merchant of venice as a tragicomedy essay

A Summary and Analysis of William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

The Merchant of Venice is one of Shakespeare’s most popular comedies, and is widely studied and has been subject to considerable analysis. Contrary to what many people think, the ‘merchant’ of the title isn’t Shylock (of whom more below) but the far less famous character, Antonio. So how well do we know The Merchant of Venice ? Below, we offer some words of analysis, but first, it might be worth recapping the plot of the play.

Plot summary

There are two main plot strands to The Merchant of Venice , both closely intertwined. The first involves Portia, the wealthy heiress of Belmont, who decides that she will marry whichever suitor picks the right casket when faced with a choice of three (made of gold, silver, and lead).

The second involves a loan the Jewish moneylender, Shylock, makes to Antonio, the merchant of the play’s title. These two plot lines are connected because Antonio borrows money from Shylock in order to help out his friend, Bassanio, who wishes to finance a trip to Belmont to try his hand at Portia’s ‘three caskets’ trial. (The princes of Morocco and Aragon both choose the wrong caskets, but Bassanio correctly guesses that the lead casket, and the two are engaged.)

The terms of the loan are as follows: Antonio will repay the money to Shylock when his ships return from their voyage; if he fails to pay up then, Shylock will be entitled to a pound of Antonio’s flesh. When Antonio’s ships are declared lost at sea, he cannot repay the debt to Shylock, who promptly demands his pound of flesh.

These two threads run through the play, becoming united towards the end of the play, when Portia disguises herself as a male lawyer in order to defend Antonio against Shylock’s knife. She is aided by her maid, Nerissa, who is engaged to Bassanio’s friend, Gratiano; Nerissa is also disguised as a man (Portia’s clerk).

After trying, unsuccessfully, to appeal to Shylock’s ‘quality of mercy’ (a famous speech which we have analysed here ), Portia changes tack, and saves Antonio on a legal technicality: whilst his agreement with Shylock allows the Jewish moneylender a pound of Antonio’s flesh, it does not entitle him to a drop of the merchant’s blood – and if he tries to remove a pound of his flesh and makes him bleed, he will be liable. Shylock is defeated, and Antonio saved.

And Shylock is well and truly defeated: he has to pay ‘damages’ to Antonio – half of his entire wealth – and is also forced to convert from Judaism to Christianity. However, Antonio gives the money he gets from Shylock immediately to Jessica, Shylock’s daughter, who had earlier eloped with Lorenzo, against her father’s wishes.

There is one last, romantic, twist to the plot: before the trial, Portia and Nerissa had made gifts of rings to their betrotheds, Antonio and Gratiano. After the trial is over, to express their gratitude to the lawyer and clerk for saving Antonio’s skin (literally), they both give their rings to the lawyer and ‘his’ clerk as tokens of thanks.

To test (and have a bit of fun with) the two men, Portia and Nerissa, back in Belmont and out of their male disguises, ask the returning Antonio and Gratiano where the rings are which they gave them. The two men say they have lost them, and the two women produce new ones – which are really, of course, the originals. As a final piece of good luck, Antonio learns that not all of his ships were lost at sea, and the two couples celebrate their upcoming wedding.

Venice has a long-standing association with trade, commerce, and money. The materialistic world of this city-state regards people only in terms of their financial worth, and Shylock embodies this cold materialism in the extreme. To him, Antonio is only a debtor, so much flesh, from whom he can extract his pound if Antonio is unable to repay his loan. The great clash in The Merchant of Venice is between money and love, as both Shylock’s trial and Portia’s very different ‘trial’ – the test of the three caskets – demonstrate.

Against this heartlessly materialistic worldview is set the world of mercy and compassion, expressed in the two most famous speeches from The Merchant of Venice : Portia’s ‘The quality of mercy is not strained’ and Shylock’s own ‘Hath not a Jew eyes? If you prick us, do we not bleed?’

The valorisation of wealth and gold above all else is also famously rejected and criticised in Portia’s three caskets: gold and silver seem to promise the suitor wealth (in the form of Portia’s inheritance), but it is only by rejecting these in favour of the relatively worthless lead that Bassanio proves his worth as a potential husband to her.

However, the plot of The Merchant of Venice doesn’t entirely reject the world of money: Antonio borrows money from Shylock in an act of friendship (to help his relatively poor friend Bassanio travel to Belmont to undertake Portia’s three caskets test), but it’s also a financial reality that money is needed to be in the ‘race’.

