In this paper, it focuses on the reading of tutorial four, entitled “The Merchant of Venice”. It was a journal article under the category of literary studies, written by Jay L. Halio in 1998. This reading is classified as a secondary source, because the author Halio was not a participant of the topic. But he studied the original edition by William Shakespeare written in 16th century. Halio the author did research on it and interpreted the original edition into today’s language for people’s better understanding.
To briefly sum up, it was about a Jewish lender named Shylock who charge excessive interest to the Christian merchant Antonio. The scene starts when Antonio, a Venice merchant who need 3000 ducats to help his friend. He then turns to a Jewish lender named Shylock, who usually earn interest from lending. Shylock views the Jewish as naïve to lend money freely without charging interest, and he against this practice. Therefore, he at first refuse to lend it freely. However, through Antonio’s argument against usury, that it is immoral and against nature to make gold generative. Finally, Shylock agrees to lend with no interest, but with a specific condition – forfeit of repay requires taking of Antonio’s flesh.
To put Shakespeare’s play into its historical context, which was written in the background of 16th century. At that time, usury has been a debatable issue in England, and major pamphlets about it were passed. On the one hand, usury was commonly adopted by the popes
In the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, I deduce that the male characters have made the most dramatic influence to its readers, thus far, in Acts I and II. In my perspective, the men bestow their standpoints profoundly and they are the initiators of numerous quarrels, which impacts the plot by amplifying suspense. To begin, Romeo commences conflict overall, by having the audacity to love the daughter of his sole enemy. "My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself, Because it is an enemy to thee. Had I it written, I would tear the word"(1024).
Othello: A Close Reading This is an analysis of the lines 260-279 of the third scene of the third act of Shakespeare’s Othello. In an attempt to fulfill the incessant need for comfortable dichotomies, societies tend to be divided into two groups: the ‘in-crowd’ and the ‘others’. These strict dualities, constructed upon the inherent need for adversaries, are often as arbitrary as they are false and based on nothing but fear.
Christie Yeo Qing Wen Professor Kevin Riordan HL1002: Survey of English Literature I 6 November 2015 The Deception of Gender In The Merchant of Venice, deceptive façades are reinforced by Portia’s seeming subjugation to male rule, but in truth, her status as an empowered female who maintains her autonomy and ultimately outwits and subverts the authority of the patriarchal Elizabethan society.
With the laws of Venice miles behind them, the characters of Othello seem to have entered a Hobbesian state of nature where anything is permissible so long as it furthers the individual interest. Indeed, upon arriving in Cyprus, the majority of the characters have lives that are “poor, nasty, brutish, and short” (Hobbes 76). Othello is the perfect illustration of the dangers of rhetoric. Iago exemplified the type of rhetoric that made the Greek demagogues threatening.
As humans we all have been where rumors have been spread about us or where we do the opposite. They, however, all tend to do some harm to us and it can cause certain conflicts to occur during the process. Death can be the outcome of something like this because this did happen to three innocent people. They were all wrapped up in a bed of lies that ended their lives sooner than expected. Thesis statement: Othello Desdemona and Emilia ended up with unfortunate deaths because of Othello 's integrity towards Iago.
In this journal we can thrash out the influences of Shakespeare and Machiavelli in the tragedy, The duchess of malfi. The Machiavellian note in the play: Niccolo Machiavelli was a statesman who flourished in Florence during the years 1469-1527.His book the PRINCE was the most popular work of the time and had wide influence . His doctrine may be thus summarized: (1) One should not allow oneself to be hampered by any kind of moral considerations in the pursuit
The common aim of playwrights of any time or location is to capture and hold the attention of their audience; this is what Shakespeare has clearly done. The tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice, is one of Shakespeare 's most renowned plays. Through construction of intriguing characters, exploration of universal themes, use of comic relief and a well-written script featuring a compelling plot, Shakespeare ensured the tragedy of Othello would hold the interest of the audience; despite being over four centuries old. It possesses so many conditions that can be accentuated to hit nerves with both a Shakespearean and modern audience. The entire plot of Othello is very much like the attitudes and methods of our modern day society.
It is the first goal of our essay to understand how marriage and courtship in Shakespeare´s plays are an important exciting theme because it was something real during XVI century. The objective of the essay is to examine how courtship and marriage affects the issues and formation of the play named A Midsummer Night´s Dream (The Malone Society, 1996) focusing on the social and emotional relationships between men and women. Consequently, the aims are: first, to show the importance of the female character in the play according to virginity, chastity and sexuality; second, to explain how love is treated in the play; and lastly, to illustrate how courtship and marriage are depicted through the characters. It is crucial to understand that all of
In this paper, I will discuss how the following events in this tragic play can help us to analyze the character growth of King Lear. It is important for us to recognize the flaws and weaknesses of Lear’s personality to see how his actions and decisions led to his ruin. However, although he faces the misfortune of losing the things that he cherished the most, he also has the opportunity of transitioning into his being and experiencing the new-found attentiveness of love and morality. Whilst analyzing the progression of Lear’s complex character development, we must start from the beginning.
‘The Merchant of Venice’ written by William Shakespeare (1564-1616) and ‘The Jew of Malta’ written by Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) were both written during a period when anti-semitism was prevalent in England. Anti Semitism is the intense dislike for and prejudice against Jewish people. The Jews were considered a despised race and were deeply resented by the Christians. They bore the plaque of disgrace and hostility. As a Jew, Shylock too faced such discrimination.
The concept of justice varies depending on the country, their cultures, and on individual people. Justice and mercy are important themes in The Merchant of Venice and are supported by quotes in the play; it is clearly seen that these two virtues cannot be achieved simultaneously. Justice calls for “an eye for an eye” and mercy asks for forgiveness and compassion towards the one who did wrong. Using examples from The Merchant of Venice, it can clearly be seen that these two human virtues can not be pursued at the same time. There are various definitions as to what justice truly is.
Those who managed to gain wealth were looked down upon just as much as those who had no money at all. However in Act two scene 5, Shylock says, “I’ll go in hate, to eat the wasteful christians food.” In this quote Shakespeare is alluding to the biblical belief that
Role of women in The Merchant of Venice Women during 16th century had no individual freedom. Despite the fact that a single woman ruled England at the time of Shakespeare, the Elizabethan society was patriarchal. Women were considered the weaker gender and always in need of being protected. Wealthy woman were highly educated but they had no right to have professions while poor women sometimes would turn to prostitution or become servants to survive. The book The Merchant of Venice was settled in Venice because Shakespeare wanted to show that even in the foundation place of Renaissance were prejudicial ideas and woman was considered as a weak character.
In this essay the following characters and features will be compared and contrasted: Mercutio and Benvolio, their differences and similarities, how they effected the play, how they participate in the feud. I choose these features because even though they are not “main characters” they still greatly influence the play. I will explain how they effected the play, how their personalities make them foils and how this in turn effects them as characters and everyone around them.
I plan to dive deeper into the making of the Jew in this paper. The Merchant of Venice is a play spurred into action by love and to a far extent by hate. Hate has been associated usually with Shylock ,it was hate which made him exact revenge through his profession, however, evidence points it to all of the characters of the play. It was hate which made him exact revenge through his profession.