The Merchant Of Venice Character Analysis

Topic Sentence: Mercy plays a major role in this play it shows us the importance of human life and friendship.

The idea of superiority and inferiority within races has been a concept since civilizations even discovered the different amounts of melanin that could surge through their hair and skin. To alienate a person based on skin color is common, where the battlefield is unfairly divided between the inferior and superior race. It is such case in the story of Othello, following the deteriorating timeline of the main character who has had all his peers intentionally turned against him. Living in Venice, he is known as a strong military commander, but people are more open to calling him “the Moor”. Labels are discarded on Othello, the main character, which minimize his identity to just an outsider. Although he accepts his degrading nicknames, he

While the conflict between justice and mercy plays a key role in determining the outcome of The Merchant of Venice, this conflict is even more important because it provides a setting for the contrast between the rigid law and rules of the Old Testament and the concepts of mercy and forgiveness as taught by Christ in the New Testament. It is in the climactic trial scene that The Duke, hoping Shylock will excuse Antonio's penalty, asks him, “How shall thou hope for mercy rend'ring none?” He is referring to expectations of judgment in the afterlife. However, so is Shylock, when he counters, “What judgment shall I dread doing no wrong?” This exchange perfectly presents this conflict between

The Merchant of Venice, a story of despair and pain. Wait, nevermind it’s a comedy. There are too many humorous scenes for it not to be a comedy. It may not seem very funny but, in this time period this play would have been very humerous. I still think this play is a comedy because what isn’t funny about women pretending to be men, how Shylock and if you compare this play to Shakespeare’s other works you can easily see that this is a comedy.

The Prince of Morocco is of a different skin colour than the other characters in the play and has many different customs. His different skin colour and exaggeration is shown in various statements such as “Mislike me not for my complexion”, “this aspect of mine hath feared the valiant… virgins of our clime hath loved it too”, “By this scimitar… I would o'erstare the sternest eyes that look, outbrave the heart most daring on the earth… mock the lion when he roars for pray... to win the lady”. This shows his very exaggerated character, describing to great lengths what he would do to be with the fair Portia, and also shows his differing skin colour. The audience would have immediately been engaged due to the introduction of a character that was not from their country. The Prince of Morocco’s differing complexion along with his very exaggerated character engages the audience effectively due to the fact that such an unusual character not known to them, with many hyperboles would have perplexed the audience and left them interested in such an exotic

Shakespeare uses repetition and rhetoric extensively throughout ‘The Merchant of Venice’ to show characterization through themes of wealth, race, religion and justice, amongst others through the characters Shylock, Antonio and Portia.

William Shakespeare, widely regarded as the world’s greatest playwright, has revolutionized the world of English literature with his plays. Some of these plays are clear-cut comedies and tragedies, while others are more ambiguous. The Merchant of Venice is a play that falls under the latter type, and it has been hotly contested whether this literary work should be classified a comedy or a tragedy. However, since the majority of the characters received a happy ending, the abundance of comic relief scenes and characters, and lightheartedness of the plot relative to other Shakespearean works leads me to conclude that The Merchant of Venice is indeed a comedy.

Everyone has been in that difficult position when your parents want you to make one choice and you want to make another. In William Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, Portia is bound by a game of luck her father has put in place for her, which gives potential suitors the chance to choose a casket resulting in her marriage. Portia is conflicted, she does not want to marry any of the chosen suitors, yet she feels ashamed to go against her late father’s will. Portia has a rocky relationship with her father and the game he has put in place for her . . . until her loved is won over by Bassiano. In the Merchant of Venice, author William Shakespeare uses Portia’s happy marriage to Bassiano to demonstrate the positive outcomes of justice; however, when Portia has to risk her happiness by abiding by her late father’s will, Shakespeare suggests that justice can only be granted if something is given in return. Justice according to Shakespeare is considered to be what you deserve.

Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice is problematic when it comes to classifying genre because it does not stay within the confines of any one category. While many of Shakespeare’s plays can be easily categorized, some, like The Merchant of Venice, are unclear because of the combination of tragedy elements mixing in with the comedy. After closely reading the play, it is apparent that it does not fit the rules of a true tragedy. For example, even though Shylock meets a tragic end, it is not enough to consider him a tragic hero. Shylock’s downfall elicits sympathy, especially in the modern day, but this is not tragic ending that the audience fears. If Antonio was to lose his life, and the marriages of the couples fail, then this play could be considered tragedy. Any tension or anguish placed throughout this play is used dramatically to further the plot and draw the intended emotions from the audience. Gene Fendt states that what is enjoyed in a play is not necessarily the good in it, but the joys or desires it awakens in the audience. He writes, “as tragedy produces a catharsis of pity and fear, so such comedy would purify our desire and sympathy” (287). The Merchant of Venice certainly uses passions and vengeance to rouse lighter emotions in the audience. While The Merchant of Venice consists some elements of a tragedy, the use of comic relief, disguises by characters, and the happy endings for the protagonists, proves that this play is a comedy.

1) Supported my hypothesis as it showed that Othello was easily jealous, but it did not say that it caused Othello’s death. This hinted that Othello’s own jealousy caused his death.

The merchant of Venice was believed to wrote between 1596 and 1598, and it is Shakespeare’s most controversial play. The theme of this play is praises kindheartedness, friendship and love, but also reflects the contradiction between the bourgeoisie and the usurer in the early commercial capitalism period. “Although Shylock is the most prominent character in The Merchant of Venice, he takes part in neither the beginning nor the ending of the play” (Bevington:21). His vengeful struggle to acquire a pound

The Merchant of Venice, by William Shakespeare, is more tragic than Comedic in many ways. Throughout the play we discover cycles of depression, hatred, and finally revenge that doesn’t quite happen as planned and backfires tragically.

By analyzing one of the sources, the quote from Merchant of Venice, the detectives piece together the correlation between the pound of flesh on the scale next to the victim and the reference to flesh in the quote. Unfortunately, no fingerprints were found at the scene either implying that the murderer was meticulous and careful or that he somehow removed his fingerprints, which makes it difficult for the detectives to easily identify him. After reviewing the evidence and sources, Mills recalls that the picture of Eli Gould’s wife had her eyes circled in Mr. Gould’s blood. From this evidence, they deducted that the wife, although not physically at the crime scene, has knowledge that could somehow help the case. After taking a second glance at the crime scene photos, she declares that a specific piece of artwork has been rehung upside down, indicating to the detectives that it was at the behest of the murderer. Behind the artwork, Somerset finds fingerprints, which is odd given that this is the first crime scene where fingerprints have been found. The crime scene investigator, after using a black light on the wall, discovers the words “help me” in the form of multiple fingerprints. These fingerprints are in the national fingerprint database and match a man named Theodore Allen, who goes by Victor, has an extended criminal history and had previously employed the second victim, Eli Gould, as his attorney. Somerset, being the world-weary cynic, is not convinced that Victor is

Shylock, a character in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice has been abhorred upon by Christians and it reflects on his actions and his personality in a negative way. This victimization causes Shylock to appear as a self-obsessed fool, when really he is a heartbroken Jewish father. We can assume that since he was young, he had always been treated cruelly because of his religion and time period which in the future causes him to be all alone and gather this great lust for revenge. People understand that Jews are treated atrociously in the 1500’s like Shylock because many of the characters express it or admit it. For example, Shylock and Antonio are creating a bond in which Antonio asks Shylock to loan him some money knowing that the way he treats Shylock is wrong. The bond specifies that if the money is not payed back, then Shylock has the authority to take a pound of Antonio’s flesh. This happens in the city plaza of Venice. Shylock states all the wrongs that Antonio approached on him, including when Antonio calls him a “dog”(1.3.121). Unfortunately, Antonio retorts, “I am as like to call thee so again,/ to spet on thee again, to spurn thee, too.” (1.3.140-141). Antonio doesn’t even blink before he says that he would verbally and physically bully Shylock over and over again, as long as he stayed a Jew. If someone puts themselves in Shylock shoes, how would he feel? He definitely wouldn’t feel happy or content with what

Antonio, a Venetian merchant, complains to his friends of a sadness, perhaps because Bassanio is away. Meanwhile Bassanio is desperately in need of money to court Portia, a wealthy lady who lives in the city of Belmont. Bassanio requests Antonio for a loan in order to travel in style to Portia’s estate. Antonio is unable to give the loan himself because his money is all invested in the trade ships that are still at sea. Antonio suggests that Bassanio secure the loan from the moneylender Shylock, with him as guarantor. Once his ships are back he would be able to repay it.