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 … Read more
Evil Resulting from Religious Intolerance: The play The Merchant of Venice is indirectly a plea for religious tolerance. It depicts the evil resulting from religious intolerance, though it has another theme, which is even more important, the other theme is the evils of usury and avarice. The main story in the play is the Bond … Read more
Bassanio’s Obtaining Loan at Antonio’s Behalf: Bassanio is in vital need of money in order to fulfil his mission of Belmont. In Belmont, he wants to apply his luck at winning a rich heiress by the name of Portia as his wife. He approaches Antonio for a loan, knowing that he has already owed him … Read more
Romantic Play By Virtue of the Freshness and Frankness of Two Love-Stories: The play The Merchant of Venice is romantic by virtue of the freshness and frankness of its two love stories of Portia and Bassanio, of Lorenzo and Jęssica the first love story has its romantic elements in the bold adventure of Bassanio who … Read more
Meaning and Importance of Dramatic Irony: The device makes the drama real as it brings it nearer to life. The life is full of ironies. It also teaches the moral lesson of humility and gentleness. It is a device which a dramatist makes use in a play frequently in order to make some part of … Read more
Introduction: The Casket-Story revolves around the prominent character Portia, a lady of Belmont. She is “fair and fairer than the word”, and a lady of wonderful virtues. Bassanio puts her in the way that she is no way inferior to the wife of the famous ancient Roman Senator, Brutus, and the daughter of the famous … Read more
Three Love-Affairs in the Play: There are three-affairs in The Merchant of Venice. Each love-affair possesses its own peculiar quality. There is the love-affair of Bassanio and Portia. There is the love-affairs of Jessica and Lorenzo and there is also the love-affair of Nerissa and Gratiano. Love-Affair of Bassanio and Portia: When these three … Read more
Appropriateness of the Title: There are two merchants in the play in the city of Venice. They are Antonio and Shylock. There is another contender in Bassanio, since he marries the heroine, the exquisitely pretty, intelligent and witty Portia. Antonio and Shylock are the leading but contraposed character. As in the case of a few … Read more
The Meaning of Asides and Soliloquies: Soliloquy is a dramatic device serving several very important functions. It is a discourse to one’s own self. It is an aside, when the character soliloquises, even when other character are also present (they may not be there) the purpose of the dramatist is to let the audience know … Read more