And it’s worth noting that mercy doesn’t triumph over materialism at the trial: Shylock is deaf to Portia’s appeals, and his contract with Antonio can only be defeated on a technicality which speaks the only kind of language Shylock recognises.

And Shylock is the key to the whole play, as the confusion over him being mistaken for its title character demonstrates. For Harold Bloom, in a persuasive analysis of The Merchant of Venice in his book Shakespeare: The Invention Of The Human , The Merchant of Venice presents a number of difficult problems.

First, there’s no denying it is an anti-Semitic play; second, for Bloom, Shylock should be played as a comic villain and not a sympathetic character for the play to have ‘coherence’ and make full sense; third, to play Shylock this way would no doubt exacerbate the play’s anti-Semitic properties.

Many recent productions of The Merchant of Venice have certainly depicted Shylock more sympathetically than he was probably played when the play was first staged, in the 1590s which gave London not only Christopher Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta (whose title character, Barabbas, is a cartoon villain too exaggerated to be taken with complete seriousness) but also the execution of the Portuguese Jewish immigrant Roderigo Lopez, physician to Queen Elizabeth I, who was accused of plotting to kill the Queen (he was, almost certainly, innocent).

If the casual anti-Semitism that was widely tolerated as recently as the early twentieth century is anything to go by, Shakespeare’s original audience would probably have viewed Shylock as a money-grubbing villain.

But as is so often with Shakespeare’s characterisation, the character can be interpreted more sympathetically (his famous ‘If you prick us, do we not bleed?’ speech is one example of where we can find evidence for this interpretation), and this is the line most modern productions of the play have taken. And it must be a hard-hearted reader or spectator who can watch Shylock being forced to convert to Christianity (by Antonio) and not feel a twinge of uneasiness.

What’s more, the parallels between Antonio and Shylock arguably don’t end with that popular misconception over who the title character is. Antonio is just as money-driven as Shylock, and – as his insistence that Shylock be made to convert to Christianity shows – not exactly overflowing with Christian charity. This is the mentality that Venice seems to engender: a world of financial interests, account books, and hatred and mistrust of others.

The Merchant of Venice has become Shylock’s play, eclipsing all else, and whilst there may not be much else besides him that makes the play interesting, the one exception here is Portia, who is one of Shakespeare’s finest female roles from the 1590s.

4 thoughts on “A Summary and Analysis of William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice”

Definitely one of Shakespeare’s problematic plays. I view it more as a tragi-comedy and believe Shakespeare provided ambiguity towards Shylock in that he did not lampoon him but gave him full characterization. Perhaps Shakespeare wanted the audience to see beyond the culture and see a person.

Problematic indeed! Thank you for your most interesting exploration of the issues.

VERY CLEAR SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS. THANK YOU FOR ALLOWING ME TO READ IT AS ONE PART OF MY READINGS

Wouldn’t thou allow such mercy to Shylock if he show an ounce of pennant thought, or would it rather be rendered he suffer the harsh justice he demanded upon Antonio that you, in your fraudulent identity, chastised him for. You ask that Shylock grant mercy, but you refuse him such the like. Surely, you present him the harshest of consequences. Perhaps, opportune his chance of recompense and change of heart. Allow the man his beliefs and as well an example to present to his like minded. Allow him at least the the humane existence, some mere portion of fortune. There must be thoughts and consistency of mercy , although through consequential reasoning, placed upon both arguments.

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The Merchant of Venice

William shakespeare, everything you need for every book you read..

Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

The Merchant of Venice: Introduction

The merchant of venice: plot summary, the merchant of venice: detailed summary & analysis, the merchant of venice: themes, the merchant of venice: quotes, the merchant of venice: characters, the merchant of venice: symbols, the merchant of venice: literary devices, the merchant of venice: quizzes, the merchant of venice: theme wheel, brief biography of william shakespeare.

Historical Context of The Merchant of Venice

Other books related to the merchant of venice.

