Venice Biennale

William Shakespeare 's characters, in the fourth act of The Merchant of Venice, display such blatant hypocrisy that the outcome of the court proceeding is almost darkly comical. Portia speaks of mercy and yet shows none, in defense of a man who earlier showed no mercy yet later feigned innocence. On that account, Antonio had earlier spat upon Shylock, and called him any number of names and slurs. Shylock 's near moment of revenge, then abrupt fall from power mark the height of the hypocrisy of…

nature is crystal clear at this point. Portia is also very clever and intelligent, tricking Lorenzo into thinking that she and Nerissa would be staying at a monastery during their husbands’ leave when they are actually following their husbands to Venice, disguised as men. Portia’s comical side is seen once again, as she states how she would act like an immature young man to pass off as a convincing…

The Cleaver Acts of a Class: Inducing Shakespeare Starting of as a freshman at Washington State University, personality I had as much interest in English as a sheep would have an interest in being killed. I often found myself dreading having to take an English course because I hate grammar and worrying about where a semi-colon goes or if I should just put a period instead. I wondered If there was any other class I could take to count as my English credit, and that is how I landed on English 205…

An Irrevocable Impact In the novel Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison stresses the impact of a sole childhood trauma on a character’s entire course of action, as well as the constant theme that surrounds it. She proves through extensive development of Macon Dead, Guitar Bains, and eventually Circe that a single event can provide a lens through which these characters view the world around them, and in turn influence every decision they make. Guitar’s life is guided by the tragedy of his father’s…

The conflict between the laws of the state and the laws of indivdual consciene is a hard decision to face. However, both characters in, Antigone by Sophocles and Sarah’s Key by Tatiana DeRosnay come face to face with this difficult desicion. The charcters experience similar situations of facing against injustices. Similar to Antigone, Sarah is forbidden to see her brother, but is wiling to do anything to see him and goes against unfair laws put in place. These similar concpets connects the two…

Despite the social problems affecting Lampedusa, the message portrayed by Crialese is clear. People should work towards helping those that reach Italy, even if the Italian government says that they should not, and call the Carabinieri to turn them away from Italy. He does this by stirring empathy from characters, and gets characters to feel compassion for these African migrants, even if they had different feelings at first. This compassion is first shown by the sailors who declare that as law…

Donald Trump cheats his way into power and manipulates people into voting for him. Similar the this in the play, The Merchant Of Venice (M.O.V) written by William Shakespeare; Prince Morocco, Prince Arragon. and Bassanio are manipulated by Portia. In M.O.V Portia demonstrates that there can be justice without mercy through her actions and her manipulations with her suitors. Portia is as a teacher is with students. She can manipulate them into believing anything she has to say; whether or not…

believe that she has been an innocent woman, wrongfully reprimanded for her family, who killed nobles with the poison la cantarella. The idea of who is victimized by society, is evident, especially in William Shakespeare’s “comedy,” The Merchant of Venice. Through the play, he characters pertain to their predicaments as if everything in the world revolves around them. However, there is only one true victim, Shylock, the Jewish moneylender, while characters such as Antonio, and Portia are…

self for his or her loved ones. When one truly cares and loves a person, they take risky actions and decisions for them blindly. This idea of taking great risks for one 's precious ones is often explored through literature. In the play, Merchant Of Venice, the playwright William Shakespeare, utilizes powerful characterization to suggest that taking risks for the people one loves, blinds one of the consequences that may arise. Portia is a kind woman…

noble for even including Shylock’s perspective into his play. Though Shakespeare does not definitively promote equality, I personally believe that he is critiquing the people of his time period for their blatant racism with his work The Merchant of Venice. Therefore, Shakespeare makes an effort to challenge the typical racial biases of his time period. While Shakespeare rejects prejudices, Milton actively enforces gender stereotypes. Eve, the only female character in Paradise Lost, is…