In the thought provoking comedy “The Merchant of Venice” by William Shakespeare we are introduced to a Jewish money lender Shylock. Shylock helps build the main them of the play “Prejudice” and “All is not what it seems”. In this essay I will be analysing and observing Shylock to understand whether he is a victim of prejudice or villain who deserves his misfortune. Antonio, a rich merchant, is, without any reason, depressed. His friends suggest he worried about his cargo ships, or he is in love.
Evan McGalpine - The Merchant of Venice - Shylock Critical Essay 'Shylock' from William Shakespeare’s 'The Merchant of Venice' is the character I have chosen to analyse, because through Shakespeare’s characterisation of Shylock, we find him truly fascinating and confusing as a character as we dislike him, yet sympathise with him, simultaneously, throughout the play for his various actions, There are some we agree with and others we do not. 'The Merchant of Venice' is about a man named Bassanio who wishes to travel to Belmont in order to win a beautiful lady's hand in marriage, named Portia. Although Bassanio does not have the money to impress her, nor get there. He asks to borrow money from his friend, and the merchant of play's title, Antonio. However Antonio's assets are currently out on his fleet of ships, and so he cannot give Bassanio the money, but he does advise him to speak to a money lender to obtain the money he requires.
James had told his students that Jews are “communists”, “imposters” and more and he taught them that Jews were “money lovers”, “power hungry”. He taught his classes that the Jewish people are the reason for depressions, chaos, war and revolution. James described Jews as people of profound evil and that they had created the Holocaust to gain sympathy. He made these statements to mainly attack Jewish people and He would also test his students on his theories and understanding, students who agreed to his theories would get better marks then students who disagreed towards his theories. This was unfair to the kids who did not believe in his theories.
Greed has been exemplified through racism and cheating on a famous 1950s game show. Image had become an important part of society, and that was seen when the TV industry became corrupt by losing their morals. The show “Twenty-One” was willing to do anything it could to bolster its image, even if it involved cheating. First, the producers were able to get an entire nation to believe that a Jewish character from Brooklyn had gotten a very easy question wrong, however he was paid to in favor that a new white man with a famous background comes in instead. However, it was not only the producers that began to become involved in cheating.
Is Macbeth Responsible For His Downfall? Who is responsible for the downfall of Macbeth? He is manipulated by the witches, encouraged by his wife, but ultimately he chooses to act. His first conference with the witches, Macbeth’s ambition was planted and his mind was overwhelmed with thoughts of murder and betrayal. It fair to say, in addition, that if his betrayal caused this extensive pain that clouded him after he murders Duncan, Banquo and the Macduff’s that it wasn’t a case of fate and was his own doing.
Who do you consider is most responsible for the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet? Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet all ends in a terrible tragedy, however there has to be someone to blame for this, but who? I strongly believe that Friar Lawrence is responsible for the tragedy. The main reasons why I think he is to blame is because he married Romeo and Juliet without anyone’s permission; he also helped them to have a secret night together; gave Juliet a dangerous potion; faked her funeral breaking the hearts of her family and he continued abusing the use of confession throughout the play. The most disgraceful thing is that he is a man of god and he committed all of these horrendous sins!
The Stranger, by Albert Camus’ point out the high naivety and hypocrisy linked with religious beliefs. The theme of religion is based on the existing conflict between the society and Meursault. The society is really condemning Meursault since he refuses to “waste any last minutes on God”. These conflicts bring a lot of challenges regarding religion since different meanings are connected to existence (Camus, Albert, Matthew, and Jonathan Davis, 36). In my opinion, I think that religion is oppressive in the Stranger, by Albert Camus’.
In the merchant of Venice Shakespeare gives us 3 relationships to examine. He gives us Jessica and Lorenzo, Nerissa and Gratiano and Portia and Bassanio. They are all very different couples and bring many different things to the play. The play is about Bassanio, a gambler with no money, asking Antonio for money and then having to go to Shylock, a Jewish Merchant, because Antonio’s money is in the ships in the sea. Bassanio wants the money so he can go to Belmont and ‘woo’ Portia, a woman who inherited a lot of money from her father.
The play “A View from the Bridge” is a play written by Arthur Miller on September 29, 1955, tells the story of Eddie Carbone a tragic hero who lives with his wife, Beatrice and niece, Catherine whom he is infatuated with despite being married, it is his clear obsession with his niece that leads up to his inevitable death, a trait that all tragic heroes possess. This text tells the tales of betrayal as Eddie reports Marco and Rodolfo, his own family, to the government identifying them as illegal immigrants and revenge as the duo attempt to seek it. An interesting notion the text presents is the clear discrimination of homosexuality and stereotypical responses that people portray. This is shown with Rodolfo and Eddie’s relationship with each other. Eddie questions Rodolfo’s sexual orientation stating that “The guy ain’t right”.
The Merchant of Venice Written sometime between 1596 and 1598, The Merchant of Venice is a play written by famous playwright William Shakespeare in which he wove together two stories; one involving a vengeful, greedy Jewish moneylender trying to seek revenge on Antonio who is a Christian, the other involving a marriage suitor’s choice among three caskets and thereby winning his (or her) mate, Portia. There has been much debate about the genre of this play and whether it is considered to be a tragedy or comedy. In my opinion, I feel that it was Shakespeare’s intention to write it as a comedy due to the elements of a Shakespearean comedy incorporated in it. These ideas are explored through the characters of Shylock, Antonio, Gratiano, Bassanio, Nerissa and Portia and the event of the court scene. There are many elements that make a Shakespearean play a comedy, one of those being that there is a hero who gets into trouble but it saved in the end.