Merchant Of Venice Symbolism Analysis

Symbols and allegories play a vital role in William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. They provide a perspective that offers subtle allusions as to what Shakespeare intended, and act as a building block to many themes and motifs apparent in the play. Although the play has a number of tragic elements that are simultaneously comical, the key ideas present in the symbol of a ring is the themes of love, grieve, humanity and commitment. This significance of rings can also be viewed in performance such as Michael Radford’s adaptation of The Merchant of Venice and how techniques enable the importance of certain symbols or messages to be enhanced.

The idea that humanity is flawed holds a certain degree of truth. In Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, Shylock’s character is ambiguous, displaying perceptions of both victim and villain. However, although Shylock and Jessica’s relationship was flawed, the love Shylock had for his late wife Leah can be viewed through the sentimental feelings he had towards her turquoise ring which turns out to be Shylock’s most prized possessions. He seemed to treasure Leah’s ring as a memento of happier days of love and domestic warmth. When Shylock first finds out about Jessica’s elopement and the theft of his gold, he expressed his frustration exclaiming “My daughter! O my ducats! O my daughter! Fled with a Christian! O my Christian ducats!” Through this frenzied outburst, Shylock is depicted as a selfish man whose priorities are not right, valuing his money more than the wellbeing and safety of his daughter. However, when the turquoise ring was mentioned, Shakespeare allows us to see another side of Shylock which may evoke a certain degree of sympathy from the audience. Shylock agonizes about hi...

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... ironic that he was the first to be honest to his wife that the ring was no longer in his possession.

The ring is not only a symbol of love or wealth, but also a representation of the extremities these characters will go through for the sake of love. The sheer weight of Portia’s, Nerissa’s and Shylock’s turquoise ring that had been given by Shakespeare is enough to make it into a potentially tragic element in the play. Despite the comical aspects Shakespeare may have intended from this ‘ring trick’, Portia and Nerissa certainly would have felt hurt by the mere actions of their careless husbands who initially did not comprehend the significance of the ring like their wives did. The subplot of the ring draws attention to the dimension and idea of exchanging gifts in The Merchant of Venice, exposing a kind of economy that lies beneath supposedly spontaneous love.