The Merchant Of Venice By William Shakespeare

Shakespeare 's complex play Othello holds numerous pressing issues within its intricate layers that seem to leap out to modern society. One such issue seen by many is the representation of women. Women within the play can be characterized as submissive possessions and temptresses. This ideology, though commonplace in this time period, appears controversial to the modern eye as we deconstruct the characters of this play. This dominate patriarchal society present within the setting merely conditions this belief further as it is prevalent within the characters dialogue.

William Shakespeare’s 16th century play Othello is a duplicitous and fraudulent tale set alternatingly between Venice in act 1, and the island of Cyprus thereafter. The play follows the scandalous marriage between protagonist Othello, a Christian moore and the general of the army of Venice, and Desdemona, a respected and intelligent woman who also happens to be the daughter of the Venetian Senator Brabantio. Shakespeare undoubtedly positions the marriage to be viewed as heroic and noble, despite Othello’s hamartia and subsequent downfall that inevitably occurs. Their marriage is then sabotaged by the jealous Iago, Othello’s ensign and villain of the play. While Iago’s ostensible justification for instigating Othello’s demise was his failure to acquire Othello’s position as lieutenant, Iago’s motives are rarely directly articulated and seem to derive from an obsessive, almost aesthetic pleasure in manipulation and destruction. Through the genre of the play, being a Shakespearean tragedy, and the structural devices employed by Shakespeare such as plot development, exposition, foreshadowing, dénouement, dramatic excitement, and catharsis, the key ideas of jealousy, appearance vs. reality and pride are developed and explored.

William Shakespeare’s Othello would not be a dramatic tragedy if the smiling villain, Iago, were a deaf mute. There is no doubt that the destruction of each character can be blamed on jealous Iago. The theme of jealousy helps propel the plot naturally and demonstrates the consequences of being morbidly jealous. The circumstantial evidence Iago provides acts like a lethal poison, which surrounds Othello in suspicion and envy but also turns him into an inhuman murderer. Jealousy is the ‘monster’ that unresonably conducts the great suffering in the story.

Throughout Othello by William Shakespeare, Othello makes numerous poor decisions due to his jealousy. Hitting Desdemona, trusting Iago, and killing Desdemona are among a few of the poor decisions that he makes. The word jealous can be defined as feeling or showing suspicion of someone's unfaithfulness in a relationship. Othello feels suspicious of Desdemona’s and Cassio’s relationship because of the lies that Iago tells him. Many people try to tell Othello the truth but he only believes the words of Iago. Even Emilia, Iago’s wife, tells Othello that Desdemona and Cassio are not having an affair and their interaction is business only, however; he does not trust her. Without Othello’s jealousy he would not have made these horrible decisions.

In Tempest, Caliban and Prospero are of contradictory natures. Their characteristics are notably different as well as other characters have different opinions and attitudes to them. However, both of them have the same master and savior Prospero.

Risk is a situation that involves the possibility of exposure to dangers. Risks exist everywhere, even the most minute of actions can place someone in jeopardy. It is an inescapable labyrinth that plagues the lives of all ever since humanity’s first existence. Yet it,s double-edged sword like characteristics of also providing opportunities and gains keeps many enthralled in it. In William Shakespeare 's’ The Merchant of Venice, Antonio, a protagonist, gives himself over to a life-threatening contract with the villain, Shylock the Jew, in order to provide the means for one of Antonio’s friend the opportunity to woo a lady. Over the course of the play, various risky opportunities and events also expose other relationships as means of satisfying their wants, although not all their outcomes are favourable. Risk is the root cause of rewards and punishments in The Merchant of Venice. This is seen between the play’s rivals, such as Antonio and Shylock. Also is seen between lovers, such as Bassanio and Portia. It is seen again between fathers and children, such as Shylock and Jessica.

Love is probably the most important factor in today 's society. That Love can drive us forward, love can drive us back. In Shakespeare 's Othello, the villainous character Iago maintains a well diverse, and deceptive character in the play. Using only his words, we see how he puts magic into the play, to help it move forward and evolve. That we get to see his true identity as he has homoerotic feelings towards Othello. We see Iago try to use his power of speech to try to pursue Othello, but we see him never have gotten close as Othello ignore his advances. That his very own words prevent him from ever be one with Othello. Iago getting rejected for Lieutenancy and at the same time Desdemona being Othello 's closes advisor fuels his rage and drive his vengeance to end Cassio, Desdemona and Othello for all the pain they caused him. Throughout the play we see Iago uses the power of his tongue, the words that roll off of it to seek revenge on them. At the same time he uses words to mask his true feelings towards Othello. That His very words will show his homosexual desire more evident, as he plants sexual scenes into Othello 's head in an effort to pursue him through speech and conversation.

