Conclusion of act 2 scene 1 merchant of venice ,a play written by shakesphere
please its urgent!!!!!!
tomorrow is my exam!!!!!
Answers
Explanation:
The Merchant of Venice is a 16th-century play written by William Shakespeare in which a merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock. It is believed to have been written between 1596 and 1599.
Although classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is most remembered for its dramatic scenes, and it is best known for Shylock and his famous "Hath not a Jew eyes?" speech on humanity. Also notable is Portia's speech about "the quality of mercy". Critic Harold Bloom listed it among Shakespeare's great comedies.[1]
Characters Edit
Antonio – a prominent merchant of Venice in a melancholic mood.
Bassanio – Antonio's close friend; suitor to Portia; later the husband of Portia
Gratiano – friend of Antonio and Bassanio; in love with Nerissa; later the husband of Nerissa
Lorenzo – friend of Antonio and Bassanio; in love with Jessica; later the husband of Jessica
Portia – a rich heiress; later the wife of Bassanio
Nerissa – Portia's waiting maid – in love with Gratiano; later the wife of Gratiano; disguises herself as Portia's clerk
Balthazar – Portia's servant
Stephano – Portia's servant
Shylock – a miserly Jew; moneylender; father of Jessica
Jessica – daughter of Shylock, later the wife of Lorenzo
Tubal – a Jew; friend of Shylock
Launcelot Gobbo – servant of Shylock; later a servant of Bassanio; son of Old Gobbo
Old Gobbo – blind father of Launcelot
Leonardo – slave to Bassanio
Duke of Venice – authority who presides over the case of Shylock's bond
Prince of Morocco – suitor to Portia
Prince of Arragon – suitor to Portia
Salarino and Salanio (also known as Solanio) – friends of Antonio and Bassanio[2]
Salerio – a messenger from Venice; friend of Antonio, Bassanio and others[2]
Magnificoes of Venice, officers of the Court of Justice, gaolers, servants to Portia, and other attendants and Doctor Bellario, cousin of Portia
Plot summary
Shylock and the antisemitism debate Edit
The play is frequently staged today, but is potentially troubling to modern audiences because of its central themes, which can easily appear antisemitic. Critics today still continue to argue over the play's stance on the Jews and Judaism.
Shylock and Jessica (1876) by Maurycy Gottlieb.
Shylock as a villain Edit
English society in the Elizabethan and Jacobean era has been described as "judeophobic".[8] English Jews had been expelled under Edward I in 1290 and were not permitted to return until 1656 under the rule of Oliver Cromwell. Poet John Donne, who was Dean of St Paul's Cathedral and a contemporary of Shakespeare, gave a sermon in 1624 perpetuating the Blood Libel – the entirely unsubstantiated anti-Semitic lie that Jews ritually murdered Christians to drink their blood and achieve salvation.[9] In Venice and in some other places, Jews were required to wear a red hat at all times in public to make sure that they were easily identified, and had to live in a ghetto.[10]
Shakespeare's play may be seen as a continuation of this tradition.[11] The title page of the Quarto indicates that the play was sometimes known as The Jew of Venice in its day, which suggests that it was seen as similar to Marlowe's early 1590s work The Jew of Malta. One interpretation of the play's structure is that Shakespeare meant to contrast the mercy of the main Christian characters with the Old Testament vengefulness of a Jew, who lacks the religious grace to comprehend mercy. Similarly, it is possible that Shakespeare meant Shylock's forced conversion to Christianity to be a "happy ending" for the character, as, to a Christian audience, it saves his soul and allows him to enter Heaven.[12]
Regardless of what Shakespeare's authorial intent may have been, the play has been made use of by antisemites throughout the play's history. The Nazis used the usurious Shylock for their propaganda. Shortly after Kristallnacht in 1938, The Merchant of Venice was broadcast for propagandistic ends over the German airwaves. Productions of the play followed in Lübeck (1938), Berlin (1940), and elsewhere within the Nazi territory.[13]
In a series of articles called Observer, first published in 1785, British playwright Richard Cumberland created a character named Abraham Abrahams, who is quoted as saying, "I verily believe the odious character of Shylock has brought little less persecution upon us, poor scattered sons of Abraham, than the Inquisition itself."[14] Cumberland later wrote a successful play, The Jew (1794), in which his title character, Sheva, is portrayed sympathetically, as both a kindhearted and generous man. This was the first known attempt by a dramatist to reverse the negative stereotype that Shylock personified.[15]