The Merchant of Venice Essay Examples

Although Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice is considered a comedy, cruelty runs rampant throughout the entire text of the play. Most of the characters exhibit some form of cruel behavior toward one another, including Lancelot who is cruel to his father Gobbio when he runs into him on the street. He engages the old man…

Among the various themes presented in the Merchant of Venice the most important is the nature of true love. The casket plot helps illustrate the theme. Through a variety of suitors the descriptions of the caskets, Shakespeare shows the reader how different people view true love. He also shows what is most important to the…

Portia is a rich and beautiful heiress of her deceased fathers possessions. When he dies he devised a test for any suitor for Portia and asked her to keep to this plan to find the one she would marry. Her father wished to protect her against any gold diggers after her money, he wished for…

The novel Frankenstein and the play The Merchant of Venice (M of V) can both be used to question the responsibility of society for creating their monsters/outcasts. The novel Frankenstein illustrates the themes of the empowerment of man through science and its consequences and the contrasting dichotomies of religion and science. Other key themes regard…

Shakespeare’s ‘Merchant of Venice’ is a comedy which is set in Venice and Belmont. The play contains a great variety of characters. For example, Antonio a merchant of Venice, Bassanio Antonio’s best friend who is also in love with Portia, Portia an heiress of Belmont and Shylock a Jew and a moneylender. The basic story…

A monologue from the play by William ShakespeareMOROCCO: [Examining three caskets: one gold, one silver, one lead.]Some god direct my judgment! Let me see–I will survey th’ inscriptions back again.What says this leaden casket?‘Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath. ‘Must give — for what? for lead! hazard for lead?This casket threatens;…

A monologue from the play by William ShakespeareLAUNCELOT: Certainly my conscience will serve me to run from this Jew my master. The fiend is at mine elbow and tempts me, saying to me, ‘Gobbo, Launcelot Gobbo, good Launcelot,’ or ‘good Gobbo,’ or ‘good Launcelot Gobbo — use your legs, take the start, run away.’ My…

“To bait fish withal; if it will feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge”… is one of many key lines from “The Merchant of Venice” by William Shakespeare. It is one of the memorable lines as it is the first line from Shylock’s pivotal speech based on revenge. I will be going into depth…

‘The Merchant of Venice’ by William Shakespeare is about a man called Shylock, he is Jewish. Throughout the play he is subject to severe racial hatred from the Christian people of Venice, Venice was primarily a Christian state so being of a different religious background, being a Jew was frowned upon. Shylock was a usurer…

I will be exploring how Shakespeare presents the character of Shylock in ‘The Merchant Of Venice’ by using close reference of the text. I will also examine how the character of Shylock could evoke sympathy of a modern audience. Throughout ‘The Merchant Of Venice’ there is a clear separation between Christians and Jews. This separation…