Throughout Othello, by William Shakespeare, we see behind the scenes of Iago’s master plans. He tells the audience about how he’s going to get his way through actions carried out by the other characters. We’ve read about his motives for revenge on Othello because the lieutenancy was given to Cassio, instead of Iago. Another motive was that Othello had an affair with Emilia, Iago’s wife, which Iago would sleep with Desdemona, Othello’s wife, in order to get back at him. We see Iago’s plans in action for example, when Emilia finds Desdemona’s handkerchief which Iago places in Cassio’s room to raise suspicion. Not only were Iago’s plans emotionally straining, they caused most of the character’s their trust for others and lives to disappear. From this, we see that Iago is an evil mastermind that plots everyone against each other so he can be on top. This desire persuades him to do irrational things that can help him, but also gets revenge on others through emotional and physical pain and the irony that occurs between characters for Iago. Not only this, but also, he has a narcissistic personality which leads to him to try to get to the top and refuses to stop trying until he’s there.

Happiness. It is not measurable, profitable, nor tradable. Yet, above all else in the world, it is what people seek. They want to have happiness, and want to know they have a lot of it. But happiness, like air or water, is a hard thing to grasp in one’s hand. It is intangible. So how does one know if they have it? Is it just a feeling? And if someone does not feel happy, how can they go about achieving that feeling? Happiness is a mental or emotional state of well-being defined by positive or pleasant emotions, managing from contentment to intense joy. In the play, The Merchant of Venice, there are lots of characters who have found their own root of happiness. One of the who found his happiness is Bassanio. The

In the life of every tragic hero, with a promising future, there is a damaging flaw that takes over and possesses their life. This is a flaw that is possessed, by all heroes. From the place of honor, the hero will fall and the character of Othello is no exception. He is a genuine character that is determined to prove his worth as husband and a soldier, by speaking of his exploits. He is easily misled by others and therefore his honor is affected by that awful demon, jealously, which will be his downfall.’ When there is conflicting emotions, suspicious natures and feelings of betrayal, this will lead to revenge; the hero is full of promise and falls victim to his own mistakes and downfalls. This will inevitably be his destruction (enotes.com).

Artese claims that the flesh-bond plot in The Merchant of Venice resembles a folktale known as “A Pound of Flesh” (325). Artese supports his supposition with background context and parallels between the two story lines. Literary versions of the pound of flesh story circulated during the sixteenth century and were collected since the nineteenth century because of the plot’s longevity and populairity Shakespeare would have been familiar with pound of flesh stories (326). Human commodification is a central issue in both The Merchant of Venice and the folktale. When Portia states that Shylock cannot extract a drop of blood from Antonio and take no less or no more than an exact pound, this also alludes to the pound of flesh storyline (330-331). After establishing that The Merchant of Venice’s plot is based off of the pound of flesh storyline, the author explains that it was important for Shakespeare to use this specific plot because it shows the power dynamics between the Venetian Christian and the Jew.

Sympathy is not gained through religion, but rather through authentic and respectable character. The Merchant of Venice by renowned playwright William Shakespeare is in itself a story about religion and religious tensions; however, one’s religion is not what defines them. One’s character does, and in the Merchant of Venice we encounter two characters, Antonio and Shylock, who share similarities throughout the play, but are overall different people with different morals. On one hand there is Antonio, a sad, christian merchant and a dear friend, while on the other hand there is Shylock, a hostile Jewish moneylender, who like Antonio is struck with great loss. Both exhibit mercilessness, for different reasons, and both suffer loss, with different reactions. Overall, the similarities between Antonio and Shyock make us sympathize with Antonio, the man with the more sincere character.

All movies, plays and stories have a victim and a villain in the story. The victim is forced to overcome obstacles and is often hurt physically and emotionally while the villain is the one who wreaks havoc and tries to stop the victim from achieving their goal. In the play Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare there is a character so elaborate and confusing that an argument could be made that he is both. This character, Shylock, suffers from persecution and humiliation for being a Jew as well as attempting horrendous actions in hopes of retaliation. The play starts out with a young Venetian man, Bassanio, needing a substantial loan so that he can attempt to win over Portia, a young, “richly left” woman(1.1.68). A

Both Merchant of Venice and Crash emphasize the idea that discrimination, violence, and racism present in society are constant and limitless. Shakespeare wrote his play for a smaller audience than that of Haggis, making it simpler to appeal to the reader, yet the outcome is the same. The Merchant of

William Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice is a story about man seeking justice for the forfeiture of his bond. Shylock the Jew created a bond loaning three thousand ducats to his rival Antonio. In the event that the loan could not be paid back, Shylock was entitled to a “pound of flesh from the breast” of Antonio. Antonio’s invested the money in his merchant ships hoping to gain profit. Unfortunately he loses his ships at sea, losing everything Shylock had loaned him. Shylock happily takes Antonio to court in hopes of receiving that pound of flesh as a result of the forfeiture of his bond. However due to manipulation of the court by an illegitimate lawyer, Shylock is ruled as the guilty party of the case. Shylocks’ sentencing from the court