• Full Title: The Merchant of Venice
• When Written: 1596–8
• Where Written: England
• When Published: 1623
• Literary Period: The Renaissance
• Genre: Comedy/tragicomedy; Revenge tragedy
• Setting: Venice, and the nearby country estate of Belmont
• Climax: The trial of Antonio, the merchant, and Shylock, the Jewish moneylender
• Antagonist: Shylock

Extra Credit for The Merchant of Venice

"Which is the merchant here? And which the Jew?" Modern audiences of Merchant of Venice often mistake Shylock for the "merchant" of the title—which actually refers to Antonio.

Is The Merchant of Venice a Comedy or a Tragicomedy?

This essay aims at discussing some issues in the play The Merchant of Venice, by William Shakespeare. Even though some may assume that the play is a comedy, the problem of its literary genre is a rather problematic issue today. Some critics debate its inclusion in the comedies, because it is not at all a funny play. The label ‘comedy’ did not suggest that it was a funny play in Shakespeare’s age. If some critics think that it is not a funny play, Shakespeare may have designed Shylock as a tragic character. In fact, the play’s effects of Shylock’s energy and tragic dimensions deeply influenced the audience in the moment when it was first staged. This essay first discusses the problem pathos and inwardness in Shylock’s speech. After that, it discusses the issue of literary genre and argues that it should be classified as a tragicomedy.

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Deconstruction of the Construction: Derridean Study of Selected Shakespeare’s Comedies

Since it was first introduced by Jacques Derrida in the late 1960s, deconstruction, as a method of reading, has been applied to literary texts by critics to reveal the hidden messages of texts and provide opportunities to rethink textual and cultural norms and conventions. While the western tradition has always prioritized tragedy over comedy due to its elegance and graveness, this research tends to focus on comedy as an entity in itself. Tragedy, especially in the Shakespearean sense of the word, has been considered by critics as a “construction” that is well-wrought and perfect in nature. Comedy, on the other hand, is notable for laughing at the laughable and mocking the unfit. Put differently, there has always been a latent, freewheeling “deconstruction” within comedy, especially the Shakespearean. There is, thus, an attempt here to prove, on the one hand, how comedy can be put forth not as an inferior genre but as a supplement to tragedy and, on the other, how comedy moves toward deconstruction and how it tends to subvert or deconstruct the constructions. Investigating a selection of Shakespeare’s comedies including As You Like It, The Merchant of Venice, and Twelfth Night, this study compares and contrasts Shakespearean comedy in light of some Derridean concepts. Along with it, Shakespearean ideas and concepts which are interconnected with those of Derrida are introduced and are buttressed through some meticulously chosen excerpts. Bearing in mind that Derrida is in a habit of deconstructing the so-called established creeds, Shakespeare’s texts are exposed to a deconstructive reading to examine how deceptively simple ideas are dealt with in his selected comedies. Also, as numerous enigmas have for years revolved around the personality of William Shakespeare, this study also aims to take up certain critical idioms of the Derridean canon, elaborate on them and then relate them to the selected plays from the Shakespearean oeuvre in order to disclose some personal aspects of Shakespeare’s personality as a historical figure.

The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare

Religion and violence: shutup shylock.

Violence is not only because of religious differences. Violence is part of human nature. While expressing and living a unique identity, people may experience animosity from ‘the other’ in society. The natural human response upon infliction is retaliation. To this effect, the play of William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, is taken as an example of conflict in society because of social, financial and religious differences. From the plot in the play, it is deduced that violent actions beget violent responses. The Dutch philosopher, Hans Achterhuis, provides valuable information so as to provide perspectives on violence in society. Achterhuis suggests that instead of seeking the absence of violence in society, one should rather seek how to differ responsible and peaceful from one another. Violence cannot be ignored or eradicated. Violence can however be tamed by fighting with one another peacefully. Society is in need of volunteers who will act as powerful buffers between conflicting societies, thus preventing differences becoming reasons for violence.

Prodigality and Time in The Merchant of Venice

A study of two motifs—prodigality and time—may help to reveal some of the meanings of The Merchant of Venice. Scornful of generosity, Shylock sees Bassanio and Antonio as prodigals, and thus he resembles somewhat the self-satisfied elder brother of the parable of the Prodigal Son. Bassanio's prodigality is in harmony with time; he does not calculate, as Shylock does, but acts intuitively, and because his wants are “ripe” he reaps a reward. Two examples: though he plans to attend a masque, to the audience's surprise he suddenly seizes the moment and departs for Belmont when the wind changes; at Belmont, in contrast to Morocco and Aragon, who offer reasons for their choices, Bassanio offers no reason for choosing as he does, except that the lead casket “moves” him. Such uncalculated responses to the present moment are fruitful, in contrast to the usurer's calculations about the future, and especially in contrast to the usurer's practice of risking nothing while (in Elizabethan terminology) “selling time.”

