SHAKESPEARES LIFE

Shakespeare was born in Stratford in central England., in 1564. His father John was a tradesman. Shakespeares mother, Mary Arden, descended from an ancient family. John and Mary had eight children altogether. He learnt some Latin grammar and rhetoric but he left his studies quite early. It was certainly due to his fathers economic reverses if he was sent to work. Actually nothing is know for certain. The only evidence about his early youth is the document of his hasty marriage to Anne Hathaway, at the age of eighteen. Her family was quite rich. They had three children. Around the year 1587/1588 he left his family and Stratford to go to London. It is more reasonable to assume that Shakespeares move to London was dictated by an inclination for poetry and for the theatre. The first reference to Shakespeares activity in London as an actor and a playwright was made in 1592, in a pamphlet by Robert Green. When the London theatres were closed between 1592 and 1594 because of the plague, Shakespeare wrote two narrative poems Venus and Adonis, the Rape of Lucrece - , erotic and mythological. They were both dedicated to the Earl of Southampton, an aristocratic young man and also inspired Shakespeares sonnets, probably written in these years, and dedicated to a mysterious Mr. W. H.. By 1594 Shakespeare was well-known both as an actor and a playwright . At some point he became a permanent member of the company he belonged to, The Lord Chamberlins Men. Other writers lived and died in poverty, but over the next two decades, Shakespeare made a fortune The money did not come directly from selling his plays, but from his share in the theatres where his company performed. Francis Mere, published a little book which was a kind of survey of contemporary English literature. The author referred to Shakespeare as honey-tongued. Mere also gave a list of Shakespeares plays he knew, giving a great contribution to their correct dating. Around the year 1610 Shakespeare retired to Stratford where he probably wrote his last plays. Shakespeare died on April 23rd, 1616, at the age of fifty-two. After his death his works were published in the collection we now call First Folio. This large book contains 36 of the plays we now attribute to Shakespeare, a great part of which had remained in manuscript. THE SHAKESPEAREAN THEATRE In the Middle Ages English theatre developed from its beginnings - the dramatisation of the liturgy in church or in the square before the church to secular plays performed in the market places or in the enclosed yards of large inns but in 1576 James Burbage built a large open-air amphitheatre, called simply The Theatre, which could accommodate from two to three thousand paying spectators at a time. In 1597, however the lease on The Theatre and so expired. The company (which now included Shakespeare) planned to move to an indoor theatre on a large house at Blackfriars in central London. But protests by local residents persuaded the government to refuse them a licence. So they were forced to build The Globe out of the City of London walls. Actors were very poor (their job was considered one of the humblest of professions). In Shakespeares time, women where not allowed to perform on the public stage and female roles were played by boys. Audiences consisted of very different people: noblemen, merchants, artisans, servants, soldiers, apprentices and everybody from the variegated crowd of a large city. They were noisy and sometimes violent, liable to throw things at the actors if they didnt the play, or even to attack them. Public theatres opened in the afternoon about half past two, and performances finished around six oclock.. A modern spectator at The Globe would be surprised not only by the open roof and the chance of getting wet. He would be much closer to the stage than in a modern theatre. The clowns might improvise jokes of their own . The costumes were very rich but often anachronistic. Because the was no curtain at the front, Shakespeares scenes would end when all characters had left the stage.. Because of the absence of scenery, most scenic indications had to be given verbally. There was music and rudimentary sound effects and the light was daylight or candles and torches towards the end of a play as daylight began to weaken.

SHAKESPEARES PLAYS

It is not easy to date Shakespeares plays. There were no laws to protect an authors rights. Our most important and correct source of information is the first collected edition published in 1623, that is seven years after Shakespeares death. Consequently to determine what Shakespeare really wrote has been constant hard work for editors until our own time Most Shakespeares plays have a readily identifiable source. All these different sources he took, were grasped, adapted, enriched by the extraordinary power and vitality of his language and turned into works of art by his poetry and dramatic talent. Shakespeare, the greatest dramatist of all times, wrote all his plays for performance not for publication. But what is it that makes them so relevant to the audience? An answer might be that Shakespeares plays mirror universal human nature.. Such elements as variety of language, of characters, of dramatic structure, of form and themes, all these features have been carefully studied. The name of Shakespeare is listed in the royal patent among others, in another royal document, his name comes first among actors allowed cloth for new liveries in order to take part in the coronation procession. Shakespeare never became a popular actor, but it seems that he acted well. Shakespeares dramatic career is usually divided into four phase as the table below shows:

