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Noble and Worthy Jessica?
While researching for this paper I reviewed numerous essays,
assessments, and commentaries concerning The Merchant of Venice.
One essay used the terms "noble" and "worthy" in relation to
Jessica. The author stated that "sometimes what they [the characters of the
play] 'sell out' for is worthy and shows them to be noble (Jessica for
example)." The author goes on to say that Shylock's reasons for selling out
"seem ignoble." Those statements really got me thinking, so I strolled
over to my trusty dictionary to look up "noble" and "worthy."
Noble--1. a: possessing outstanding qualities.
2: of high birth or exalted rank.
3. a: possessing very high or excellent qualities or properties.
Worthy-1. a: having worth or value.
Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (10th edition)
The most common connotation of "noble," in my opinion, is a combination
of the first and third listings. While Jessica certainly fits the
second meaning listed of "noble" and the meaning of "worthy"
(financially anyway), I didn't see any proof of her being such an
outstanding person or "possessing very high or excellent qualities"
within the context of this play. She may very well be a wonderful
person, but I didn't see anything that would lead me to that conclusion
in the play itself. Let's look at the facts. Jessica robs her father
of all the jewels and money she can carry to marry Lorenzo. She casts
aside her religion as if it were an old hat. The only outstanding
quality I see is that she can do all this without the slightest remorse.
We are told by Jessica that Shylock's "house is hell," but within the
play I did not see any proof of this (II.iii.2). It is true that
Shylock did not know which to weep for more, his daughter or his ducats,
but does that make that house a hell? Because we didn't see what life
was like in the house, we can only take Jessica's word for it. I, for
one, am not terribly comfortable with her word as she has proven herself
to be a thief and liar already. How do we know she isn't just an
incredibly ungrateful daughter blinded by love (as she herself
proclaimed love to be a blinding force--II.vi.36)?
Frankly, Shakespeare did not give us much to work with as far as
... were left unprotected and abandoned by the unions. How is it that the unions can demand labors lose months of wages, be subject to labor blacklisting and ultimately sacrifice their lives without any protections for the strikers and still claim success? They can’t. If anything, the Pinkertons who dispersed the crowd did more to help the worker, by reopening the Homestead, than the union had done. Thus, the unions were an utter failure in furthering the position of the laborer, as the laborer was better off before hand. Before unions the laborer had their life, as many died in failed strikes, and their dignity, as society at least held an intrinsic value in their lives. However, unions succeeded in decimating any chance of advancement by tarnishing the reputations of all laborers, leading to a direct decline in the socio-economic position of the blue-collar worker.
Marriages everywhere have their troubles, yet everyone is able to relate to other couples problems. By looking at A Delicate Balance and The Merchant of Venice we will see their perspective on how marriages have changed over time of the martial relationship. After getting an overview of these books we will then apply it to present day and see if anything really has changed. The marriages I’ll be analyzing is Bessanio and Portia from The Merchant of Venice and Tobia ad Agnes from A Delicate Balance. By examining Bessanio’s behavior towards Portia and Tobia’s toward Agnes, we can see how the role of the husband has changed from emotional support and conversations to the development of the wives having bigger roles.
Dragons represent human greed but amplify this sin tenfold as this is a monstrous creature whose only interest is in gathering gold and hoarding it. Before Christianity rebranded dragons simply as a manifestation of Satan, they were the ultimate embodiment of power, ferocity, and mystery.
In Susan Pharr's "The Common Elements of Oppression", she defines "the other" as the outcast of society, the ones who stand up for what they believe in, no matter how `against the grain' it may be, the ones who try the hardest to earn acceptance, yet never receive it. In Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice", Shylock, the `villain' is portrayed as the other simply because of his faith, because he is Jewish in a predominantly Christian society.
Committing deceptive deeds not only hurt others, but also the ones who deceive. The Merchant of Venice, by William Shakespeare, is a romantic-comedy play about a Christian merchant named Antonio who agrees to a bond that a Jewish moneylender named Shylock, his enemy, creates to help his best friend Bassanio see Portia, an heiress whom he is in love with. Shylock warns Antonio that if he forfeits the bond, by not repaying him three thousand ducats, he must allow him to remove a pound of his flesh. Throughout the play, deceptive behaviour causes the moral values of individuals to decline. First, this is seen through wealth as it pertains to the desire to have what is valuable. Second, moral values decline when people deceive the family members that they encounter. Finally, deceiving others through love leads to a decline of moral values. In the play, The Merchant of Venice, deception, as seen through wealth, family encounters, and love, causes the moral
Everyone is influenced by other people, including leaders or authority, to make the wrong decisions at some point in their lives. In the play Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is responsible for the evil doings of Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is responsible for this by using his love for her to persuade him into killing King Duncan. Because Macbeth loved and trusted his wife, he was vulnerable to her opinions and suggestions. We also know that she is responsible for these heartless things because she has so much guilt that she commits suicide. Macbeth would never have done any of those horrible things if it were not for the murder of King Duncan, which was forced on by Lady Macbeth.
Honesty is one of the most important factors in Othello. And although there is very little honesty actually present in the play the term is most commonly applied to Iago, who also happens to be the most dishonest character in Othello. Due partly to the other characters naiveté, Iago is capable of manipulating, brainwashing, and molding the other characters to satisfy his need for revenge against Othello.
Othello, a play by William Shakespeare, takes place in Venice during the invasion of the island of Cyprus by the Turks. The protagonist of the story, Othello, is a newlywed, Moorish general with a very gullible nature. The antagonist of the story is Iago, an officer under Othello who wishes to be promoted to lieutenant, but the position was given to the young and attractive Cassio. Other major characters in the play are Desdemona, Othello's wife who is accused of having an affair with Cassio. In addition, there are Roderigo, a Venetian who is deeply in love with Desdemona; and Emilia (Iago's wife) who could have prevented the death of Desdemona.
& nbsp;   ; “The Merchant of Venice” is a play that relies on soliloquies to advance the plot, create mood and atmosphere, and to develop character among all the actors. I am here to prove how this happens in two different soliloquies and show you why Shakespeare put them into the play.
Italian neorealism emerged after World War II, and had profound historical and cultural impacts on society and the film industry. Three specific traits of neorealist style included, but were not limited to: the use of working class characters (non-professional actors); the use of real locations as settings; and open, oftentimes unhappy, endings. In the closing scene from Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio De Sica, 1948), all three of these neorealist elements are present.
This character is so noble, Othello's feelings and actions follow so inevitably from it and from the forces brought to bear on it, and his sufferings are so heart-rending, that he stirs a passion of mingled love and pity which readers feel for no other hero in Shakespeare, and to which not even Mr Swinburne can do more than justice. Yet there are some critics and not a few readers who cherish a grudge against him. They do not merely think that in the later stages of his temptation he showed a certain obtuseness, and that, to speak pedantically, he acted with unjustifiable precipitance and violence; no one, I suppose, denies that. But, even when they admit that he was not of a jealous temper, they consider that he was "easily jealous"; they seem to think that it was inexcusable in him to feel any suspicion of his wife at all; and they blame him for never suspecting Iago or asking him for evidence. I refer to this attitude of mind chiefly in order to draw attention to certain points in the story. It comes partly from inattention (for Othello did suspect Iago and did ask him for evidence); partly from a misconstruction of the text which makes Othello appear jealous long before he really is so; [Endnote 2] and partly from failure to realise certain essential facts. I will begin with these.
The Setting of Venice in Othello Othello is a fundamentally different character to all others in the play [1]. He is an outsider to Venice and therefore an outsider to the customs and society of Venice. In one way this is good for him. He is a renowned strong general who is much in demand from the Venetians.
more alive and the love that is in the story line more prevalent. Portia hooks in Bassanio with the gift she bestows upon him. For example, “In “The Merchant of Venice” spotlights shiny displays of sacrifice and gift giving. At the same time he (Shakespeare) lets the shadows of darker motives encroach on the glitter of those displays”(Berger 1). The darker motives show that Portia is a little bit conniving in her way the she bestows the ring onto Bassanio. She uses the ring to self-protect, setting herself into a win-win situation. For example, “Portia’s gift to Bassanio is an act of self-protection “in a naughty world”(Shakespeare 5.1.91), a something for nothing that she can transform
William Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice” is a drama that most scholars find difficult classifying. The play loosely focuses upon Antonio who becomes the subject of a loan that almost costs him his life due to his belittling and poor treatment of Shylock, who as a Jew has received many forms of prejudice from Christians. Despite this fact Antonio is relieved from the loan. Bassino is freed from his prior debts and gets to marry Portia, Portia weds the man that she desires, and four other characters get married. While these moments surely made the play happy and enjoyable, the looming threat of Antonio losing everything because he ended up defaulting on the loan causes the audience to worry and fear the outcome of what may happen. If not for Shakespeare’s usage of comic relief to support the happy ending it would be even more difficult to classify this play. Although there is plenty of happy moments and comic relief the treatment of Jews and Shylock in particular also causes some people to view “The Merchant of Venice” as a tragedy. While others yet view the drama as a problem play, “where moral dilemmas or social problems were explored through one central player”. William Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice” is best classified as a comedy due to comedies definition, the rise of sympathetic characters, the use of comic relief to decrease the dark tense moments, and the inability to properly classify the play as a tragedy.
Women of the late 16th century were subjected to patriarchal ways and not granted the same rights and privileges as males. Yet, Shakespeare gives women in The Merchant of Venice significant roles in controlling the fates of all of the other characters. Portia and Nerissa cleverly disguise themselves as an esteemed lawyer and clerk, respectively, and interpret the law in such a way that Antonio and Bassanio are saved from Shylock’s bond, while Shylock is forced into a position of utter humiliation. The William’s Center for the Arts takes The Merchant of Venice and amplifies the play’s feminist qualities, not only through context of the play and performance, but also through gender-blind casting.