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The Merchant of Venice, William Shakespeare

Na cidade historiada: justiça e outros conflitos em o mercador de veneza, de william shakespeare.

RESUMO: Na época em que Shakespeare escolheu Veneza para cenário de Otelo e O Mercador de Veneza, a cidade-república correspondia aos ideais renascentistas de liberdade e estabilidade. Descobertas no âmbito da geografia e da astronomia exigiam uma reavaliação do lugar ocupado por mulheres e homens na nova concepção do universo. Este ensaio pretende refletir sobre a Veneza mítica do imaginário shakespeariano, uma paisagem simbólica, menos física e concreta que ideológica. Nesse sentido, o trabalho recorre ao conceito foucauldiano de heterotopia para ilustrar como, na representação da cidade, se projetavam os anseios de uma época. Aqui, a jurisprudência é de importância central. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Shakespeare, Mercador de Veneza, Renascimento, Veneza, heterotopia, jurisprudência In the storied city: justice and other conflicts of The Merchant of Venice ABSTRACT: When Shakespeare chose Venice as the location for Othello and The Merchant of Venice, the republic corresponded to Renaissance ideals of freedom and stability. Discoveries in the realm of geography and astronomy required a re-evaluation of the place occupied by women and men in the new conception of the universe. This essay intends to discuss the mythical Venice of Shakespeare’s imagination, a symbolic landscape, less physical and concrete than ideological. In this sense, this paper turns to Foucault’s concept of heterotopia to illustrate how the anxieties of an epoch were projected in the representation of the city. Here, jurisprudence is of central importance. KEYWORDS: Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Renaissance, Venice, heterotopia, jurisprudence En la ciudad historiada: justicia y otros conflictos del Mercader de Venecia RESUMEN: En la época en que Shakespeare escogió Venecia como escenario de Otelo y El Mercader de Venecia, la ciudad-república correspondía a los ideales renacentistas de libertad y estabilidad. Los descubrimientos en el ámbito de la geografía y de la astronomía exigían una reevaluación del lugar ocupado por mujeres y hombres en la nueva concepción del universo. Este ensayo pretende reflexionar sobre la Venecia mítica del imaginario shakespeariano, un paisaje simbólico, menos físico y concreto que ideológico. En este sentido, el trabajo recurre al concepto foucauldiano de heterotopía para ilustrar cómo, en la representación de la ciudad, se proyectaban los anhelos de una época. Aquí, la jurisprudencia es de central importancia. PALABRAS CLAVE: Shakespeare, Mercader de Venecia, Renacimiento, Venecia, heterotopía, jurisprudencia

'The Merchant of Venice': de guetos, espacios y ética y su tratamiento en el aula del nivel superior

En tiempos de incertidumbre política en Europa y en el resto del mundo es nuestra intención en este trabajo recuperar la dimensión espacial y la singular espacialidad de The Merchant of Venice (1600) para el análisis de esta obra en el aula del nivel superior, es decir, el ámbito de formación de los futuros docentes. En este marco serán objeto de nuestras indagaciones y propuestas didácticas el texto dramático de William Shakespeare, la versión cinematográfica dirigida por Michael Radford (2004) y el documental Imagine … Shylock’s Ghost (2015). Nuestro objetivo es actualizar y reponer en el análisis del espacio veneciano de The Merchant of Venice algunos sentidos de lo que se ha dado en llamar una “ética del gueto”, entendiendo por ésta lo que Stephen Greenblatt y Shaul Bassi denomian “a lived cultural space, a lived religious space,”. En este sentido, aspiramos a, por un lado, problematizar el proceso referencial que lleva a los alumnos a identificar de manera unívoca e irreductible a la Venecia de la obra con un espacio hoy día mayoritariamente caracterizado por una mono cultura turística y, por otro, a direccionar sus trayectorias de lectura y prácticas pedagógicas hacia espacios de compromisos duraderos con la dignidad del Otro.

The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare (review)

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The Play The Merchant of Venice — Tragic and Comic Element

As a traditional romantic comedy: .