First phase late 1580s to 1595

At first Shakespeare exploited the taste for patriotic an exciting historical plays, alternating these with light-hearted romantic comedies and with Romeo and Juliet., the quintessential tragedy of young love, etc. Second phase 1595 to 1599

In this period Shakespeare concluded the cycle of his histories and wrote some of his best comedies. In Midsummer Nights Dream, the traditional themes of courtly love are enlivened by parody and humour and understanding of love. In The Merchant of Venice there are two interwoven stories from folklore. Among the masterpieces of the second phase there are Shakespeares historical plays: Richard II, Henry IV (two plays) and Henry V. With Henry V Shakespeare finished his great historical cycle and returned to history only at the end of his career with Henry VIII. His historical plays are probing and questioning in their dramatic confrontation of different points of view, and their abstract political conception is always studied in terms of human behaviour. All this elements carefully blended in plays, put in evidence that Shakespeare was quite conscious of the inherent instability of the Tudor truce in spite of its apparent solid surface.
Third phase 1599 to 1608

This is the period of Shakespeares major plays, characterized by deep pessimism and doubt. Both the tragedies and the comedies written in these years seem to mirror the atmosphere of uncertainty, the last years of Queen Elizabeths reign. The social forces are no longer external as in Romeo and Juliet, but can influence and distort the minds of those who love and act. An obvious example is Othello whose tragic fate clearly shows how human beings are vulnerable and frail even when they are idealists or heroes. The simultaneous presence of opposed qualities makes the plays fascinating ambiguous and extraordinarily modern. Shakespeare used the theatre as a mirror of live: the stage was a picture of the world, the actors were the image of mans transient life. In the third phase here also wrote: Hamlet, Julius Casear, King Lear, Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra, Timon of Athens and Coriolanus and the black comedy Measure for Measure. Fourth phase 1608 to 1613 The plays written in the last period are definitely different from those written in the previous phases even if themes and characters can be partly connected with the romance tradition. They show a positive outlook on life. They deal with stories of separation of family members and of their meeting again after mercy, forgiveness and reconciliation have played their fundamental roles. A new sense of joy, of magic, even of miracle pervades them. Stage effects are more elaborate. Some critics see these plays as Shakespeares escape from reality into an enchanted and purified world; some, on the contrary, think that he was giving dramatic expression to hopes for a better future. In fact they shows the younger generation as capable of defeating the forces of evil and of establishing a world of harmony and peace. ROMEO AND JULIET The two chief families of Verona, the noble Capulets and the Montagues, have been enemies for a long time in consequence of an old quarrel. Their enmity is so deadly that fierce words, frequent duels, bloodshed followed their accidental meetings, disturbing the otherwise quiet town. One evening, young Romeo Montague and his two friends Benvolio and Mercutio decide to go to a ball given by the Capulets, sure that they wont be recognised as everyone has to wear a mask. As soon as Romeo sees Lord Capulets daughter Juliet, he is helplessly struck by her beauty. They speak to each other and for both it is love at first sight. During the party Romeos identity is discovered by Tybalt, Juliets cousin. However, he is prevented from doing Romeo any injury by Lord Capulet, who orders him to be respectful to his guests. On the way home after the ball Romeo, unable to sleep, goes back to Juliets house and leaping the wall of the orchard, he hears Juliet speaking of him. She too is restless, having learnt who the young gentleman she was fallen in love with is. In the darkness Romeo and Juliet start speaking to each other and passionately and declare their mutual love. They decide to get secretly married the following day with the help of Friar Lawrence, a holy man who has always been a friend to both Montagues and Capulets. Friar Lawrence marries them, in the hope that their union may make up the breach between the two families. Unfortunately, that same morning Romeo gets involved in a duel between his friend Mercutio and Tybalt. Tybalt kills Mercutio and Romeo, no longer able to keep his temper, kills Tybalt. The fight brings a crowd of citizens to the spot. Among them there are old Lords Capulet and Montague, and the Prince of Verona himself.

