I think of the HUSTers and their views on traveling. In our liberal arts education and quest to become the ultimate Renaissance women must of us go abroad and value it as an integral part of our educational experience. Learning how to be connected to our past and the great ancient ways of western tradition.

Thus, traveling is much more about the process of self-discovery than arriving at a physical destination. This is just as true as was in the Reniassance as it is today!

Creepy Old Men

Filostrato creeps me out. I lived in Spain for a semester and I feel I am sufficiently acquainted with his type- the man who could be your grandfather telling you how attractive you are as you stand there uncomfortably at the local grocery store. Although, Filostrato is Italian- and I have it on good authority that Italian men are even worse.

Filostrato not only makes comments that would be inappropriate in any setting about his sexual appetite and love for women- he goes on a four page soliloquy about. The strangest thing about his profession of love for all womankind is how often he brings his age into the discussion. He hints many times that his age makes this kind of behaviour inappropriate to many people. Interestingly enough, no one in the group seems to find this odd or negative. They accept his long compliment of their feminine beauty and description of his natural appetites. `

Does Boccaccio mean to make the situation seem inappropriate- particularly because of his age. Or is this suppose to be accepted behaviour in Florentine society? Boccacciow certainly meant to convey something to us through the old creepy Filostrato. Whether or not he was suppose to be creepy- I really can not say, except he is creepy to me.