Drama and Tension in William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice
Introduction
The merchant of Venice is about a merchant who borrows a loan to help a friend who wants to go to Belmont to Marie a woman called Portia. The person who borrows a loan is a merchant name (Antonio), and Antonio goes and gets the loan off a Jew name (Shylock). After Antonio borrows the loan, Antonio sign a bond saying that if in three month Antonio ships don’t return, shylock would have his pond of flesh. But Antonio feel and he is taker to court. Final the court has end and he redeems himself.
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The trail would be held at the Supreme Court in Venice. If I were to design the set in order to show it
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The table would court would be centre in the middle of the court to show the procession be held. The duke is a world famous figure; I would direct his entrance by making the people in the court stand up as the duke enters the court room. And I’ll make the people also be silence as the duke enters in. and as the duke; the court he with be escorted with his armed officer one on his left and other on his right. As shylock enters he is the odd one out, because everyone in the court is Christian and shylock is the only Jew in the court. As the director, I would show shylock emotion through the use of body language by walking up and down smiling in the court. A court full of Christian as shylock enters the court room. The Christian would react to him by throwing paper balls; boo win him calling him name and all sort of bad stuff. And why, because the room is full of Christians and shylock is the only Jew there. In Venice Jews are hated because there’s Anti-Semitism show in Venice. Shylock is the subject to abuse is it state that in Act 3 Sense 1, ‘’ laughed at my loses mocked …show more content…
I would he direct the actor playing as Portia to talk hardly as if she is reciting a poem as she says he speech in lines 180-193. I would expect to use a soft tone that is how and also should walk gently around the court to both the persecutors and dependant. The actor should also pound on emphasize her point about many and the central theme which is that for justice.
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Apart from Portia, many other characters in the play disguise them as what they don of seen to be. Nerissa who dresses as a lawyer clerk disguises herself as a male yet she is a female. Jessica dresses as a boy so she could have high dances of running away from her fathers houses. Like Lancelot Gobbo mislead their father old Gobbo who ask for directions. I would direct the person playing Portia to walk like a man in this tragedy and she should walk away from Bassanio to present close recognised of her body structure, she may also talk in a deepened voice that is manlike.
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According to what Bassanio say in lines 206-214, his speech show that he requests Portia to flits the law that governs Venice.
The Ways Shakespeare Makes Act Three Scene Five Full of Tension and Exciting for the Audience
say, “If I can catch once upon the hip I will feed fat the ancient
The duke then talks to Othello as if he is a criminal by saying Duke:
Anti-Semitism and the desecration of the Jewish population have been in existence for nearly five thousand years. In the Elizabethan era, a question of anti-Semitism invariably arises. In William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, we find that one of the characters is the embodiment and expression of anti-Semitic attitude that is pervasive in Elizabethan society. "Anti-Semitism was an intricate part in Shakespeare's years. Jews were considered vile and scorned upon. Shakespeare presents Judaism as an 'unchangeable trait'" (Bloom 37). Shakespeare's age based their anti-Semitism on religious grounds because the Elizabethans inherited the fiction, fabricated by the early Church, that the Jews murdered Christ and were therefore in league with the devil and were actively working to subvert spread of Christianity. The religious grounds of this anti-Semitism means that if a Jew converted to Christianity, as Shylock is forced to do in The Merchant of Venice, then all will be forgiven as the repentant Jew is embraced by the arms of the all merciful Christian God of love. In fact, some Christian believed--as do some fundamentalist sects today--that the coming of the Kingdom of God was aided by converting the Jews to Christianity. Anti-Semitism in Shakespeare's time is portrayed in his masterpiece The Merchant of Venice.
Dramatic Tension in Act 4 Scene 3 of William Shakespeare's Othello. Shakespeare employs the use of dramatic devices to signify the approaching the climax of the play throughout “Othello”. With Act 4 Scene 3 is the final scene to involve Desdemona before her murder. The use of such dramatic devices is prevalent in order to create tension.
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.
In theatrical performance, the fictional realm of drama is aligned with the factual, or “real” world of the audience, and a set of actors feign re-creation of this factual world. At the same time the audience, by participating as spectators, feigns believability in the mimic world the actors create. It is in this bond of pretense between the on-stage and off-stage spheres of reality—the literal and the mock-literal—that the appeal of drama is engendered. The Merchant of Venice then, like any effective drama, ostensibly undermines realism by professing to portray it. The work contains no prologue to establish dramatic context; it offers no assertion of its status as imitation, a world separate from our own. And yet, the bond of pretense forged between actors and audience prevents the line between the fictional and the factual from being blurred completely. This division allows the device of metatheatricality to emerge as a means by which the play can ally itself with realism, rather than undermining it, by acknowledging its own status as drama.
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.
Response to Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice by a Modern Audience Since the time of Shakespeare, The play “Merchant of Venice” has had a dramatic effect on the modern audience today. In the 16th century, Jews were completely disliked, & Jews were not allowed to live in England unless they had converted to Christianity. = == ==
The Theme of Prejudice in William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. In The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare, there are two main characters. themes, prejudice, and loyalty. Prejudice is the more evident theme.
referred to as the Moor. a racial comment used to him to make him feel
torture at the time. "Let me choose, for as I am, I live upon the
In Act 3, Scene 4 of Macbeth we are able to identify the disintegration of both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s characters in the overwrought scene. Throughout this scene Shakespeare uses a range of techniques to present their conflicting characters, creating dramatic tension. From the darkness of Banquo’s murder in the previous scene, there is a sudden tonal shift, as the scene abruptly changes to the bustle of the banqueting hall. The “Banquet Scene” is one of the most engaging scenes as it may be considered to be the pivotal point of the play. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth need the banquet to be a success as this is the first time they will be presenting themselves as monarchs and the rightful successors to the throne before society. However, this creates a sense of fundamental irony as the audience is aware that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are illegitimate figures and falsely usurped the crown. There is also a sense of comic relief as Macbeth publicly humiliates himself when he is confronted supernaturally by his sins. It is interesting to observe the changes within the characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth and their shifting relationship after the appearance of Banquo’s ghost.
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.