Merchant Taylors' School

In 1596, the play The Merchant of Venice was published and displayed in theatres to the city of London. The play, which was written by the famous Playwright by the name of Shakespeare, was very popular for both its humor and its dramatic scenes and speeches. The play tells the story of a man named Antonio, who works as a merchant and lives in the city of Venice, Italy. One day, his good friend Bassanio, a poor yet very friendly man, comes to Antonio in need of money, which he needs to borrow in…

In Shakespeares, The Merchant Of Venice, a Jewish moneylender, Shylock, was in trial over a contract. This contract was between Shylock and Antonio, another main character who was a Christian, which stated that Antonio must pay back the 3000 ducats that he borrowed in 3 months, in failure to do so Antonio must give Shylock one pound of his own flesh. Antonio failed to pay him back so a trial was held and the contract was presented so that Shylock could and would be allowed to collect “his” pound…

harm to others and destroy the happiness and peacefulness in all the characters of the story. The true definition of a villain according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary is “a character in a story, movie, etc., who does bad things.” In the play, Merchant of Venice, several characters do a few things that are bad, but none can compare to wanting to take a mans life as Shylock tried to do. What kind of man does it show who Shylock is, for wanting to take a mans life because he is late paying a…

This quote is shylock talking to tubal about Jessica leaving “I would my daughter were dead at my foot, and/ the jewels in her ears: would she were hearsed at my foot, /and the ducats in her coffin!.(III.i.79-81). Shylock is mad that his daughter left him with his money and would want her to be dead in front of him to get his money and have all her ducats from her coffin. This shows that Shylock is a villain since he would go to the extent to wanting her dead for his…

The main female characters of Christopher Marlow’s The Jew of Malta and William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice serve the same purpose in their respective plays. Despite their power differences, Abigail and Portia fulfill the same function of humiliating the Jewish main character. These women also perform comparable actions which feed into the execution of their implicit main purpose. These actions and consequences include the following: going in disguise to protect financial statuses when…

Mohit Ray’s Shakespeare’s Construction of the Jew discusses the complex nature of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. The central argument is that Shylock’s construction relies more heavily on “historical imagination” than on “historical reality” (Ray 1). Shylock is created using the contemporary and prejudiced views of the audience; this image “becomes the stereotype and historical image of a Jew” (1). Although Shylock is a very strong adoption of the traditional image of the Jew, Ray points out…

Chicago Press. In this book Rabkin looks at several Shakespeare plays including The Merchant of Venice, Henry V, and The Tempest as well as many others. Rabkin uses these to support his argument that the plays do mean something more than can be conveyed by description alone. He shows that there are many complex paradoxical elements present in Shakespeare’s work. The first chapter is entitled “Meaning and The Merchant of Venice”. In this chapter Rabkin begins by explaining his perception of the…

the example of a woman who had been so badly beaten by her late husband that her eyes pointed in different directions. Yeah that woman can attend therapy classes however, the trauma will remain engraved in her brain forever. In Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, Shylock experienced some traumatic hate and oppression from Antonio. Antonio had spit on him multiple times, insulted him, and put him down because of his religion. These actions against Shylock also traumatized him and are what…

Shylock shows the intriguing conflict between the Christians and the Jews in Venice. Shylock immediately shows his hatred for Antonio, as he says in an aside, “I hate him for he is a Christian; But more, for that in low simplicity He lends out money gratis”. This shows his loathing for Antonio based on that fact that he dislikes Christians and highlighting the conflict between Christians and Jews in Venice, furthermore, Antonio is seen as a rival in his business, this further emphasizes the…

The Merchant of Venice typically is deemed to be “a tragedy.” However, the play is similarly meeting the classification gauge of a romantic comedy. Looking at the issue of romance, the play revolves around Bassanio, who is the Venice suitor and Portia, the heiress from Belmont. Bassanio attains some finance in the form of loan from his friend, Antonio that he utilizes to pursue Portia. On the other hand, the merchant, Antonio takes such loan on behalf of Bassanio from Shylock. An agreement made…