Romeo, who in the meanwhile has taken refuge in Friar Lawrences cell, is banished. Before leaving Verona for Mantua he secretly spends the night with Juliet. It is their first and last night of love. At the unwelcome daybreak, Romeo must take his leave from Juliet. He has not been in Mantua for many days when Lord Capulet proposes a marriage for Juliet: she is to be married to Count Paris, a rich and young nobleman from Verona. Seeing no escape the terrified Juliet applies to Friar Lawrence, who makes up a desperate plan: Juliet will pretend to agree to the marriage with Count Paris, but on the night before the ceremony she will drink a special drug that will make her look lifeless for 42 hours. As everybody will think she is dead, she will be carried on a bier, uncovered. The plan might have gone well, but unfortunately Romeo hears of Juliets death before the messenger from Friar Lawrence reaches him. Mad with sorrow he runs to Juliets burial place and poisons himself by her side. When Juliet wakes up from her drugged sleep and sees a cup in dead Romeos hand she immediately realizes what has happened, and kills herself with Romeos dagger. The play ends with the reconciliation of the Montague and the Capulet families, made wise by the tragic death of their children. Settings: When the play opens it is nearing mid-morning on a Sunday in July. The main setting is Verona, a city in the Veneto region of northern Italy. The city is about 65 miles west of Venice. The ruler of Verona at the time of the legendary Montague-Capulet feud was Bartolomeo della Scala. Part of the action in the play takes place in Mantua, where Romeo goes after the Prince of Verona banishes him. Mantua is in the Lombardy region of Italy, just west of the Veneto region and just south of the Swiss border. The play ends four days later in Verona, shortly after sunrise.
Type of play: Romeo and Juliet is a love tragedy offering a wide range of attitudes to love. At the beginning of the play, Romeo seems to be a stock character, the melancholy or courtly lover longing for Rosaline, a disdainful lady At the other extreme we have Romeos friend, the cynical Mercutio, who mocks any mention of romantic love. Again, lve is of secondary importance for the Capulets an Montagues, who view marriage as a family business., having nothing to do with personal inclinations. In this context, Romeo and Juliets youthful and genuinely felt love is doomed from the start, since it si set against the circumstances of a world that fails to understand the true nature of love. Although the lovers are the victims of chance or fate, the origin of their tragic destiny also lies in the conflicts surrounding them. What chance can young people have in a world where hate prevails? With Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare wrote a new kind of tragedy, not only because in those times romance tended to be the central theme of comedy rather than tragedy, but also because of the presence of elements like coincidence and disguise, which usually prevail in comedy. The coincidences, however, are all unfortunate. Then, theres death, which is usually absent in the plot of a comedy: the death of the two characters

Symbols:
Poison

Themes:
Romantic love can be beautiful and ennobling. The love between Romeo and Juliet is sublimely beautiful. Not only do they feel deeply for each other, but they also respect each other. Neither attempts to impose his o her will on the other; neither places his or her welfare above the other. Realizing that love and lust are not the same, they prize each other spiritually as well as physically. Therefore, meeting in secret from time to time to gratify their powerful sexual desires without the permanent commitment of marriage is out of the question. Such an arrangement would cheapen their relationship; it would reduce their love to a more bestial craving. Consequently, at great risk, they decide to sanctify their relationship with a marriage ceremony binding them to eternal love. Their is no Hollywood marriage for three months or three years, based on selfish sexual gratification; theirs is a marriage meant for eternity, based on unselfish commitment to the spouse. Passion can overtake reason and common sense. So powerful is the love between Romeo and Juliet that subjugates reason and common sense as guiding forces. True, their love has helped them achieve a level of maturity beyond their years, but it has also caused them to take dangerous risks. Their behaviour, as well as events over which they have no control, vernalize their relationship, giving it little time to reach full growth. In the end, their overpowering feelings

