Merchant of Venice Notes KEY LITERARY ELEMENTS SETTING The play‚ as the title suggests‚ is set in Italy. Venice‚ in the popular imagination of Elizabethan society‚ was a place of fabulous wealth‚ royal merchants‚ richly attired gentlemen‚ and refined culture. Antonio is very much a part of this society. But this is not the only part of the Venetian picture that is portrayed in the play; another less romantic view is also given. It is the cruel commercial and legal side of Venice‚ where ships
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Rex Clayton Professor Kennedy ENGL 200 07/13/2013 Sympathy not Tragedy That old Jew got what he deserved! This is the cathartic feeling that William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice inspires as the central character Antonio is released from the perils of his impending death. In American society today‚ it is wrong to persecute someone for their religious beliefs‚ as we are all created equal. This sentiment was‚ indeed‚ not the case in the 1500’s. Although the events that surround Shylock are
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The Merchant of Venice: A Tragicomedy Patricia Green INTRODUCTION Shakespeare in the High School Classroom The Merchant of Venice‚ by William Shakespeare‚ does not fit the conventional definitions of a tragedy or a comedy. It is categorized as a comedy‚ although one of the two distinct plotlines is a tragedy. This play is multi-faceted and is really a combination of two plays in one; therefore it lends itself well as a source for teaching different lessons in the high school classroom. This curriculum
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Joe Nagooga Mr. Harris LA 11 May 9‚ 2013 The Merchant of Venice Tragic or Comedy Anti-Semitic or not In my opinion‚ I think the merchant of Venice is more of a tragic play than a comedy. The merchant of Venice is more of a tragic play because of its negative intents from the characters in the play. Greed‚ deception‚ and hatred are couple of negative intents. Shakespeare gives reasons for Shylock’s actions. Antonio is a friend of Bassanio and a Christian. Antonio spits on Shylock whenever
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The Merchant of Venice The play The Merchant of Venice is a comedy about a man named Bassanio who wants to travel to Belmont to try and win the love of a rich‚ beautiful and intelligent heiress‚ names Portia. Bassanio has his friend Antonio borrow money from a Jewish money lender for him so that he could travel to Belmont. The Merchant of Venice has many different themes‚ including the two themes; revenge & love and friendship. The first theme in the play The Merchant of Venice is revenge
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The Merchant of Venice In “The Merchant of Venice” by William Shakespeare is a play in which the themes of love and hate are dominant. The Merchant of Venice is a tale set in Venice about a merchant named Antonio who attempts to help his friend‚ Bassanio marry his love Portia. In order to do this he is forced to borrow money from a Jewish money lender called Shylock. In this essay I will discuss the nature of these themes and the main characters involved. I also intend to consider the different
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A victim is someone who has been singled out for cruelor unfair treatment. A villain is a wicked person or a criminal. Antonio’s counterpart‚ Shylock‚ is the most noteworthy figure in Shakespeare’s comedy‚ The Merchant of Venice. No consensus has been reached on whether Shylock is a tyrannical villain or a tragic victim. Shylock‚ in my opinion‚ is a bloodthirsty villain. In the following paragraphs‚ it will be shown that Shylock is a villain in every sense of the word. Namely‚ he is vengeful‚
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Shylock: Villain or Victim The Merchant Of Venice is the story about a merchant by the name of Antonio who borrows money from a Jewish moneylender by the name of Shylock‚ in order to fund his best friend Bassanio’s romantic ambitions. The majority of the residents of Venice during the time this story was written were Christians‚ just like Antonio. At the same time there was a considerable amount of hatred toward those who were not Christians. Antonio needed money quickly and he had no other choice
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Shylock in "The Merchant of Venice" Summary: In "The Merchant of Venice" by William Shakespeare‚ Shylock is always portrayed as the villain of the play. However‚ a study of his strengths and weaknesses reveals how hard it is to tell whether he is a villain or a victim. ’The Merchant of Venice’ written by William Shakespeare is two stories; the flesh blond tale and the love caskets tale. An important character that portrays these two stories is Shylock‚ an arrogant Jewish merchant. Shylock is
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Jews and Christians in Renaissance Venice as Portrayed by Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice Benjamin Ravid‚ Robert Finlay‚ and Walter Cohen all have their own way of explaining the Jews in Venice in their articles. There is no argument that Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice contradicts and is over exaggerated when it is compared to each one of their articles‚ although there are many situations and events that occur in the play that relate to the historical reality of the relationship
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