Merchant Of Venice Research Paper

Antonio’s acceptance of beliefs that are condemned by his religion conveys the novel’s theme of truth being subjective. Before learning of Florence’s death, Antonio is eager to share the legend of the golden carp with his friend, “Florence needed at least one god, and I was sure he would believe in the golden

    William Shakespeare’s tragic drama Othello presents to the audience a picture of many different shades of morality and immorality. It is the purpose of this essay to elaborate in detail on this thesis.

William Shakespeare’s comedy The Merchant of Venice tells the story of Antonio, a merchant, who borrows money from Shylock a Jewish moneylender to help his friend, Bassanio, marry a woman. The play highlights the tension between Jews and Christians in society through the interactions between Shylock and the Christians. In contrast, the play also highlights the positive aspects of both religions. The main point of The Merchant of Venice is to critique society’s treatment of religion.

For the time Othello was set in, 16th century Elizabethan society held strong socioeconomic roles that governed social statuses. In Shakespeare’s Othello, class positions become a theme that emphasizes power as a major role in relationships. In the case of Othello, a general of the Venetian army, and Iago, one of his trusted advisors, that power struggle is the force that dominants the play and leads to the disastrous and memorable ending. Machiavelli’s treatise, The Prince, examines the dynamic between power and servitude and how a proper ruler will take care not to be hated by his inner circle and pick the right ministers to advise him (Machiavelli XVI, XXII). By using Machiavelli’s treatise, the roles that Othello and Iago contributed to the tragedy will be studied to determine the cause for the struggle between power and servitude and how, if possible, that struggle could have been avoided if Othello had adapted to the philosophy suggested in The Prince.

Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice is so alike to our financially afflicted world. The rules of law and commerce are subject to deceptive manipulation, fear of "the other" overwhelms respect for a common humanity, duplicity is the norm, sexuality is a vehicle for ambition, and money drives and wraps almost every action. It is a classic tale that includes important details of the financial crisis in the United States during 2007-2009. Shakespeare’s Venice, like the New York of his time - and the financial capitals of ours - is a city based on borrowing, on market speculation and greed masquerading as wealth and sophistication. Behind the curtains of the practice of lending and borrowing money in Shakespeare’s play lay the transition to capitalism: the rise of banking system; the scarcity for credit in developing industrial enterprises; and the growing dispute of default facing both aristocratic landlords and, above all, small, independent early entrepreneurs on trading ventures. Even though almost 600 years apart from each other, both Shakespeare’s tale and the financial crisis in the United States during 2007-2009 have a similar financial dilemma, each has its unique Shylock, Bassanio and Antonio- people who were responsible for causing the meltdown of their days.

Shakespeare 's Othello comprises of the subjects betrayal, affection and dishonesty. At the focal point of this play is the lamentable ruin of Othello because of his so-called friend Iago. In this paper I will be examining the explanations behind and against Othello being in charge of his defeat through taking a gander at critical interpretations of his character and activities.

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.

The Merchant of Venice, also known as “The Jew of Venice” is a drama play originally written by William Shakespeare in 1598. The major conflict occurs when a man named Antonio (Venetian merchant) fails to pay off a loan to a greedy Jewish money loaner known as Shylock who demands a pound of flesh from Antonio in return. Antonio and his friends take a journey through friendship, love, and hatred in an attempt to free him of his pound of flesh fate induced by Shylock. Imagine yourself sitting in the master minds of directors Michael Radford and John Sichel while they are directing their adaptations of the play. Imagine experiencing their unique ideas first hand looking through their

The Enmity between Christians and Jews is first revealed in this passage by Shylock’s tetchy, sarcastic reply to Bassanio. Bassanio politely invites Shlock to dinner and Shylock replies sarcastically saying, “Yes, to smell pork…” He further separates himself from Bassanio by referring to, “…your prophet, the Nazarite.” Also, in an irritated way, he lists the things he is prepared to do with Christians, and the things he in not prepared to do. In this passage, “I will buy with you…nor sell with you”, Shylock repeats the word ‘YOU’ Eight times, making it sound like an accusation, not only against Bassanio, but all Christians, for wronging

Shakespeare engages a modern audience through the character Shylock. Shylock in The Merchant of Venice is the antagonist of the play and is subject to sequences of misfortune, much to the delight of the Elizabethan audience. However, in a modern context we show slight feelings of sympathy towards him as a result of today’s ideologies. Upon meeting Shylock we see that his religious standing puts him in an isolated position against the Venetian society. A line is recited

Pay him six thousand, and deface the bond (3.2.298) This section is an instance were the word bond as the agreement between Shylock is confronted by another strong character in this play. Portia playing a strong masculine role for her house hold and new husband Bassanio. She shows her power and authority by wanting to deface the bond and pay more than the original sum, to free Antonio and help out Bassanio. This shows that even though the agreement between Antonio and

Although Antonio and Shylock command most of the play’s dialogues pertaining to law and justice, Bassanio does comment on law in two separate occasions. The first occurs when he is choosing between one of Portia’s chests. He recognizes the dangers of façades and asks, “In law, what plea so tainted and corrupt / But, being seasoned with a gracious voice, / Obscures the show of evil?” (3.2.75-77). This line is significant because it deals with law before the courtroom scene takes place and provides some foreshadowing to how the cases are presented. Shylock and Portia, especially, employ different rhetorical devices in order to sway the ruling in their favor. In a second reading, Bassanio’s observation forces the reader to ask who is “seasoned with a gracious voice” and who is morally right? During the courtroom scene Bassanio plays a less important role, yet he recognizes how the law operates. Even though he has no say with the ruling he pleads with Portia, “And… / Wrest once the law to your authority. / To do a great right, do a little wrong, / And curb this cruel devil of his will” (4.1.211-214). Bassanio has a huge desire to help his friend Antonio and knows, that at this point, only the law can help him. Thus, it makes sense that he asks Portia to establish a favorable ruling. Bassanio’s words seem to suggest that he has a less black-and-white outlook towards law: he

Can time and historical events affect the categorization of a literary piece? William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice is a play that is difficult to classify in a specific genre. It is often referred to as one of his problem plays. This means that it does not easily fall into a single category. Most literary sources categorize The Merchant of Venice as a comedy because it fits the description by having a happy ending. There are those, however, that discuss the dark side of the play and insist that the play could also be classified as a tragedy. Due to the plays’ complexity and the events of history, it can be argued that

In the beginning of this play, we are introduced to a melancholic Antonio, who claims he does not know why he is sad, but his friends Solanio and Salerio suggest that he is worried about whether or whether not his ships will make it back, which can make or break his wealth. At this point in the play, Bassanio, Antonio’s friend reveals that he is not only broke, but in serious debt. Bassanio says he owes Antonio “the

Shylock is punished by the Venetian court for seeking to end Antonio’s life. He is charged under a Venetian law (of Shakespeare’s creation) and he is forced to give up his wealth and to beg the Duke to spare him his life. Viewed like this it seems simple enough; Shylock broke a Venetian law and, as a consequence, is punished. However, Shylock’s case is far from simple. Antonio’s demand that Shylock should renounce his Judaism and become a Christian and his insistence that Shylock should will his money to the Christian