HOW FAR IS THE MERCHANT OF VENICE IS A ROMANTIC COMEDY?
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A ROMANTIC COMEDY
The Merchant of Venice is one of Shakespeare’s romantic comedies, probably written in 1596 and 1597, and forms one of a group of such comedies, along with The Two Gentlemen of Verona, As You Like It, and Twelfth Night.
Romantic comedy was a popular and much-preferred type in Elizabethan theatre, and all the trappings of such are present in The Merchant of Venice. First, the romantic involvement is represented not by one couple only, but by three (Portia and Bassanio, Gratiano and Nerissa, and Jessica and Lorenzo). Also Elizabethans expected in their romantic comedies certain characters and situations and a certain kind of plot development: the chief element and central motive was love; the heroine was frequently disguised as a man through part of the play, thus providing opportunities for comic misunderstanding; and comedy was also provided by the wit of the heroine herself, who was always more clever than the men in the play.
In a romantic comedy the necessary conflict is between the lovers on one hand and some barrier to the fulfillment of their love on the other. In The Merchant of Venice the barrier is, of course, Shylock’s hold over Antonio, which in turn involves his friend Bassanio. The resolution of a romantic comedy consists in overcoming the barrier, usually bringing about marriages.