MARACAS ROYAL ROAD, MARACAS, ST. JOSEPH.

Analysis of the Drama

“The Merchant of Venice”

An Assignment
Presented in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Course
ENGL255-02 Studies in Literature

INSTRUCTOR: Ms. Fay White

By

Zenika Peters

June 22nd, 2021

Approval…………
 The battle between self-interest and love is a major theme in The Merchant of Venice. On

the surface, the main distinction between Shylock the Jew and the play's Christian protagonists is

their compassion level. On the one hand, Christians place a high regard on interpersonal

relationships over a business relationship. I seek to analyze this play while looking the three

major characters Shylock, Portia and Bassanio, then later taking a look at the conflict that arises

in Shylock’s character and finally assessing the genre of the play.

Shylock is deemed as very materialistic; he holds his money in high regard and even to

the extent where he is heard referring to them as his child. As a result, in Shylock's instance,

greed triumphs over compassion. When we look attentively, though, the distinction between the

two opposing figures vanishes. Antonio is confronted by Shylock, who demands a pound of his

flesh in return for money. As a result, we might infer that Shylock's animosity is much deeper

than his financial greed. Shylock is a great character, perhaps too powerful for this comedy, but

his incredible dignity is laudable, even if we must eventually condemn him. Shylock's role in this

play is to act as an impediment, a man who stands in the way of love stories; such a character is a

common trope in romantic comedies. Something or someone has to stand in the way of young,

romantic love; in this case, it's Shylock and the many and varied ways in which he's tied to the

three lovers.

Bassanio who is married to Portia seems as though he wedded her for his own personal

gains which was to pay off his massive debt, which he was to settle with Portia's money.

Bassanio believes that Antonio's act of lending him money was an investment on his behalf after

taking money from him. I would consider Bassanio as an opportunist because of the driving

force behind him getting married to someone who had wealth.

 Portia is the play's romantic heroine, and she must be shown on stage as both beautiful

and intelligent. When Portia met Bassanio she gave indications that she was very much

interested in him, for on an earlier visit to Belmont, Bassanio did "receive fair speechless

messages" from her eyes. She later reveals her how anxious she is around him when they later

went back to her mansion to choose a casket. His correct choice of casket made her feel

overwhelmed and she wishes she had more to give him “This house, these servants and this same

myself / Are yours, my lord: I give them with this ring" because at this point, she has already

fallen in love with him.

In the play's final trial scene, the struggle between Bassanio's desire to redeem his

character by proving himself a faithful friend and Shylock's desire to defend his humanity by

exacting revenge on Antonio comes to a head. Shylock defends his right to collect his bond by

claiming that he has the same rights as any other villain in Venice. However, Portia, dressed as

Balthazar, claims that Shylock has broken the law by threatening Antonio's life in order to collect

on his loan. Shylock is not only unable to recover the money he lent, but he is also dispossessed

of his livelihood and faith, implying that the play's universe will not recognize Shylock's

humanity or way of life. While most persons in the end of the play ended up happy Shylock on

the other hand wasn’t able to. His punishment didn’t seem merciful and he still wasn’t able to get

back the money he had loan Bassanio. He lost everything in the end his wealth, his daughter

Jessica and also his religious faith.

The merchant of Venice can be categorized as a comedy and tragedy because it shares

features in common with comedies but also contains the kind of dark elements we typically find

in tragedies. One such example that this play is a typically Shakespeare comedy is that in the

play almost everyone ends up married except for Shylock. An example of the tragedy that
occurred was the fact that Shylock lost everything in the end. He didn’t even get back his money

that was rightfully his. Near to the end he exits the court broken hearted and doesn’t utter another

word in the play