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Shylock's trial at the end of the play is a mockery of justice, with Portia acting as a judge when she has no real right to do so. Shakespeare does not question Shylock's intentions, but that the very people who berated Shylock for being dishonest have resorted to trickery in order to win. Shakespeare gives Shylock one of his most eloquent ...
The Merchant of Venice is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598.A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan taken out on behalf of his dear friend, Bassanio, and provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock, with seemingly inevitable fatal consequences.
The main character, Jewish actor Jon Davies, asserts that Shakespeare intended the character of Shylock to be played as a villain in The Merchant of Venice based on the attitudes towards Jews during the era he was writing; thus, past productions either presented Shylock as a clown or tragic victim while maintaining the hostile attitude towards Jews in classical Venice. [4]
Antonio's character is emblematic of the themes present in the play, including the complexities of friendship, the consequences of prejudice, and the interplay between love and sacrifice. His interactions with other characters, particularly Shylock and Portia, contribute to the multifaceted layers of the narrative, making Antonio a significant ...
In act 2, scene 5, however, Gobbo is intercepted by Shylock, who berates him for his change of allegiance. Gobbo seizes on Shylock's repeated mentions of Jessica's name as a pretense to call her. When she arrives, Shylock gives her the keys to his house and the responsibility of keeping it safe while he dines with Antonio and Bassanio.
Shylock is insistent that the bond be held true while the Duke and other characters argue on behalf of Antonio. Bassanio steps in to confront Shylock and offers to pay the sum that is owed or even pay more if that is what Shylock wishes. Shylock refuses, and that is when Portia, disguised as a lawyer, begins to argue the case.
"The ethical delineations of" Shakespeare "do not exhibit the drab-coloured quakerism of morality." [88] In "Measure for Measure" he remarks that Shakespeare's morality is to be judged as that of nature itself: "He taught what he had learnt from her. He shewed the greatest knowledge of humanity with the greatest fellow-feeling for it."
A print of Edmund Kean as Shylock in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. For several years his prospects were very gloomy, but in 1814 the committee of Drury Lane Theatre, which was on the verge of bankruptcy, resolved to give him a chance among the "experiments" they were making to win a return of their popularity. When the expectation of ...