Shakespeare is one of the most brilliant writers to ever grace the earth, he inspired others to be great and gave us amazing plays as a result of his brilliance. However, Shakespeare did not always make art that was appreciated by all or understood by all. The Merchant of Venice is a prime example of this controversy, because of some of the interesting messages the play conveys, and the age old battle of whether or not it is a comedy or tragedy. There needs to be a clear understanding of the comedic component of the play in order to comprehend William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice; this understanding can come from analysing the tone of the play, the political and social setting, and the characters that make this story whole. One
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In this story Shakespeare takes an approach of portraying Shylock as a comedic character, however that may not be understood by the reader because we have a more accepting, balanced social system in today’s world. Shylock seems tragic at the times because of his portrayal and life in the play, but he is supposed to be comedic and stereotyped for the reader. During the time there were huge conflicts between Christianity and Judaism that came to a rise when Queen Elizabeth’s personal doctor who was Jewish tried to poison her, this scandal caused a huge outbreak in anti-semitism that influenced writing like The Merchant of Venice (Hunt). This writing in today’s world is seen as cruel rejection of religion when you hear things like Lancelet proclaim “O rare fortune! here comes the man: to him, father; for I am a Jew, if I serve the Jew any longer.” (II.ii.73-74), there was instead an interpretation at the time of it being funny that Shylock would lose out when his servant left him. There is also this separation in the play’s actual setting that shows this anti-semitism, Shylock lives in a ghetto that is separated from the other activities and Venice. In fact whenever you meet Shylock with someone in the play that is not his friend or family it always starts with “SCENE I. Venice. A street.” (I.i) or it is a public place, because no one else goes to Shylock’s house. This creates and isolation and shows his separation, which allows a stereotype to ensue. It is the physical and emotional barriers that are put up for Shylock to face that make the play comedic at the time, although Shylock would be pitied somewhat in today’s context, at the time the play was written Shylock was made to be a comedic relief because of his
In this story Shakespeare takes an approach of portraying Shylock as a comedic character, however that may not be understood by the reader because we have a more accepting, balanced social system in today’s world. Shylock seems tragic at the times because of his portrayal and life in the play, but he is supposed to be comedic and stereotyped for the reader. During the time there were huge conflicts between Christianity and Judaism that came to a rise when Queen Elizabeth’s personal doctor who was Jewish tried to poison her, this scandal caused a huge outbreak in anti-semitism that influenced writing like The Merchant of Venice (Hunt). This writing in today’s world is seen as cruel rejection of religion when you hear things like Lancelet proclaim “O rare fortune! here comes the man: to him, father; for I am a Jew, if I serve the Jew any longer.” (II.ii.73-74), there was instead an interpretation at the time of it being funny that Shylock would lose out when his servant left him. There is also this separation in the play’s actual setting that shows this anti-semitism, Shylock lives in a ghetto that is separated from the other activities and Venice. In fact whenever you meet Shylock with someone in the play that is not his friend or family it always starts with “SCENE I. Venice. A street.” (I.i) or it is a public place, because no one else goes to Shylock’s house. This creates and isolation and shows his separation, which allows a stereotype to ensue. It is the physical and emotional barriers that are put up for Shylock to face that make the play comedic at the time, although Shylock would be pitied somewhat in today’s context, at the time the play was written Shylock was made to be a comedic relief because of his