merchant of venice

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The Merchant of Venice
The play, ¡°The Merchant of Venice¡± by William Shakespeare has two main settings. One setting is Venice, a city where many businessmen live, a place, full of unhappy and unkind people. It a world of commercial and law. Shakespeare has portrayed Venice as the ¡°real¡± world. The other setting is Belmont, a city which houses a rich, happy society of beautiful people. Belmont is a fairy-tale world of music and love. In this play, it is evident that, good things happen in Belmont and not so pleasant events happen in Venice.

The play begins with Antonio, a rich merchant of Venice is depressed, which shows that money and wealth did not bring happiness to this man. Shylock, a wealthy businessman who lives in Venice is not happy because he is an outsider and he is treated badly because of his Jewish religion. All his money could not buy him the happiness he wanted. Shylock¡¯s daughter, Jessica says, ¡°Our house is hell.¡± This is a woman who belongs to the privileged class of Venice but still she is not happy, even with all that money she possesses. This rich society of Venice is pathetically dependent on money for support and satisfaction but it still does not bring happiness to them.

Belmont is happier society. The young people there play tricks on each other, and wittiness and humor is part of their daily life style in Belmont. Portia, a beautiful, rich young woman who lives in Belmont, enjoys playing tricks on other people for fun, and everybody has a good laugh at the end. She plays a trick on her own husband, Bassanio, by dressing up as a lawyer and taking away the ring she herself gave him when they got married. She made him promise that he would never take it off, lose it or give it away. Afterwards when Portia asks Bassanio where the ring was, he has to confess that he gave it away to a lawyer as a reward for saving his best friend from an important court case. Then she pretends to be very hurt and offended by his lack of love, faith and honor towards her by saying, ¡°If you had known the virtues of the ring, or half her worthiness that gave the ring, or your own honor to contain the ring, you would have not parted with the ring.¡± But then laughingly she reveals the truth about who the lawyer really was. All the people present at the scene were amused and they all enjoyed the light-hearted trick played on Bassaio by his own wife....

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... any trouble in the magical world of Belmont. Above all, Venice is the city of darkness and pain, and it has much to learn from the love Belmont shows.

When one recalls what happened in Belmont, it seems like a fairy-tale came true. A poor young nobleman comes to the city of Belmont, in hope of marrying a fair and wealthy girl. He has to choose between three caskets set by the beautiful girl¡¯s father, to win her for marriage. This is the world of the fairy-tale, in which everything happens in groups of three. Generally, in fairy-tales, lovers are subjected to triple tests and the third attempt is always lucky. Also, in the traditional fairy-tale, those who show themselves with wealth are taught a bitter lesson. So, the Prince of Arragon and Morocco who chose the costly metals of gold and silver leave the scene as arrogant fools. The poor but handsome Bassanio, who chooses the lead casket, receives the reward for his wisdom and humility. Also the young lovers Lorenzo and Jessica run away from Venice and come to Belmont to start a new, happy life together. The play ends happily in Belmont. So at the end, those who deserve happiness find happiness in this loving city of Belmont.

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1123 Words | 3 Pages
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1750 Words | 4 Pages
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