The Trial Scene in The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare

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The Trial Scene in The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare

Written between 1596 and 1598 "The Merchant of Venice" is not one of

the most performed plays written by William Shakespeare and most

productions often use modern times and dress. A modern day audience

would be less sympathetic than the audience of that period towards the

Jew, Shylock. The play is one of the sixteen comedy plays. The issues

being raised in the play would have been understood by the audience

who were not very well educated "The Merchant of Venice" has two main

characters, Shylock, a Jew and Antonio, who is an extremely wealthy

merchant, an investor who gets wealth using venture capitalism. In

Venice, your word was like having an agreement in writing. The

breaking of this bond would result in a serious penalty, as it would

in today's society but in a different nature. Shylock is a moneylender

who lends sums of money to others at a fixed rate but charges vast

amounts of interest. However, Antonio also lends amounts of money, but

without the interest. This is "Gratis". This is one of the main

reasons why Shylock hates Antonio because Antonio is meant to be

making Shylock's profits to drop. They both are 'bigots' because they

also hate each other for their religion. Venice is the setting of the

play; The city was the trading centre of the world but at the end of

the 16th century was overtaken by England which was at a new age.

Looking at the hate between the two characters, Antonio states "I hate

him for he is a Christian"

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Shylocks only concern was for money. Shylock agreed to lend a sum of

money to Antonio. As part of the bond, Shylock insists that if his

money is not given back in time, with the added interest, he would be

entitled to perform his bond which stated that shylock could cut

exactly one pound of flesh from Antonio's body. This bond between

Shylock and Antonio is the reason for the court scene in Act 4 Scene

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