cause them to take their own lives. Likewise, so powerful is the hatred between the Montagues and Capulets that it promotes constant tension and violence, resulting in the deaths of Tybalt and Mercutio and, of course, the deaths of their own children: Romeo and Juliet. Immaturity and inexperience can lead to tragic endings. This theme reaches its full development when callow Romeo and Juliet, believing all is lost, act out of the passion of the moment and commit suicide. If they had had the wisdom to consider that their whole lives lay before them, that other paths lay open to them, they surely would have embraces a fabian tactic to whistle away the opposition. Judge people by their character and personal qualities, not by their name or social standing. As Juliet observes: Whats in a name? That which we call rose / By another name would smell as sweet. Innocent children sometimes pay for the sins of their parents. Romeo and Juliet forfeit lives partly as result of their parents hatred and prejudice. Fate acts through human folly. As in Macbeth, King Lear, Julius Caesar and other plays of Shakespeare, the force of Fate seems all powerful and ineluctable. It is as if human beings are puppets who have no control over their actions. From the very beginning, Romeo and Juliet are star-crossd as children of fatal loins just as Macbeth is doomed by the prediction of the witches, Julius Casear by the ominous words of a soothsayer and King Lear, Cordelia, and others around them by the gods, who, as Gloucester says kill us for their sport. But Shakespeare knows that the events leading to tragedy cannot be explained away so simply. Human beings have free will; they have the power to create their futures. Unfortunately, too often they lack the wisdom or moral strength to make the right decision and, instead, pursue a course of action which seems fated for disaster.

HAMLET
Plot Summary: The King of Denmark has been murdered by his brother Claudius who has usurped the throne. Out of respect of conveniences, Claudius has also married the dead kings widow, Gertrude, committing a sort of incest according to the moral customs of the time. One night, on the terrace of Elsinore castle, the ghost of the late King appears to his son Hamlet and reveals to him the truth about his death. Hamlet promises to obey his fathers call for vengeance, but his melancholy and irresolute nature makes him hesitate and delay the action. In the meanwhile, in order to prevent his uncle from guessing his intentions, Hamlet pretends to be mad. Everyone thinks he has been brought to madness by his unfulfilled love for Ophelia, the Chamberlains daughter. Actually, before his fathers death, Hamlet had told Ophelia that he loved her and had given her presents. Ophelia, returning his love, had believed everything Hamlet had told her. But now the prince cruelly refuses her and Ophelia is terribly upset by his unkind and unrespectful attitude. When a company of actors arrives at Elsinore, Hamlet secretly orders them to play The Murder of Gonzago before the king and the court. The tragedy, whose plot reproduces the circumstances of the death of the late Danish King, will give Hamlet the chance to observe Claudius reactions. From there, he will have definite proof of whether the ghost spoke the truth or not. The actors prove very clever and their performance reaches its climax with the murder of Gonzago. Claudius, no longer able to hide his terrible anguish, leaves the hall.The Queen is very angry and asks Hamlet to give reasons for his behaviour. The prince, who is now quite certain of Claudiuss guilt, goes to Gertrudes room and violently accuses her and Claudiuss of his fathers murder. Then, thinking that Claudius is spying on them from behind a tent, Hamlet stabs him, but kills Polonius instead who is there at Claudius and Gertrudes command. Claudius, now determined to get rid of Hamlet, sends him on a mission to England with Rosencrantz and Guilderstern, two old friends of Hamlets. The King has given them a letter commanding that Hamlet is to be killed as soon as he lands in England. Hamlet finds the letter, reads it and puts the names of his friends in the place of his own. The following day the ship is attacked by pirates. Hamlet acts very bravely, jumping on the pirates ship and fighting them alone while his own ship escapes. The pirates, who admire his courage and respect him when they find out he is a prince, sail towards Denmark and land Hamlet at th first port they come to.On arriving at Elsinore, Hamlet meets a funeral procession and he is told that Ophelia, mad with sorrow, has drowned herself. Ophelias brother Laertes wants to avenge the deaths of his father Polonius and

his sister. Claudius immediately realizes he can use Laertes anger and sorrow for his own purposes. Apparently trying to reconcile Laertes and Hamlet, the King suggests that they should compete in a friendly sword fight, using swords with no sharp point, to which forgiveness will follow. Yet Laeters, at the King suggestion, is quite willing to use a pointed sword and he even puts poison on the point of it. Thus when he cuts Hamlets arm in the course of the duel, he is sure of his revenge. A scuffle follows during which both young men drop their swords: by chance Hamlet picks up Laertes sword and wounds him. Before dying, Laertes reveals to Hamlet Claudiuss evil plan. Queen Gertrude who is watching the contest, dies after drinking from a poisoned cup that the King had intended for Hamlet. Desperate and furious, the Prince who is going to die soon because the poison in the sword, rushes to Claudius and stabs him with the poisoned weapon. The tragedy ends with the arrival of virtuous Fortinbras, prince of Norway, who becomes King of Denmark.
Settings:

