Analysis of The Merchant of Venice

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Analysis of The Merchant of Venice

William Shakespeare's play "The Merchant of Venice" is based on a

simple enough plot, but it gives a more complex view of the characters

involved. It portrays each characters attitude, opinions and actions

and shows how they affect the other characters.

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Shylock is perhaps the most noteworthy character. He is centred on

most of the play's events. Throughout the play he is portrayed as both

a villain and a victim and is used to emphasise a number of the play's

themes such as greed, revenge, prejudice and racism.

The play begins with Antonio, the merchant of the play's title, being

unable to repay a bond he had taken on behalf of his friend Bassanio,

to the Jewish moneylender Shylock. The bond stated that failure to

repay the lent money would result in shylock being able to claim a

pound of Antonio's flesh. The climax of the play being the court case

deciding if the bond should be executed.

All of the play's c...

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