Riassunti letteratura inglese: Shakespeare - The Merchant of Venice

SHAKESPEARE

All the three Shakespearian plays are written FOR THE STAGE, FOR EACH KIND OF PEOPLE (on the contrary, at that time plays are exclusively written for the Queen) and they're written only to ENTERTAIN and to TEACH.

It's no more an OLD COMEDY (Aristophanes' parody, satyr of people and events) an example of the NEW COMIC SCENARIO. There's love between two lovers but it's obstructed by the old generation (family, parents, society). There's an arbitrary imposition because of religion, social class, richness and how is this problem solved? Thanks to an overcome. Love is then realised through a trick.

Tension between the generations -> trick -> problem solved -> reconciliation

Dramatisation of society: society generates itself through generations, it exists in time (from one day to the next), young and old generations separate but then they re-conciliate because young are the means through which the society will continue perpetuate in time and renew.

itself.William Shakespeare

We almost have no information about him and his private life. Born in Stratford-upon-Avon, he was catholic but there are no documents about that. His father was a Glover and was active in politics and really important (elected mayor of Stratford-upon-Avon) and he maybe was also a rich usurer, but then he lost everything and William was withdrawn from school and forced to study at home.

Most of all his works have no definitive date because of the continue modifying FOLIO EDITION is the volume edition published thanks to his old manuscripts after his death and it gives a very classical design to the plays through the division in acts and scenes, done the editors (Shakespeare didn't do that!)

All the MALE CHARACTERS are almost equal in his works, because he pays MORE ATTENTION TO ALL THE FEMALE CHARACTERS of all his works

DRAMATIC REVERSAL is a characteristic that is over and over in his works: people think they live in a certain kind of world and they suddenly

discover that that world is not a real world, they suddenly find themselves in dramatic situations and they must re-orientate themselves discovering new values and a new reality; this can be successful or unsuccessful.

PARALLEL BETWEEN LIFE OF THE AUTHOR AND THE PLAYS: He lived in London but his emotional home is always Stratford (London: metropolitan, modern city and economic/capitalistic values vs Stratford: conservative, agrarian and farming/catholic values). That's why his life is a continuous moving back and forth. He also reflects this in his plays (Venice -> Belmont in the Merchant of Venice, London -> forest in Midsummer's night's dream). This moving back and forth corresponds both to the coexistence of two different world/cities and to two different systems of values.

The Merchant of Venice

Play maybe written after Romeo and Juliet but it has not a precise date (maybe 1597 or earlier)

New comic scenario also in this play: it's A COMEDY WHICH COMES VERY NEAR

THE TRAGEDY (almost tragic destiny of Antonio)

Settled in ITALY, as many of his colleagues do

History taken from an old story and Italian language learnt from John Florio

Very COMPLICATED PLOT and excellent job with the language in order to dramatise certain scenes

Characters:

ANTONIO: he's the merchant; he suffers of melancholy (from the very first line!); he's kind, generous and rich and has much money invested in various enterprises, so actually he has no money; he has anti-Semitic tendencies

Shakespeare plays with Anti-Semitism and with the stereotype of the Jew: the Nazis liked this characteristic

BASSANIO: he lived extremely well but his money is finished and he's in debt; he asks Antonio to finance him in order to go to Belmont, marry Portia and give everyone the money back

PORTIA: she lives in Belmont* and she believes in charity and mercy; she's at the age when she can get married and because she's rich many men want to marry her; her father is dead and in

His will, he established that the man who wants to marry her has to pass a test

THE CASKETS TEST: It's an example of the dead father's will upon the living - daughter's will. The man has to choose among three caskets made of gold, silver and lead. If the man finds the one where Portia's portrait is, he'll pass the test and can marry her. Otherwise, if he'll choose the wrong casket, he must leave immediately Belmont, never tell which casket he chose and never marry another woman. This test is in order to find the right man for Portia and to not have a marriage for the money but for real love.