The main setting is Elsinore Castle in eastern Denmark, on the Oresund strait separating the Danish island of Siaelland (Zealand) from the Swedish province of Skane and linking the Baltic Sea in the south to the Kattegat Strait in the north. Elsinore is a real town. Its Danish name is Helsingor. In Shakespeares time, Elsinore was an extremely important port that fattened its coffers by charging a toll for ship passage through the Oresund strait (wich means The South). Modern Elsinore, or Helsingor, is directly west of Swedish city with a similar name, Helsingborg (or Halsingbord). Within the city limits of Elsinore is Kronborg Castle, said to be the model for the Elsinore Castle of Shakespeares play. Construction on the castle began in 1574, when Shakespeare was ten, and ended in 1585, when Shakespeare was twenty-one. It is believed that actors know to Shakespeare performed at Kronborg Castle. Other settings in Hamlet are a plain in Denmark, near Elsinore, and churchyard near Elsinore. Offstage action in the play (referred to in dialogue) takes place on a ship bound for England from Denmark on which Hamlet replaces instructions to execute him with instructions to execute his traitorous companions, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and on a pirate ship that returns him to Denmark.
Type of play:

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is a tragedy. A tragedy is a dignified work in which the main character undergoes a struggle and suffers a downfall. In Shakespeares plays, the main character of a tragedy is usually a person of noble heritage. A flaw in his personality, sometimes abetted by fate, brings about his downfall. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is also sometimes characterized as a revenge play in the tradition of the Roman playwright Seneca.
Symbols: Yorick Skull

The meaning of To be, or not to be: Hamlets To be, or not to be soliloquy is probably the most famous passage in English drama and may well be the most quoted. Its fame lies partly in the attention it receives from the endless debates it has generated about what it means. It is currently fashionable to oppose the traditional view that the passage is a deliberation in which Hamlet is trying to decide whether to commit suicide. Anti-suicide champions argue that Hamlet is really deliberating what course of action to take or not to take to ravel his sleeve of woe while retaining life and limb. Which view is right? Probably the traditional view that Hamlet is contemplating hara-kiri with his bare bodkin. However, because Shakespeare carried ambiguity to the extreme in this passage instead of speaking his mind plainly, there is plenty of room to argue otherwise. Leading his readers through the tangled dendrites in Hamlets cerebrum, Shakespeare bewilders his audience. Admittedly,

though, it is jolly good fun to try to solve the passage. In the end, though, it appears that Hamlet is indeed considering suicide in this passage.
Themes: Death. Death has been considered the primary theme of Hamlet by many eminent critics through the years. The play is really death-obsessed, as is Hamlet himself. He seems on the verge of total despair, kept from suicide by the simple fact of spiritual awe. He is in the strange position of both wishing for death and fearing it intensely, and this double pressure gives the play much of its drama. One of the aspects of death which Hamlet finds most fascinating its bodily factivity. We are, in the end, so much meat and bone. This strange intellectual being, which Hamlet values so highly and possesses so mightily, is but tenuously connected to an unruly and decomposing machine. In the graveyard scene, especially, we can see Hamlets fascination with dead bodies. Hamlet is unprecedented for the depth and variety of its meditations on death. Mortality is theshadow that darkens every scene of the play. Not that the play resolves anything, or settles any of our species-old doubts and anxieties. As with most things, we can expect to find very difficult and stimulating questions in Hamlet, but very few satisfying answers. Madness. By the time Hamlet was written, madness was already a well-established element in many revenge tragedies. The most popular revenge tragedy of the Elizabethan period, The Spanish Tragedy, also features a main character. But Hamlet is unique among revenge tragedies in its treatment of madness because Hamlets madness is deeply ambiguous. Whereas previous revenge tragedy protagonists are unambiguously insane, Hamlet plays with the idea of insanity, putting on an antic disposition, as he says, for the come not-perfectly-clear reason. Of course, there is a practical advantage to appearing mad. In Shakespeare source for the plot of Hamlet, Amneth ( as the legendary hero is know) feigns madness in order to avoid the suspicion of the fratricidal king as he plots his revenge. But Hamlets feigned madness is not so simple as this. His performance of madness, rather than aiding is revenge, almost distracts him from it, as he spends the great majority of the play exhibiting very little interest in pursuing the ghosts mission even after he has proven, via The Mouse Trap, that Claudius is indeed guilty as sin. The traditional question is perhaps the least interesting one to ask of his madness is he really insane or is he faking it? It seems clear from the text that he is. But when he is alone, or with Horatio, and free from the need to act the lunatic, Hamlet is incredibly lucid and self-aware, perhaps a bit manic but hardly insane. Needless to say, Hamlet is not the only person who goes insane in the play. Ophelias madness serves as a clear foil to his own strange antics. She is truly simply man. Whereas Hamlets madness seems to increase his self-awareness, Ophelia loses every vestige of composure and selfknowledge, just as the truly insane tend to do. Suicide. Like madness, suicide is a theme that links Hamlet and Ophelia and shapes the concerns of the play more generally. Hamlet thinks deeply about it and perhaps contemplates it in the more popular sense; Ophelia perhapsm commits it. In both cases, the major upshot of suicide is religious. In this two suicide soliloquies, Hamlet segues into meditations on religious laws and mysteries. In a play so obsessed with the self and the nature of the self, its only natural of the self, its only natural to see this emphasis on self-murder

