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
In line five and six, the male feels so down and intimidated and could not do anything. In the third stanza, in line one to four we see that the male tries to change the present state but it does not seem to bear fruit. In line six and seven the female is still dominating the male.
and thinks of him as a man for having killed another man. The fact of the
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.
For example, the metaphor; “Every breaths a gift, the first one to the last” (28). The use of this metaphor is to treat every day and breathing moment of your life as a gift. Therefore, your life should not be taken for granted and it is precious. Another poetic device is this lyric, “I believe that days go slow and years go fast” (27), this line is a form of paradox. This form of poetry is used to explain how the long days contradict the fast years and to cherish them. Life goes by in the blink of an eye, and it could have been wasted by regret, not making amends with people once trusted (forgiveness), and holding resentment. In addition, assonance is used frequently, for example, “I believe most people are good” (7) uses o’s is to elongate the sentence and create a slurred, calm feeling when the chorus is sung. Euphony is used in the lyric; “I believe them streets of gold are worth the work” (14), which creates a harmonious tone. The similar words “worth and work” sound the same so the sentence flows better together creating harmony. Finally, there is rhyming in most of the verses’, one of the examples is; “I believe we gotta forgive and make amends” (3), with “ ‘Cause nobody gets a second chance to make new old friends” (4). The rhyming of “amends and friends” aide the verse to become catchy which helps listeners enjoy the
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.
Risk is the exposure to danger. Taking risks are necessary because risk reveals experience to an individual. Hazard has both malevolent and benevolent outcomes, which can affect the overall atmosphere in a play. The content of William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice includes many scenarios of risk-taking among the relationships between characters. The Merchant of Venice consists of four different plots: the bond plot, casket plot, love plot, and ring plot; in which characters are exposed to danger. Risk serves a major responsibility as it divulges many elements of dramatic significance throughout the play. Shakespeare manifests hazard through rival arguments, lovers’ commitments, and father and child agreements.
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.
example in the first three lines she says 'How do I love thee?, Let me
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.
Characters and Relationships in The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare The characters Antonio, the merchant of Venice, and Bassanio, his friend who lives beyond his means, have already been introduced by Shakespeare in the first scene. Here Bassanio has asked his friend to lend him money so that he might woo the rich and beautiful Portia. Antonio has expressed his willingness to lend the money, but, as his. trading ships are all away at sea, he does not have funds readily.
When most people think of justice, it commonly brings forward the words positivity, fairness, law, order, and other familiar words. However, in the Merchant of Venice, this is not the case. Justice is used negatively in a court case that reverses from putting Antonio, the convicted Christian merchant, on trial to Shylock, the Jewish money loaner asking for justice, to be put on trial. In the play, both mercy and justice are rejected because of the obvious influential bias that the character’s actions portray.
In the play The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare, there is a concept of otherness throughout the play. Many characters had roles in which they were examples of the outsiders, that occurred during the time the play was written. If not all but in most plays by William Shakespeare, there is always a character who is categorized as the outsider. However, The Merchant of Venice took the concept into a deeper level, instead of depicting differences in social class as otherness, the play included race and religion, instead of social class. These beliefs shaped not only the way the play was written, but how the characters treated certain individuals in the play and how the personality of each character
In many of Shakespeare’s plays, Shakespeare uses multiple settings to contrast opposing ideas that are central to the meaning of the work. In The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare uses the settings of Venice and Belmont to represent opposing ideas. The city of Venice is an international marketplace. Venice is diverse and full of people from many countries who practice their own religions. Venice is marked by its cultural melting pot and friction, along with its focus on business and greed. In contrast, Belmont is a city in which people flee to in order to get away from the realities of commerce. The city of Belmont is marked by harmony and peace. Many of the characters in the story leave the avaricious city of Venice in order to reside in the
at the end of the 16th century was overtaken by England which was at a
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.