Mercy v. Justice– Old Testament v. New Testament
While the conflict between justice and mercy plays a key role in determining the outcome of The Merchant of Venice, this conflict is even more important because it provides a setting for the contrast between the rigid law and rules of the Old Testamentand the concepts of mercy and forgiveness as taught by Christ in the New Testament. It is in the climactic trial scene that The Duke, hoping Shylock will excuse Antonio's penalty, asks him, "How shall thou hope for mercy rend'ring none?" He is referring to expectations of judgment in the afterlife. However, so is Shylock, when he counters, "What judgment shall I dread doing no wrong?" This exchange perfectly presents this conflict between...show more content...
Shylock, for his part, has indeed become fierce in his desire to extract vengeance by forcing the death of Antonio. The trial scene is constructed from a Christian perspective, and it highlights the dichotomy of Old Testament legalism as opposed to the New Testament gospel of grace and forgiveness. The Duke, Bassanio and finally Portia, all plead with Shylock to show mercy, but Shylock's hate has made him immune to reason, as he is totally absorbed by a passion for revenge. The Merchant of Venicedraws upon laws and rules of Venice and those stipulated in contracts and wills. Two things are emphasized when the trial begins. Firstly, it is clear that Shylock will not show any mercy and relinquish his right to a pound of Antonio's flesh as stipulated in the bond, and secondly, that Shylock has the rule of law on his side. Antonio himself says, "The Duke cannot deny the course of law: For the commoditie that strangers have / With us in Venice, if it be denied, Will much impeach the justice of the State, Since that the trade and profit of the city / Consisteth of all Nations." Shylock demands the strict interpretation of those laws, and seeks justice in its most severe and uncompromised form. He demands Antonio's death for forfeiting his bond. "The pound of flesh which I demand of him / Is dearly bought, 'tis mine and I will have it".
In response to Shylock's Old Testament cry for bloody justice Portia answers with a speech that rivals
Comparison and Contrast of Shylock and Claudius Introduction
This essay looks into the lives of Shylock and Antonio. These are two of Shakespearean antagonists of all time. They are alike in more ways than one. Shylock in Merchant of Venice is a Jewish moneylender based in Venice. He has been tormented and repressed mainly by the Christian population. One finds it easy to sympathize with him mainly because he has his own reasons to be loathing, greedy, and miserly. This ends up making the entire 'Merchant of Venice' bittersweet. This was whenShylock was forced to give up all that he owned and further converted it to Christianity. This meant that that Jewish community would no longer accept him. It also meant that he would be shunned by...show more content...
The object of affection as seen is Bassanio who goes ahead to take full advantage of this merchant's feelings for him (Wright 45). The main principles of Antonio do not support borrowing or lending money for profit. He purely reflects a medieval attitude for money that needs to be lent for Christian charity. When he lends to Bassanio, this made him to cast aside his principles and take a loan from Shylock. He then pledges his flesh as bond. When Antonio's ships are lost at sea, this meant that he could not repay the loan and therefore he accepts to pay Shylock with a pound of his flesh (Shakespeare 61).
Shylock on the other point is a focal point of the entire play. There is a traditional stereotype of Jews found in the Elizabethan times. He is comically put out as a greedy minister who wears a traditional Jewish gabardine. As a middle–aged man, Shylock has a keenness of observation, a memory of several details as well as a strong energy amount. Unlike Antonio, he is portrayed as someone with a strong amount of energy who is well versed with the Bible. He often draws analogies from several Biblical stories and sources. These are relevant to situations whereby he finds himself in.
When Shylock speaks, he speaks in a manner that reveals authoritativeness. He makes frequent references to ancient and great names from the scriptures. He then uses these when justifying his own bad practices. His speech further reveals a Get
Defeating the enemy, light–heartedness, and a happy ending for the lovers are all elements in a comedic play. William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice shows that love conquers all and that you can always defeat the enemy. Even if a pound of flesh is the difference between life and death, or if one wrong person chooses the casket that decides your fate. For example, The Merchant of Venice, Antonio, not only survives the fate of having a pound of his flesh taken from his body on account of his friend that could not repay the bond to a man who is seen as the devil, but gets thrice his money back and the villain is taken down. Not to mention that Antonio's best friend, Bassanio, not only repays the bond and gets out of his debt to...show more content...
