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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L I T CHA R T S TM GET LIT TM The Merchant of Venice Author Bio Historical and Literary Context When Written: 1596–8 Where Written: England When Published: 1623 Literary Period: The Renaissance Related Literary Works: Though some describe The Merchant of Venice as a comedy because it ends with the marriage of its heroes Portia and Bassanio‚ it can also be described as a kind of “revenge tragedy.” Typically‚ a revenge tragedy revolves around the quest of its central character to avenge a wrong
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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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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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The Merchant of Venice is a play by William Shakespeare‚ believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598.In Shakespeare s The Merchant of Venice‚ there are many controversies over religion and friendship‚ but the idea of the play that interested me the most was the role of women. The two women that are in this play take on the role of the saviors of the men who seem helpless and hopeless compared to them. From the first time we meet Portia‚ we see that she is a very smart woman and that she is
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Is Shylock portrayed as a villain or victim? In our lessons we have been studying one of Shakespeare’s plays The Merchant of Venice. This is one of Shakespeare’s most famous romantic comedies‚ written in 1596. The bases of this play lies on dealing with a dispute between shylock‚ a wealthy Jew‚ and Antonio‚ a merchant of Venice. In my essay I am going to evaluate weather shylock is a man more sinned against than sinning. Shylock has the most important role‚ but despite his importance he doesn’t
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From ancient times‚ through to the Renaissance‚ friendship between two men was regarded as the highest form of social relationship‚ even surpassing that between a man and a woman in matrimony. This is portrayed through “The Merchant of Venice”‚ written by William Shakespeare which was written between 1556 and 1558. This platonic natured friendship is still portrayed in modern literature‚ but due to changed opinions because of the society in which it was written it is more subtle in expressions as
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Merchant of Venice I agree with the statement saying that the main issues of The Merchant of Venice are credited to the development of Shylock and Portia. Throughout the story‚ the characters of Shylock and Portia are the ones who raise many significant matters to do with Venetian society and even our society today. Shylock’s experiences in the story bring up topics of racism and revenge‚ while through the character of Portia‚ issues such as justice‚ mercy and the role of women in a patriarchal
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Merchant of Venice A comedy is a dramatic work that is light and often humorous or satirical in tone and that usually contains a happy resolution of conflict. Merchant of Venice is a classic example of how to write a funny‚ entertaining and great story. William Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice consisted of many humorous scenes‚ great acting and happy resolution of a conflict in the end. All of this fits the bill for a great movie to be produced. A few comical scenes consist
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The play I have studied is Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare. The character I believe deserves the title heroine is Portia. Portia‚ as I will explain is quite an atypical hero figure. She is rich and beautiful‚ so we assume wrongly at first that she will be spoilt and inconsequential to the action of the play. This could not be further from the truth. Portia is not to be underestimated. Without Portia‚ there would be no titular merchant at the end of this Romantic Comedy. Portia may be
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