The play has been traditionally accepted as a romantic comedy by many critics, for it ends in enormous fun and laughter. Love too triumphs, or so it appears at first instance. Bassanio marries Portia, Lorenzo marries Jessica, Gratiano marries Nerissa, and even Launcelot finds a dark skinned woman as a mate for himself.

Yet Bassanio marries after he betrays Antonio in more ways than one, for the latter loses the former to Portia. Antonio also almost loses his life trying to unite Bassanio and Portia. Bassanio too marries Portia as much for her wealth as for his love for her; and we can hardly find a satisfactory reply as to why a woman of Portia's grandeur would fall for a person so devoid of any positive trait. Lorenzo and Jessica unite after the latter has betrayed her religion, and her father, and the former has abetted her in achieving this. How love can ever flourish amidst so much of evil is hard to fathom. Love's main accessory is moral uprighteousness based on trust. Lorenzo and Jessica are neither uprighteous nor moral, for they betray Shylock's faith, and Jessica rejects Judaism for Christianity, in an arbitrary exercise of religious flippance. Gratiano and Nerissa indulge only in tomfoolery, and there is hardly any romance between the two.

Antonio As A Tragic Figure: 

Antonio is melancholic in the very first line of the play when—

  "In sooth, I know not why I am so sad  It wearies me;" [I. i. 1-2]

Salarino and Salanio, his two companions, try to explain his sorrow and we know they are way off target. His melancholy is due to his loneliness. He has an all-consuming love of a homosexual for Bassanio. Bassanio may be bisexual or may be he is not, for we get no hint of it. Yet he chooses to 'woo Portia. We know that Antonio already had been told about this by Bassanio sometime before the commencement of the play, for the first time that Antonio meets Bassanio in the play he anxiously asks:

"Well, tell me now, what lady is the same  To whom you swore a secret pilgrimage,  That you today promised to tell me of?" (I. i. 120-123)

There is distinct suffering in these words. Antonio is about to lose the sole purpose of his existence, to Portia, someone he cannot compete with, for she is a woman, and homosexuality was not accepted in society. We know that his suffering is acute as is his reconciliation to his loneliness for life, for a few minutes earlier he had told Gratiano that

"I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano;  A stage where every man must play a part,  And mine a sad one." (1. i.76-78)

Shylock As A Tragic Figure: 

Shylock too suffers immensely. He suffers because he is a Jew, and is proud of being one. The Christians in Venice, forgetting the cardinal value of tolerance, sympathy and brotherhood, display the exact opposite of emotions towards him. Shylock suffers the most at the hands of Antonio. The latter calls him a dog and spits on him at the Rialto. These two are not stray incidents, for the persecution of Shylock is repeated and incessant. Neither is Antonio the sole persecutor. He is merely the symbol of Christian intolerance towards the Jews in Venice. Shylock's humiliation and suffering can only be measured by someone who has experienced the alienation of a gross minority. Shylock suffers on other counts too. His business of lending money is looked down upon. Though he roughs it out through sheer perseverance, the loneliness must undoubtedly have remained with him. He misses his wife Leah, whom he obviously loves dearly. Normally daughters are a great source of comfort and happiness to fathers. Jessica cannot be much of a solace, for she hates her own religion and is embarrassed by her father's thrift and business. She betrays him by robbing him of all his money after he had bestowed upon her the trust of his house. She not only takes the money but also marries Lorenzo, a Christian boy by changing her religion. This must have been particularly heart- breaking for the proud Jew. Later Shylock is to suffer more due to Jessica, when he learns from Tubal that she exchanged the turquoise ring which Leah gave to him as a bachelor, for a monkey. When you hear of this, you wish that God had spared him of such a daughter. Shylock's persecution is complete, and his heart hardens to such an extent that he is prepared to take Antonio's life when the opportunity comes. Justice finally prevails when Shylock is prevented from carrying out his hideous design. But when justice goes further and confiscates his entire wealth, and forces his survival on his conversion to Christianity, we realise that the gods are not just. For a man so proud of his heritage and religion, suicide may have been a better option than the one given to him by the laws of Venice.