142–147) Antonio agrees to the deal, since he feels that helping his Bassanio is the right thing to do for a best friend. As time progresses Bassanio and Portia found their way to each other, though Bassanio still has not the money to pay Shylock, so he tells Portia. She has no problem paying the bond and says, "Pay him six thousand, and deface the bond;/ Double six thousand, and then treble that," (3.2.298–299). With that, Bassanio has a chance to save his friend's life, and pay back the Jew. At the time of the trial Antonio feels ready to except his fate, to give in to the villain. Antonio says his last words to Bassanio, but when Shylock starts to prepare to cut into Antonio the judge (who is really Portia in disguise) presents a reason why Shylock may not take Antonio's flesh. Portia states, "Are, by the laws of Venice, confiscate / Unto the state of Venice" (3.1.309–310). Shylock is denied of the money which was offered at the beginning because he refused it
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Love and Hate
The Merchant of Venice a play written by the famous poet and play writer, William Shakespeare, in the year 1596– 1598. It is based on both love and hate. Shakespeare demonstrates the themes of love and hate clearly through various character. The friendship love is shown through Antonio towards Bassanio, romantic love is shown through Portia and Bassanio and self love is shown through shylock. However Shakespeare also illustrates hates during the play through the characters shylock and Antonio and shylock and his daughter Jessica.
The Merchant of Venice is a play about love, the play mainly revolve around the romantic love of these main characters Portia and Bassanio. As written in the play, Portia was a rich woman...show more content... Not only she leaves her dad without informing him about it, she also takes most of his money with her, which she truly knows his great love towards being rich. "Two thousand ducats in that and other precious, precious jewels. I would my daughter were dead at my foot and the jewels in her ear! Would she were hearsed at my foot and the ducats in her coffin!" (3.1,74–86) in these verses all Shylock talks about is that he would prefer that his daughter were to be dead in front of him with the precious jewels and ducats lay with her in coffin than to find out that she has gone with the ducats after a Christian. This shows the great hate that is going on in the play The Merchant of Venice.
In conclusions, it is understandable that the Shakespearean play The Merchant of Venice is a play about love and hate. He has accomplishment to apply the love and hate theme, through the various actions and behaviours of the characters that make up the play. As a result the incidents and the characters make the theme of love and hate the backbone of the main plot which they collectively hold the story together. The love is shown through Portia and Bassanio, and another different way of love is shown through Shylock to himself. Hatred is greatly shown through the characters Shylock and Antonio and Jessica and her father Shylock. All these big incidents demonstrate the back bone theme of The Merchant of Get
In the comedy, The Merchant of Venice, the roles and responsibilities of women is a significant social issue proposed by Shakespeare. This theme is communicated by the only three female characters in the play: Nerissa, Portia and Jessica. For example, in Act 4 during the trial between Antonio and Shylock, Portia and Nerissa disguise themselves as Balthasar and Bellario to free their friend. However, Jessica also plays a minor role in portraying the independence of Jewish women in a Christian and Elizabethan society, by successfully betraying her father, Shylock. These characters portray Shakespeare's overall opinion on women, as well as a modern audience's view on Elizabethan society in many significant ways by accentuating themes, ideas...show more content...
