Merchant of Venice
In this coursework I will be answering the question “Shylock gets what
he deserves” by taking into account how William Shakespeare makes the
audience despise of Shylock or sympathise Shylock.
Shylock is a Jew, and he is not welcome in Venice, he has especially
got hatred for Antonio. He wanted revenge so Shylock put on a bond
with Antonio; the punishment being for Antonio is that if he doesn’t
pay back the money, which Shylock lent him, in 3 months time Shylock
has the right to cut off a pound of his flesh.
The ridicule and mistreatment that Shylock gets makes the audience
sympathise with him because he can’t do anything about it. Shakespeare
has made the audience sympathise with Shylock by making the Christians
such as Antonio call him a “dog” and refer to him as a “Jew” giving
the audience a sense that Shylock didn’t get what he deserves from the
courtroom scene. This would only apply to modern audiences though,
when Shakespeare wrote his plays Jews were hated by the people that
lived then and therefore didn’t have the same opinion as modern day
audiences would.
The running away of Shylock’s daughter (with some of his wealth as
well) makes the audience sympathise with him because by doing this
Shakespeare makes the audience think that everyone is turning on
Shylock and he is lonely. By including lines like “my own flesh and
blood to rebel” and “I say my daughter is my own flesh and blood”
Shakespeare shows the audience how much he loved his daughter and how
much he wants her back, this also makes the audience sympathise with
him and it gives them a sense of injustice that he didn’t get what he
disserved from the courtroom scene.
The fact that Antonio has stolen Shylock’s customer’s by producing
unfair competition. That makes the audience sympathise with Shylock
because what Antonio was doing was unfair and cruel. By including
lines like “I am as like to call thee so again” and “I spit on thee
still a common view of Jews is for them to be penny pinching, both in
A talented poet and playwright writer, William Shakespeare came during the golden age of England. His writings are the greatest in the English language. No one really know Shakespeare real birthday. The closet date the scholars can come up is on his baptism on April 24th, 1564. It has been over 400 years since his death; Shakespeare’s writing is not just limited to English scholars, but also appears on modern historical events and newspaper as well. Playwright and poetry are an art that appeals to the conscious mind, but the best classical playwright such as Othello not only appeals to conscious mind, but also to the subconscious mind. “The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice,” written by William Shakespeare from the sixteenth century is a tragic love play, and it is an excellent example of “Renaissance humanism,” said Paul A. Jorgensen, author of the Twayne Publishers, ( Jorgensen, 1, 3).
Othello, the Moor of Venice is one of the major tragedies written by William Shakespeare that follows the main character, Othello through his trials and tribulations. Othello, the Moor of Venice is similar to William Shakespeare’s other tragedies and follows a set of specific rules of drama. The requirements include, following the definition of a tragedy, definition of tragic hero, containing a reversal of fortune, and a descent from happiness. William Shakespeare fulfills Aristotle’s requirements in this famous play.
People often find security and self-assurance in acting evil towards other people. They may be out to destroy others, or improve their own social status. However, at the same time, the “villain'; may also be out for revenge. Shylock, from William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, has each of these motives as he takes on the role of the antagonist in this play. Shylock, the Jew, manages to mistreat almost everyone in his life. He especially acts as a villain towards Lancelet his young servant, Antonio the Christian, and even his own daughter, Jessica.
The struggle of women to fight for equal rights has always been a problem in society. This issue has transcended from generations and can be tracked down from many literary sources: books and articles, the conflict women went through to even be able to voice their point in in any matter, even ones that included them. William Shakespeare, as said by Scott Guffey, manages to bring “fourth [the] highly believable and realistic” (Guffey 2) judgment and belittlement of women during the Renaissance period in Othello. Shakespeare does this by establishing societies need for women to portray the image of the perfect wife and signifying the repercussion that occur when those needs are not meet. He illustrates what happens to Desdemona and Emilia’s credibility and treatment after their husband’s accuse them of cheating, an allegation that causes them to no longer hold the only thing women were valued for: their image of an impeccable wife. Although, they were both strong women by defying important men in their life, gender was represented as a source of supremacy, in Othello, and challenging those norms ultimately lead to both of these women’s demise.