BELMONT: Shakespeare often juxtaposes different geographical places with different mentalities, different perspectives of life and different value systems. This might be possibly related to Shakespeare himself (London -> Stratford and vice versa). This moving back and forth from Belmont to Venice means a change in the mentality and a possible double identity of the

SHYLOCK: he's a money-lender, a usurer, who lends money (because it was useful and necessary to have someone who lent money) but at a high tax of interest in order to get capitals; he's a Jew who hates Christians and especially Antonio because the Venetian lends money for nothing, with any percentage of interest (at that time, only Jews could lend money and Christians were not allowed to do that because it was considered against God); he wants the Justice to be respected, but his Justice considers only the Lex Talonis, the Law of the old Testament; he's a nasty villain man but he's not evil (In Shakespeare plays nobody is completely evil and nobody is completely perfect and good!!)

Shylock's conception of Justice, which represents the Past conceptions, contrasts with the new ideas of the medieval feudal system.

The character of Shylock is related to the fact that it's merely a PROBLEM PLAY and not only a comedy because it raises

problems which aren't actually solved at the end of the play

BELMONT AND VENICE: two different world and two different systems of values.

Belmont is the world of human beings, the world of giving, of charity, of mercy. Venice is the world of capitalism, where everything is done by market calculations, the world of taking. A feudal system, where things had an intrinsic value, and a capitalistic system, where value depends on marketplace and it changes day by day. These two different conceptions can be better explained by some words we find in the play and each one has an affective and an economic meaning: VALUE, DEAR and WORTH. The author wants to show us that you need both of them: the brain and the heart, the reason and the passion

Act 1:

Why is Antonio sad? His friends try to guess: his capitalistic enterprises and his ships (reference to wind, sand and rocks) or love? But Antonio denies everything...but we understand that he may be worried about his friend Bassanio

Reference to Janus:

sense of doubling

Bassanio wants to woo a woman (Portia) as if it was a secret pilgrimage (In R&J, the mangoes as a pilgrim to the shrine, to the woman) a kind of “triangle of passions” because Bassanio loves in an erotic way Portia, but at the same time he loves Antonio as a friend

INVERSIONS: very important, seen in both the sadness of Antonio (he’s sad because of money first, and then because of a woman) and in the presentation of Portia (she’s rich, beautiful and virtuous). This inversions show us the hierarchy of values in Venetian society (money and richness come first instead of all the other passions and virtues) and let us understand the main reason why Bassanio wants to marry Portia (he’s to repair his misfortunes and considers Portia as an economic transaction! Will he change his mentality?)

Bassanio asks Shylock for the money and Antonio guarantees for him

Anti-Semitic speech about the Jew

Shylock’s first words are only about MONEY

Act 2:Choice

Presentation of the casket test: it's not an arbitrary (will upon someone's will) disposition because the person who chooses the right casket will be the right husband for Portia and will be the man Portia will love. Portia herself interprets it as the lottery of her destiny

Key words for the choice: FORTUNE, CHANCE, HAZARD and that's the only way to win. ("your hazard shall be made")

Two main subplots that reflect on the main plot: Lancelot and Gobbo (non si fa!) and Lorenzo and Jessica

Act 3: Jessica doesn't agree with what her father wants for her (on the contrary Portia obeys her father, even if he's dead). So she leaves with her beloved Lorenzo and also with her father's ducats. Consequently, Shylock loses his daughter, the money she took and also the money he spends to find both.

Jessica also takes the ring of her father and exchanges it for a monkey. So, according to her, that

ring is completely useless and has no value; on the contrary, according to herfather, it has a first affective and then an economic value and in this case he's angry forhaving lost his affection (maybe his beloved woman gave it to him).

Beginning of the exchange of human beings between Belmont and Venice: Gratiano andBassanio go to Belmont, and in the following Act 4 Portia and Nerissa go to VeniceBassanio chooses the right casket (the lead one with Portia's portrait in it). Possiblereasons for his choice: romantic conversion or Portia's hints

ROMANTIC CONVERSION: it's typical of new comic scenario. Has he converted to loveand Belmont's mentality?

PORTIA'S HINTS: if she helped him, she would love a man who thinks only about hermoney and doesn't really love her! She could have helped him a bit through the expression"I stand ..." and the reference to Alcides and Hercules myth. So, she could have orientatedhis choice and made him

Comprehend the real significance of the test telling him again and again the right way to approach the choice (HAZARD) but not giving him directly the right answer.

High point of joy interrupted by the bad news from Antonio: he has no money to pay Shylock because his ships are all miscarried and the bound is forfeit. We go straight to the tragedy!

Act 4: