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The Merchant of Venice is one of Shakespeare's most famous comedies, which sets its background in Venice. Shakespeare chooses Venice, the banking center of the early Europe, as the background instead of the country he lives in, and it is the epitome of England at that time.
It’s a play about conflicts between the two characters, namely Antonio and Shylock. Antonio is a generous merchant in Venice, who is nice and welcomed. Exactly opposite to him, Shylock, a man lending money at usury, is very selfish and ruthless. However, his friend Bassanio wants to propose to Portia, a young and beautiful heiress in Belmont, and he tries to borrow money from Antonio. At that time, all of Antonio’s fortunes are at sea, in order to help his friend Bassanio, Antonio decides to borrow money from his enemy Shylock, who is being insulted by Christians and himself for a long time. As a Jew, Shylock is not only insulted by Christians, but also suppressed by them. When Antonio, who enjoys a good reputation among people, comes to him to borrow money, Shylock determines to take a revenge by setting a trap for Antonio - If he can’t pay back the money on time, he would cut a pound of fresh flesh on the basis of the bond that Antonio signed. But unfortunately, something miserable happens to Antonio’s ship and he fails to repay the money. Antonio is facing the situation of cutting his flesh, but at the end of the play, Antonio gets rescued by Bassanio’s smart wife, Portia, and the villain Shylock in the play gets his own punishment.来!自~751论-文|网www.751com.cn
In this play, It seems that almost every character has a happy ending: Three merchant ships of Antoine returned with fruitful results; Bassanio and Portia, Gratiano and Nerissa, both of them ended with a happy marriage; even Jessica, who betrayed her father Shylock and inherited all property from her father, married Lorenzo. People respect the kindness and integrity of Antonio, admire the spirit of Portia and they even praise Jessica for her fearless actions for true love. Every character in the play is nice and considerate but Shylock, a Jew who lived by lending money at usury, was despised and spat by countless people.
As time goes by, a growing number of people have come to realize that the poor Shylock is no longer the only tragic character in the play, and the tragic elements of other characters in the play have attracted many people's attention. This thesis is aimed to explore the reasons for such new views, to analyze what are their tragedies and finally to exposit the tragedy, from the so-called comedy, to the people today.