The Merchant of Venice is Shakespeare's earlier comedy. The protagonist of the story seems to be Antonio, who is righteous and unscrupulous, and who is full of righteousness. But many readers also believe that the play mainly highlights Portia's wisdom and talent. But it has also been suggested that the play was primarily intended to satirize Sherlock's narrow-mindedness and contempt for greed. So what exactly does Shakespeare want to show you through The Merchant of Venice?
1. Antonio, who is righteous and loose, and who is righteous
Antonio is a businessman of integrity, kindness and righteousness. The title of the book is "The Merchant of Venice", which refers to Antonio.
His friend Bassanio borrowed money from him, and although he was strapped for money at the time, Antonio was willing to vouch for his friend and borrow from the usury Sherlock. He promised Sherlock that if he could not repay it on time, he would cut off a pound of flesh on his body to pay off the debt. Unexpectedly, all of Antonio's cargo ships sank and went bankrupt. He couldn't repay Sherlock's $3,000 on time.
In court, Sherlock refuses to accept Basanio's double compensation and insists that Antonio cut the flesh. In this situation, Antonio has a heroic and righteous heroism.
In the end, the court awarded half of Shylock's property to Antonio, but Antonio gave the property to Shylock's daughter and son-in-law.
From these situations, it can be seen that Antonio is a brave, honest and righteous man. He lends money to others, but never takes interest. That's why Sherlock hated him.
It seems a pity that such a perfect male number one is not the lover of the female number one Portia. Because Portia is also a perfect woman, how to choose such a perfect man may be more blessed by readers. This may be what makes British theatre unique. British drama pays more attention to the conflict of the story and the distinct personality of the characters, but does not fall into the cliché in the storyline.
2. Baucia, who combines wisdom and beauty
Portia is the embodiment of beauty and wisdom. Her beauty attracted the Princes of Morocco and Aragon to court. Because of her wisdom and talent, the soldiers defused a crisis without bloodshed.
When Portia learned that her husband's friend was in trouble, she and the maid dressed as men and followed her to court. With her wisdom and understanding of the law, Sherlock turned from plaintiff to victim. Portia allows Sherlock to cut a pound of flesh from Antonio's body, but demands that Shylock not let Antonio shed a drop of blood. And the meat cannot be one point less, not one more point.
When Sherlock decided to cancel the lawsuit, Portia confiscated Sherlock's property in accordance with the laws and regulations.
Portia was the first typical female figure in a play written by Shakespeare. She is not only noble, but also young and beautiful. That is, erudite and intelligent. And with the maid to dress up as a man, and together to tease their husbands. It can be seen that Portia is a playful and lively woman. The image of Portia is simply perfect, and this image of the new woman has laid the foundation for the place of British women in society.
3. The narrow-minded and greedy Sherlock
Sherlock is a selfish, greedy and ruthless moneylender. When he went bankrupt because all of Antonio's merchant ships sank, he fell into a hurry. Sherlock refuses to accept a request to double the repayment of the debt, and must cut the flesh of Antonio's body. No matter how much the people in the court pleaded with him, he remained indifferent.
But in the end, he not only did not see the ending he wanted, but also lost his property. And his own daughter also eloped with Christians.
Although Sherlock's character is set up, it is a negative character. But his final ending did not make the readers feel very happy. Instead, there was some sympathy and pity for him.
Because this play can see the discrimination of the British against the Jews at that time. Jews are not Christian and are often labeled as mercenary. But in fact, many laws at that time had great restrictions on the life of Jews, so they could only live in the slum area. If you want to leave the slums, you must label yourself a Jew. Their lives are difficult, so they have to rely on usury to survive. But usury is not allowed by Christianity. So the Jews were very much ostracized by the British.
In fact, although the character of Sherlock has many shortcomings, it has to be said that this is also caused by the times and the laws and regulations at that time. He himself was a victim. So the character of Sherlock doesn't make the reader feel full of evil. Therefore, his ending is easy to trigger the sympathy of readers.
In Shakespeare's theatrical works, there are not many works of satire. But "The Merchant of Venice" is a work of deep irony.
When Shakespeare wrote The Merchant of Venice, England was in a period of sharpening class contradictions. As a result of years of flooding, crop harvests have fallen short and prices have soared, making farming and the lives of ordinary workers difficult. However, those who have assets are also enclosing land in the countryside, causing the peasants to be unable to solve the problem of basic food and clothing.
Although Shakespeare belonged to the bourgeoisie, he always admired humanism. So he worries about this polarized economy. He also wrote The Merchant of Venice to satirize the greed and insensitivity of some bourgeois people. Antonio's image, on the other hand, is a representative of other bourgeoisie, and this kind of upright and kind figure who can face up to money has been promoted.
In fact, Shakespeare's purpose is to make people face up to the concept of money. Although money is a necessity in people's lives, it is not the most important. The story of Portia's choice of relatives portrayed in this play, and the story of Antonio inserting a knife in the ribs for Basanio, is also to promote that the value of love and friendship exceeds the value of money.
Although the play seems to be written from three main lines, in fact, Shakespeare's theme is still one, that is, to be able to face up to the concept of money, and to be a "Venetian merchant" who is honest and kind and cherishes feelings.