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE

Plot Summary: Bassanio, a Venetian nobleman who has wasted away all his wealth, asks the rich merchant Antonio, a dear friend of his, to lend him three thousand ducats in order to keep on properly wooing the young lady he wants to marry. This lady is the rich and beautiful heiress Portia who lives in Belmont, a place not far from Venice.As Antonio has all his money invested in overseas business ventures, he decided to borrow the sum that Bassanio needs from Shylock, a Jewish usurer whom Antonio has often blamed for his hateful activity. Shylock agrees to lend the money, but he binds the agreement to a condition: if his money is not returned on the appointed day he will cut one pound of flesh from Antonios body. Antonio accepts the bargain against Bassanios advice. Then Bassanio leaves from Belmont where Portia is going to marry the man among her suitors who will succeed in the trial established by her father in his will. Her father wanted her to marry the first man who guesses in which of three boxes (one made of gold, one of silver and one of lead) was the picture of Portia is. Many rich and illustrious gentlemen fail the trial. Bassanio who truly loves Portia, and is returned in his love, choose the right box and becomes her husband. At the same time Gratiano, a friend of Bassanios, marries Nerissa, Portias waiting-maid. Unfortunately, very soon, news comes to Belmont of Antonios vessels being lost at sea and of Antonio being put in prison because of his inability to pay Shylock back. Shylock is

demanding his pound of flesh and the duke of Venice is asked to settle the question.. Bassanio who has told Portia everything about Antonios arrangement with Shylock leaves for Venice with Gratiano. Portia thinks a great deal about the problem. She wants to save Antonio who was so good to her husband. Eventually, with the help of her cousin, Dr. Bellario who is a famous lawyer, Portia, disguised as a lawyer, with Nerissa playing the role of her clerk goes to Venice where the trial is about to begin.. The duke of Venice, unable to solve the question in Antonios favour, sends for a lawyer to advise him about the problem. The man of law he asks to come is Dr. Bellario who writes a letter to the duke to say he is ill, but that he is sending a young friend of his to defend Antonio. The young lawyer, that is Portia, initially offers Shylock three times the sum Antonio owes him in exchange for the pound of flesh. As Shylock refuses, Portia has to grant his request. Yet, since the obligation gives Shylock the right to have only a pound of flesh, Portia makes the condition that if a single drop of Antonios blood is shed, Shylock will be executed. .At this point Shylock has no escape: his money is confiscated and given partly to Antonio, partly to the Venetian Republic. Antonio decides to renounce his half if Shylock turns into a Christian and if he signs a will in which his daughter Jessica is made his heir. Shylock in fact, had cut Jessica out of his will after her marriage to a Christian gentleman. The Jew is forced to obey Portias and Antonios commands. The trial ends: Shylock is humiliated and punished. Yet, while the Christians triumph and enjoy themselves in the fairy world of Belmont, the audience realizes that the old Jew has been treated unjustly and mercilessly by the Christians, and that his solitary and silent figure looks more like that of a victim than of a persecutor.
Settings:

