The Travels of Marco Polo

Polo appears at various times in the book but usually only in passing. He is described as having been in an area or seen some things or, in some cases, being on assignment at the direction of Kublai Khan: “In the place of one of these, Marco Polo, by special order of the Great Khan, acted as governor of this city for three years” (3186-87).

Indirectly, however, he features all through the book because the travels, with the exception of the initial journeys by his father and uncle, are nominally his. He functions as the author, and some obvious opinions can be attributed to him. Polo writes of an encounter with one group: “Their intellects also are dull, and they have an air of stupidity” (4639-40).That is, Polo, at least at moments, seems unconcerned with offering his real feelings about those he encounters; at other times, however, he issues no judgment at all.

He wasn’t on the first two journeys, which were taken by his father and uncle to China and then back to Venice. He was on the last two journeys, accompanying his father and uncle. He didn’t write the book so much as dictate itto someone who might have misheard or miswritten or mischaracterized any number of things.