The audience, as well as Bassanio, view Portia as a beautiful, immaculate, aristocratic and "fair" lady. However after Act 5, Portia is nothing, but prejudicial and bigoted, as she is the cause of Shylock's demise and claims that she used "my [her] body" to punish Bassanio for abusing her gift of love: the ring. This is ironic, because Portia infringes her relationship with Bassanio by inferring she has committed an affair, even though she herself accuses him of abusing her love and power by losing the ring. This implies that relationships in Elizabethan society were corrupt and fake, which allowed many women in particular to commit religious crimes against their husbands. Furthermore, Shakespeare additionally uses the theme of deception to convey that women are superior to men. This seen when Portia tells Nerissa that "I [she] have work in hand/ That you yet know of. We'll see our husbands/Before they think of us" (3.4), as she wants to help Bassanio and Gratiano save Antonio's life by disguising. In general, many Elizabethan playwrights such as Twelfth Night and The Merry Wives of Windsor, allow the audience to understand the fact that the position of women was such, so that they could not become "active" (3.4) in society. By Portia and Nerissa dressing up as Balthasar and Bellario, this would give them temporary masculinity and so, the ability to do things that normal social codes would not, Get more content
In Shakespeare's play the merchant of Venice the audience learns about love in many forms. Through the characters, of Portia and Bassanio, Shylock and his love for money over his daughter and Antonio and Bassanio. The audience learns through Portia that true love always triumphs. From shylock we learn that money isn't everything it seems to be and that you should treasure your family more than money. Through the friendship of Antonio and Bassanio we learn about thelove of one friend for another and how they would sacrifice anything for one another. Shakespeare uses many techniques including: tests, plot incident, passionate dialogue, characterisation and emotive language to express his idea of love and friendship to the...show more content... He was more worried about his ducats and he doesn't care that Jessica ran away but the fact that she ran away with a Christian. He asks for justice and the law to help get his money back, because he is greedy. Emotive language is used because it emphasises that Shylock was angrier about losing his money then losing his daughter.
As we have seen Shakespeare gives the audience a number of valuable lessons about love. Plot incident and passionate dialogue are used when Antonio gives Bassanio money to go visit Portia. This shows that true friendship can be as strong as true love and they would do anything for each other and not care about the consequences. Tests are used to show how Portia's father cared about her, even after he was dead and knew that her true love would choose the right casket and not be deceived by money and wealth. This fatherly love shows that Portia's father really did love her and cared so much that even after he had died he wanted her to be happy, with a man that didn't want her money but wanted her love. Characterisation and emotive language is used to show how shylock was more interested in money than anything else. Shylock was greedy and this is shown in more than one occasion. the first is when he gives Antonio the loan to give Bassanio he wants ten percent interest as well as the money back in three months time. The second is when Get more content
William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice is one of his most controversial plays for a variety of reasons. Written in sixteenth–century England, where anti–Semitism was common and the presence of Jews was not, the play poses many questions concerning racial, religious and human difference. The play is especially tricky to examine in today's society, as its anti–Semitic themes and language can be uncomfortable to face in a world post–Holocaust. Additionally, the depiction of the relationship betweenJews and Christians, which has always been an ambivalent one, adds a very interesting albeit difficult dimension to this play. Ultimately, through dramatic plot and distinctive characters,The Merchant of Veniceexplores what it means to be...show more content...
One side of Shylock is preoccupied by money and crazed by revenge, while the other represents an old man who eventually loses everything near and dear to him, an outsider who is spit on by his Christian enemies and must put up with being called "misbeliever, cut–throat, [and] dog" (1.3.107).
Unlike other antagonists such as Don John in Much Ado About Nothing or Aaron in Titus Andronicus, Shylock does not explicitly name himself as a villain nor does he relish in his evil behaviour. He does indeed display villainous characteristics; very early on he admits in an aside that he hates Antonio "for he is a Christian" (1.3.37), and his obsession with revenge quickly grows out of control. But what is complicated about Shylock's "evil" is that it all seems to stem from the malevolence of the Christians. One cannot really blame him about being bitter for the times Antonio kicked him and spit "upon [his] beard" (1.3.113), or that his money lending business is damaged by Antonio's tendency to lend out "money gratis" (1.3.39). Even though the Christians in the play consider usury an evil practice, it is the only way that Shylock knows how to make a living, and it is understandable that he would be protective of his business. He shows his more tender side in scenes with daughter, especially in 2.4 as he leaves home and tells her to shut the door after her, because something firmly secured will remain safe; "Fast bind, fast find вЋЇ / A proverb never stale in thrifty mind"
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