The action takes place in Venice, Italy, and Belmont, the site of Portias estate. Shakespeare does not identify the precise location of Belmont, but the stage directions refer to it as being on the Continent (Europe). Presumably, Belmont is not far from Venice. Venice (Venezia) is in northern eastern Italy on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. In the late medieval and early Renaissance times, Venice was one of Europes greatest centres of commerce. Type of play: Although the play is considered a comedy, it is probably better categorized as a tragicomedy (a play with both comic and tragic elements). As a comedy, the play focuses on Christians whose problems have a happy resolution. As a tragedy, the play focuses on the downfall of a Jewish moneylender, Shylock, who is forced at the end to become a Christian and to forfeit property. He leaves the stage a broken man.
Themes: Friendship requires sacrifice. Antonio risks his fortune and later his life to help Bassanio win Portia. Tubal lends Shylock the 3.000 ducats requested by Antonio. Appearances are deceiving. Neither the gold nor the silver casket contains the key to winning Portia. Instead, it is the plain lead casket. Shakespeare expresses this theme appearances are deceiving in a message inside the golden casket. It says, All that glisters [glitters] is not gold. The latter quotation can also apply to characters who tie their happiness, destiny, or status to money, including Antonio, Bessanio and Shylock. Revenge ultimately destroyes its perpetrator. Shylock seeks revenge against his enemies, but it is he who suffers the downfall after Christians unite to trick him. Perhaps he would have had more success if he had pursued justice instead of revenge. Jews suffer bigotry and other forms of mistreatment because of their religion and race. Christians alienate Shylock simply because he is a Jew. In ancient, medieval, and Renaissance times, Jews almost always encountered prejudice from non-Jews around them. Scholars are divided on whether Shakespeare, in The Merchant of Venice, was attempting condemn anti-Semitism by sympathizing with Shylock or approve of anti-Semitism by ridiculing Shylock. It may well be that Shakespeare was simply holding a mirror to civilization to allow audiences to draw their own conclusions. An essay on this pag contends that Shakespeare wrote The Merchant of Venice partly to condemn the moral and ethical values of errant Christians, not the Jewish moneylender Shylock.

Women can be just as competent as men, maybe even more so. Portia, disguised as a man, speaks eloquently in defence of Antonio and persuades the Duke of Venice to rule in Antonios favour. Women can be just as ruthless as men, maybe even more so. Portia, who lectures Shylock and the court on the importance of mercy, exhibits racism after she rejects the Prince of Morocco because he is black. Moreover, she cleverly tricks and ruins Shylock without showing a hint of remorse. Dont count your ships until theyre in port. Antonio confidently pledges the merchandise on his ships at sea to repay Shylocks loan to Bassanio. But all the ships are wrecked before they reach Venice. Great wealth and privilege breed apathy and disquietude. Contemporary themes:

In The Merchant of Venice that are still issues that we discuss, worry and care about today. In fact, in this play the re-occurring themes of love, anti-Semitism and inter-racial marriages .A key theme in the play is love. Many types of love are exploited: the love that a man has for a woman, or vice versa ;homosexual love; greed for money. Shakespeares portrayal of Shylock is a cold-hearted man, who only has one true love, his money. He would sacrifice anything for money (even his own daughter).The second theme is anti-Semitism. Although we are not sure of Shakespeare being an anti-Semite, we might think that he is, through his depiction of Shylock as a cold-hearted Jew, that hates Christians and wants to kill them.

SHAKESPEARES LANGUAGE
The English language in Shakespeares time was partly different from present day English. Differences can be found in grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary. If a word to fit his purpose did not exist, he would create a new one or remould an existing one. Fluidity and freedom of language were possible because no codified norms existed yet. Some examples:
- The possessive adjective its was not formed yet and his was used in its place - Practically any letter could be left out if necessary for pronunciation - ay means yes - nay means no - wherefore means why

Shakespeare used verse for the upper classes and prose for the inferior classes. Prose was also used for situations such a madness or delirium, childish talk. Shakespeare wrote is plays in black verse , derived from Italian endecasillabo sciolto. Regular blank verse line consist of five iambic feet. Shakespeare deeply varied blank verse, but never so far as to destroy its original pattern. This variations produce two main effects:
- Avoid monotony - Emphasize emotion and thought