Portia's Sadness and Suffering: 

Even the exquisitely beautiful and ebullient Portia is not always happy. Her suffering at her father's choice of the method of choosing a husband for her is full of hazards, till others fall and Bassanio finally chooses the casket. She admits to Nerissa that she may land up with a wrong husband and be trapped into a loveless marriage. Most of her suitors are arrogant and no match to her grandeur. Moreover she loves Bassanio and the chances of not marrying him due to the arbitrary lottery are very real.

Plenty of Comedy in the Play: 

There is plenty of comedy in this play too. Launcelot Gobbo is a clown or a jester who was introduced by Shakespeare only to produce laughter. Launcelot's fooling of his own father is comic too, though it is something crude and farcical. He is capable of making a good joke also as for instance, when he says that the making of Christians (or the conversion of the Jews to Christianity) would raise the price of hogs in Venice. But it is the sense of humour and the wit of Portia and of Gratiano which import to the play a truly comic quality. Portia's wit is first brought to our notice through her comments on her suitors. She says about her English suitors that he is oddly suited; and in this context she further says that he must have his doublet in Italy, his round hose in France, his bonnet in Germany, and his behaviour everywhere. A plenty of mirth and laughter has been produced by the comedy of rings and the playwright ends his play with mirth and laughter.

Play's Ending in much fun and Merriment: 

The play ends in much fun and merriment as everything is brought to a happy end. In the moonlit night in Portia's garden, the three pairs of lovers unite in one rhapsody of happiness. Antonio, too, though alone, gets the news of the return of his ships with merchandise which were considered lost and almost cost him his life. There is not a hint of sadness and the reader is prone to believe that nothing can be happier than this. Yet, we can only accept this if we forget the tragic Shylock, who has lost his religion, his wealth and his reputation. Had the fifth act not been written by Shakespeare the play would have been a tragedy. Shakespeare does not finish his play immediately after the trial scene, because he wanted to make sure that the play is accepted as a comedy. Amidst the prosperity and happiness, we also forget the sorrow of Antonio who has lost Bassanio to Portia, and has no method to cope with his suffering due to unrequited and unreturned love.

Though ended happily the play cannot be called a romantic comedy. "Shakespearean romantic comedy is fundamentally different from classical comedy. It is an unlimited venture of happiness and an impringly imaginative undertaking of human welfare. It's heroes and heroines are Voyagers' in pursuit of a happiness, not yet attained-a 'Brave New World', wherein man's life may be fuller his sensations more exquisite, and his joys more wide-spread more lasting, and so more humane. The central theme of Shakespeare's romantic comedy rotates a round love-an immorally inspiring love. To quote Beatrice Webb, “ The Merchant of Venice , certainly, contains elements of romance; the elopement of Jessica, the melancholy sweet love between those two young lovers and the love-lit just meeting of Bassanio and Portia-all these are the most sparkling elements of a romantic comedy. But we should also note that love is not the central theme of the plot; the play a grim fight between two antagonistic religious orthodoxies." 

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Tragedy in The Merchant of Venice

According to dictionary.com, a tragedy is a form of art based on human suffering; furthermore, it is a dramatic composition, dealing with a serious or somber theme, typically that of a great person destined through a flaw of character or conflict with some overpowering force, as fate or society, to downfall or destruction. Tragedy elements are that in which a protagonist agonizes disconnection from society and also, he or she makes an error or shows awful decision making. There are typically deaths which arise at the end or near the end of the play. The Merchant of Venice can be classified as a tragedy because it contains the rather sinister elements generally found in tragedies and the play Antigone can be considered a tragedy, because of the severe consequences of the story's proceedings.

As a tragedy, The Merchant of Venice focuses on the collapse of a Jewish moneylender, Shylock, who exits the stage a wrecked man and is unavoidable at the conclusion of the play to become a Christian and to surrender his assets. In this play, Shylock is the tragic hero because he has a tragic flaw. His fault is fairly obvious, all the way through the play, which is that his material prosperity depletes his judgments on a daily basis. One example where it is noticeable that he merely cares about his belongings is the instance when his daughter, Jessica, runs away. He says, “O, my ducats! O, my daughter! Fled with a Christian! O, my Christian ducats” (Shakespeare 2.8.15-16). He incorporates his daughter right in between as if she is one of his assets. Near the conclusion of the play, Shylock is humiliated. Shylock experiences disgrace when Portia, masked as a man, employs his personal remarks and bond in opposition to him. This occurs because in the beginning of the trial, Portia devotes him for being clever and honorable, but then he learns that in reality, she is not on his side like she portrays to be. Shylock faces anguish all over the play by being mistreated a great deal of times. Antonio spits on him and kicks him like a dog: “Thou call’dst me dog before thou hadst a cause; But, since I am a dog, beware my fangs” (Shakespeare 3. 3. 9-10). An additional instance is when his daughter, Jessica, runs away from him; moreover, this bothers him wholly because she runs away with a Christian. Furthermore, Shylock is mistreated when Antonio is liberated from the agreement. The means, by which Shylock is acted towards, by the Christians, is pretty appalling and tragic.

The Merchant of Venice can also be in the category of a tragedy because Antonio goes through human distress. He is a tedious character who arises in Act one as a austere, mournful human being who has trouble identifying the source of his downheartedness and who, for the duration of the play, transfers into a maudlin tumescence, not capable to assemble the liveliness crucial to secure himself against punishment. Shylock is adequately portentous to critically cause danger to the bliss of Antonio and by this being the foremost motivation, Antonio agonizes. Antonio is extra cheerful to bid his fine credit status so that Bassanio can depart to Belmont in the newest styles with the intention to beseech Portia. One of the reasons why Shylock extremely dislikes Antonio is because Antonio obtains Shylock's beggars by loaning them currency at the very last minute to reimburse Shylock; in addition, Antonio on no account requests for credit. Antonio proposes that Bassonio loan currency from Shylock, with Antonio’s excellent bond as security. Shylock accedes to lend but requests for a pound of Antonio’s flesh as an agreement. All throughout Act three, Shylock repetitively continues to utter “I’ll have my bond” (Shakespeare 3.3.5). This portrays how Shylock would relatively accept a portion of Antonio’s flesh than to have three times the quantity of currency he owes.

Furthermore, this illustrates how Shylock desires to cause Antonio a great deal of hurt. A further way to acknowledge Shylock’s wish for a portion of Antonio’s flesh is to reckon the conditions under which Shylock stresses his agreement. As soon as Shylock becomes conscious of the information about Antonio’s penalty, he, additionally, apprehends news that his daughter, Jessica, runs away to wed a Christian. Shylock’s answers saying, “I’ll plague him [Antonio]; I’ll torture him” (Shakespeare 3.1.13).

Perhaps, Shylock is trying to reimburse for the defeat of his own flesh and blood (Jessica) by means of commanding to have a little bit of Antonio’s flesh and blood. Since Antonio is incapable to compensate back his lend, Shylock agonizes him and desires to have him lifeless by resolutely nagging to get the portion of Antonio’s flesh. 

In Antigone, the two protagonists, Antigone and Creon can equally declare the title tragic hero. In the story of Antigone, Oedipus already died and his two sons, Polyneices and Eteocles, are left to contend for the throne of Thebes. During their conflict for the throne, the two brothers slay one another, leaving Creon to be the King of Thebes. He issues a ruling allowing a memorial service to one of the brothers, however, not to the other. He respects Eteocles for protecting the city, but leaves Polyneices elsewhere to rot. Nevertheless, as being a part of his family, it is Antigone’s responsibility and right to inter both of her brothers, and she does this. In Creon’s decree, he issues the death penalty for Antigone. During this time, Creon progressively becomes obstinate and will not listen to anyone, not even the Gods. Creon imprisons Antigone lively.The mystic Teiresias approaches Creon and he ultimately, apologizes and agrees to free Antigone. He finds that it is too tardy and sadly, Antigone commits suicide by hanging herself, his son also commits suicide by falling to his foil, and his wife also kills herself abruptly following, leaving Creon with nothing. 

Creon’s tragedy and tragic flaw is his obstinacy and unwillingness to observe anyone else’s outlook. He follows the rule of the city and as well, as a King, by maintaining to his edict. While Antigone attempts to replace the constraints of the edict with her own, Creon becomes obstinate and provincial. He verbally abuses Hades by means of degrading the decease, Aphrodite in ending the matrimony of Haemon and Antigone, and the Earth by punishing Antigone lively; in addition, Creon does not pay attention to Antigone’s viewpoint and discounts his son’s begging request for rationale and compassion. This results in Creon being brought down by the Gods and his wife and son committing suicide. In the end, following when Creon gets together with Teiresias, Creon becomes aware of his fault and as well, how he will endure if he wrongly gives ruling upon Antigone; yet, for him, it is long overdue.

