The Homosexual Relationship Between Antonio and Bassanio in William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice Tsun-Hsien Tsai Sophomore Student‚ Department of English National Changhua University of Education There are many pairs of male adults with honorable masculine friendships appearing in William Shakespeare’s popular plays‚ such as Antonio and Bassanio in The Merchant of Venice‚ Antonio and Sebastian in Twelfth Night‚ the two kings Leonates and Polixenes in The Winter’s Tale‚ and so on. No matter
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which are beyond their control for example their appearance. In plays and novels‚ the victim is sometimes a character included to highlight the prejudices and pre-conceptions of the social climate in which the play or novel was written. In the Merchant of Venice’ it can be argued that Shylocks character undergoes a metamorphosis from villain to victim. However‚ in this essay I hope to discuss whether in fact Shylock can be defined as either villain or victim and to form an opinion of what Shakespeare
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Anne Bradstreet’s poem “The Flesh and the Spirit” shows us the duality of man that her audience was having to deal with at the spiritual level. While this poem was written back in 1643 it still shows us as Christians what we have come from and how easy it would be to go back to a life of the “flesh”. This poem also goes about giving us details about what we should be striving for and what we have to look forward to if we strive toward the real or ultimate goals or rather possessions. The poem
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Is Shylock more sinned against than sinning? Many different views can be taken on the Jewish merchant Shylock in the play ‘The Merchant of Venice’ written by William Shakespeare. Although when taking into account the many trials and tribulations that Shylock had to endure‚ it is forthcoming to say that Shylock was more sinned against than sinning. There are key and defining moments in this play when it becomes more apparent as to why Shylock is acting out against Antonio. From early on when Antonio
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Sympathy for Shylock in Michael Radford’s The Merchant of Venice William Shakespeare’s well-known play The Merchant of Venice was brought to the silver screen in 2004 in film adaption directed by Michael Radford. Adapting The Merchant of Venice to film helped make this classic English literature easily accessible to the public‚ while also making one of Shakespeare’s famous characters a bit more human. Decisions made while filming the adaption of this play changed the lens through which Shylock is
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most from it. They were convicted of heresy‚ and often killed because of their beliefs. Such is the kind of racial discrimination toward Shylock‚ the Jewish character in "The Merchant of Venice." Some believe that the character as a greedy‚ coldhearted villain‚ which is not the case. In Shakespeare’s play‚ "The Merchant of Venice‚" Shylock was a victim of years’ struggle against discrimination toward his religion. One of the most persistent charges against Shylock was that he was cruel and bloodthirsty
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In The Merchant of Venice how does Shakespeare present both Shylock as both victim and villain? Throughout the play‚ ‘The Merchant of Venice’‚ Shylock reveals many personalities; therefore making him such an emotionally complex and detailed character that shows elements of being both a victim and villain; and to come to my decision to whether Shylock is either of the two‚ other characters language towards him and his reactions will perceive different ideas from different era’s in time to determine
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friendship. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Merchant of Venice‚ Shakespeare highlights the relationship between a father and his daughter. Both of these plays show examples of how common father and daughter relationships are. Also‚ it is not unusual for a comedy to have a father demanding that his daughter marry a certain person. The law of the father plays an important role in the stories of both A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Merchant of Venice. In the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream‚ we are
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In Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice‚ there are quite a few cases in which the non-Christian characters are marginalized and victimized of Christian prejudice and absolute racism. The Christian prejudice and racial discrimination transpires through the use of language and terms of reference. In sixteenth-century Europe‚ Jews were a despised and persecuted minority. England‚ in fact‚ went beyond mere persecution and harassment by banning Jews from the country altogether. In theory at least‚ there
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serious play with a happy ending or enough jokes throughout the play to lighten the mood. I consider the ‘Merchant of Venice’ by William Shakespeare a tragicomedy as both tragedy and comedy can be seen throughout the play. There are many factors that give proof to this statement. To begin with‚ one of the factors of a tragedy is the presence of a tragic hero. The protagonist‚ the real merchant of Venice‚ Antonio is the tragic hero. He is sad from the beginning to the end of the play. In the beginning
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