seems to think that he is not a very nice person. Even the way he is
In the comedy, The Merchant of Venice, the roles and responsibilities of women is a significant social issue proposed by Shakespeare. This theme is communicated by the only three female characters in the play: Nerissa, Portia and Jessica. For example, in Act 4 during the trial between Antonio and Shylock, Portia and Nerissa disguise themselves as Balthasar and Bellario to free their friend. However, Jessica also plays a minor role in portraying the independence of Jewish women in a Christian and Elizabethan society, by successfully betraying her father, Shylock. These characters portray Shakespeare’s overall opinion on women, as well as a modern audience’s view on Elizabethan society in many significant ways by accentuating themes, ideas and contextual links in the form of the play itself.
William Shakespeare attained literary immortality through his exposition of the many qualities of human nature in his works. One such work, The Merchant of Venice, revolves around the very human trait of deception. Fakes and frauds have been persistent throughout history, even to this day. Evidence of deception is all around us, whether it is in the products we purchase or the sales clerks' false smile as one debates the purchase of the illusory merchandise. We are engulfed by phonies, pretenders, and cheaters. Although most often associated with a heart of malice, imposture varies in its motives as much as it's practitioners, demonstrated in The Merchant of Venice by the obdurate characters of Shylock and Portia.
In this play two characters have a bigger role than one might imagine. Salerio and Solanio are the storytellers in The Merchant of Venice. They fill in important information that the audience needs to full understand the play.
Shakespeare's tragic hero, Othello, was a man whose gifts far outnumbered his weaknesses. On the battlefield, he was accomplished; in his profession, he was highly ranked; and, in his life, he was blissfully married. Despite these great advantages, however, Othello's destiny was ruin. Everything he had so carefully made for himself would be destroyed by one flaw: his fear of remaining an outsider. He feared this fate, yet he harped on it continuously, tearing himself between his identity as a foreigner and his desire to live as a normal citizen. Even so far back as his first public speech, perturbations caused by this internal unrest surfaced, and it was unrest that would ultimately lead to his horrible and complete undoing.
The Merchant of Venice is a play set in a very male and Christian dominated society where other religions and women rights weren’t very well accepted by the community. However Portia, a rich woman who had previously been controlled by men, triumphs as she manipulates tricks and saves the lives of the men.
Since middle school, I have believed that all of Shakespeare’s works, similar to A Mid Summer Night’s Dream, were plays that one would read to hear a happy, entertaining story; but, it was not until this year, after reading The Merchant of Venice, that I recognized the darker, more sinister, side of Shakespeare’s plays. The Merchant of Venice supports the Jewish, anti-Semitic stereotype as the wicked character of Shylock is developed. Many individuals fear that it is improper to teach and discuss The Merchant of Venice in high school classrooms because of the negative way it presents Jews; however, I believe that it is important to read this controversial play in high schools because it enables students to learn anti-Semitic history and because reading Shakespeare’s works, due to their complexity, expands the literary mind of those who read it.
at the end of the 16th century was overtaken by England which was at a
Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice is a simple story line with three distinct plot lines incorporated into each other intricately. These three plot lines are the bond plot, the casket plot, and the ring plot, each equally vital to the meaning and conclusion of the play. In this essay, I will discuss the roles of the characters in the plot, the symbols, images, and rhetorical figures central to each plot, and finally how the events of the three plots are intertwined.
William Shakespeare shows how two tradesmen can have completely different lives when others view them differently in the play The Merchant of Venice. In the play, Bassanio, Antonio’s friend, needs money to pursue his love. They seek a loan from Shylock, a Jewish moneylender in Antonio’s name. The contract is for three times the value of the bond in three months or else Shylock cuts off a pound of flesh from Antonio. While all this is happening, there are love plots going on. One of which is for Shylock’s daughter to elope with Lorenzo, a Christian. Later on, Antonio’s source of money, his ship, is reported sunken in the English Channel, dooming him to the loss of one pound of his flesh. There is a trial on the bond, and when it seems sure that Antonio will die, Portia, disguised as a doctor of laws legally gets Antonio out of the situation and Shylock recieves harsh penalties. Antonio and Shylock, two similar businessmen of Venice, are viewed differently and are treated oppositely to heighten the drama of the play and mold a more interesting plot.