Antigone’s tragedy results from her firm devotion to her brother Polynices and her willpower to provide him with a suitable interment, regardless of the individual harm that she may obtain. Her insolence and disregard to Creon results in him chastising her lively in a tomb, where she kills herself. Antigone's collapse has cosmic importance to the exterior world; this is a further mark of the tragic hero. As a representation of the populace, Antigone’s fatality is a corporeal mistake through Creon. Antigone’s death not only resulted in the death of Creon’s son, Haemon, it slowly ended in the final devastation of Creon himself. Antigone's defeat is from her personal hasty measures, but there is a feel of misfortune for her because of the consciousness of her circumstance, of her shabby faithfulness, and her obvious deficiency of additional alternatives. Her collapse demolishes Creon, however this itself causes Antigone's defeat to be no less catastrophic. Antigone’s destiny is unquestionably disastrous but it is quite palpable starting from beginning that she is destined for fatality. Antigone exclaims, “If I die for it, what happiness” (Sophocles 136). This portrays how Antigone is certainly a tragic character with a tragic destiny. 

Both Antigone and The Merchant of Venice are examples of tragedies. The Merchant of Venice is noticeable by a pungent and ostracized Jewish moneylender, Shylock, who looks for vengeance in opposition to a Christian mercantile who fails on credit. Shylock and Antonio together experience personal distress which can categorize these plays as tragedies. Antigone is a story distinct by true misfortune as Creon is overpowered by his individual measures and Antigone's individual tragic fatality notes the start of that collapse. Antigone and Creon mutually have vital tragic flaws that eventually end in their tragedies, therefore, Antigone and The Merchant of Venice equally compare in making these two plays tragedies. 

Works Cited: “Tragedy.” Dictionary.com. Dictionary, 2011. Web. 1 Dec. 2011.  Shakespeare, William. The Merchant of Venice. New York: Washington Square Press, 1992. Sophocles, . Antigone. Clayton: Prestwick House, 2005.

Author: Angel Bell

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Merchant of Venice

The role of storytelling in the human experience anonymous 12th grade.

Human experiences are inevitably complex as they are compacted with inconsistencies and paradoxes in human behavior and motivations. Storytelling serves as a vehicle where we may share these experiences. This idea is evident in William Shakespeare’s tragicomedy The Merchant of Venice (1605) and David Malouf’s historical novel Remembering Babylon (1993). Shakespeare’s text illustrates the inconsistent social construct of gender that ultimately results in complex experiences. Moreover, Shakespeare highlights the paradoxical human behaviors when confronted with race. Alternatively, the very construct of race is questioned in Malouf’s historical text where he instead offers that race is a non-linear construct due to acculturation. Thus, both texts significantly contribute to the understanding that inconsistencies within society are the root of varying and human experiences.

The Merchant of Venice reveals that complex human experiences are products of inconsistent fulfillments of gender roles. The Elizabethan gender construct was perceived to be clearly defined with men reigning superior over women. This contextual idea is realized, yet subverted, in the character of Portia. Portia’s unconventional power as a woman is encapsulated...

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The Merchant of Venice - Entire Play

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Antonio, the merchant in The Merchant of Venice , secures a loan from Shylock for his friend Bassanio, who seeks to court Portia. Shylock, a Jewish moneylender, recalls past insults from Antonio and, instead of asking interest on the loan, asks instead—in what he calls a “merry sport”—that if the loan is not repaid, Antonio will owe a pound of his own flesh.

Bassanio sails to Belmont, where the wealthy heiress Portia is being courted by suitors from around the world. Her father’s will requires that the successful suitor solve a riddle involving chests of gold, silver, and lead. Where others have failed, Bassanio succeeds by selecting the right chest. Portia marries Bassanio; her waiting woman, Nerissa, marries his friend Gratiano.

Shylock’s daughter, Jessica, has eloped with Bassanio’s friend Lorenzo, taking her father’s money with her. Shylock is devastated. When Antonio cannot repay the loan, Shylock demands the pound of flesh. When the news reaches Belmont, Bassanio returns to Venice. Portia and Nerissa also travel to Venice, disguised as a lawyer and his clerk. Portia uses the law to defeat Shylock and rescue Antonio.

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