Merchant of Venice - Act 1 Scene 1 Analysis (original) (raw)

The Merchant of Venice: About This Volume

The Merchant of Venice: Critical Insights edited by Robert C. Evans Salem Press, 2023, 2023

The Merchant of Venice: Critical Insights edited by Robert C. Evans Salem Press, 2023

Merchant of Venice Grade 10 Test January 2016

transition from the romantic focus of act 2 into the now dreaded conclusion of the play in cat 4, which by the utilization of foreshadowing has developed an intense environment to make the conclusion even more effective. This act serves as a stepping stone to the final act and the opening scene is made effective by the portrayal of dramatic conflict which not only intensifies the scene but also sets up the next one with unresolved conflicts (like person vs person, person vs society, person vs self), suspense and foreshadowing. The scene starts with a very iconic line, 'Now what news on the Rialto?' which is in media res due to the usage of the word 'now' showing us how the characters had been talking about a topic which in its importance was irrelevant and how the news about the Rialto is a key point which attracts the attention of the audience by the use of in media res and pulls the reader directly into the story. This pulling of focus, with it brings an aura of suspense and builds up tension to foreshadow an emerging conflict. The device of suspense is further used to engage the reader deep into the conflict by creating an environment of uncertainty around the status of Antonio's ships and their impact on his future. The semantic field is used to create this by the usage of the phrases 'Yet it lives there unchecked that Antonio hath a ship of rich landing wracked on the narrow seas.' By the violent use of such words like 'wracked' and the repeated " ed " sound throughout the sentence an atmosphere of destruction is put across. Also the usage of RICH and narrow seas brings about usual cliche of a ship wreck and a lost treasure, which when amalgamated creates a vivid picture of a shipwreck in the readers mind due to the playwright's skillful use of the language which creates this effect on the reader. This idea of a shipwreck is made more believable by the usage of the words 'flat' and 'fatal' hinting at flat-lining heart, foreshadowing what the future may hold for Antonio if he doesn't pay up the bond, making his personal conflict with Shylock even more pivotal and attracting main focus of the play and helps bring across the major themes. This suspense is complimented by the time of love/admiration the people display towards Antonio. This is seen in the lines " the good Antonio…to keep his name company. " Here the playwright uses personification to give Antonio's name the equal amount of importance as a

William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice

Film Quarterly, 2006

Lingering controversy about anti-Semitism has kept The Merchant of Venice off the screen. Michael Radford's 2004 film adaptation creates a critique of anti-Semitic violence revealingly at odds with the play's comic form. This review considers the challenge Shakespeare's art poses to the ethical imperatives of contemporary filmmaking.

Reinforcing the Dominant Discourse in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice

ISSN: 0128-5157, 2014

The full text is available here http://ejournal.ukm.my/3l/article/view/4648 ""Controversy has surrounded The Merchant of Venice. Although some critics believe the play is not anti-Semitic, the present study shows that Shakespeare could not go against the current of Elizabethan anti-Semitism. The play reinforced the dominant discourses and stereotypes working against the Jews. Few Shakespearean characters are more hotly debated than Shylock, the Jewish usurer in The Merchant. Although he has a relatively small part, this multifaceted and influential character governs the play and his multidimensional nature complicates the work significantly. The play depicts him as a cruel, crafty and wicked Jew just as Elizabethan Christians would demand. The playwright takes the stereotype character presented to him and makes it more complex, but he leaves its anti-Semitic qualities untouched. The Merchant of Venice represents and reinforces the dominant discourses of law, religion and nationality that support the Christians and work against the Jews. As a comedy, it made the audience identify with the winners of the trial scene, the Christians. Therefore, nothing remains of the resisting voices and what is heard more often and more powerfully is the dominant discourse of the time voiced by the winners of the play. Shakespeare made a clear distinction between “self” and “other,” did whatever at his disposal to defeat “the others” of the play, deprived them of genuine identity and form a homogenised community where no resisting voice could be heard. Keywords: The Merchant of Venice; Shakespeare; anti-Semitism; discourse; Shylock ""