Qi)Explain the dynamics of male bonding in the Elizabethan Era with reference to the masculine characters in Merchant of Venice. Please Reply
Answers
Explanation:
In The Merchant of Venice Shakespeare uses location and gender to frame point of view, creating a split between male-dominated Venice and woman-controlled Belmont. Venice represents a place where matters of business and law predominate. Belmont, by contrast, represents a place where matters of love and marriage take center stage. The play’s first three acts oscillate between the two locations, alternating between the risky business ventures in Venice and the marriage trials in Belmont. Act IV’s long courtroom scene brings the Venetian plot to a crisis point. The conflict between Shylock and Antonio comes to its head in this scene, and resolution arrives with the judge ultimately deciding in Antonio’s favor. The Belmont-framed plot has a more complicated structure. In one sense, this plot resolves at the end of Act III, when Bassanio chooses the lead casket and wins Portia’s hand. In another sense, however, this plot develops a new complication in Act V, when Bassanio breaks his promise never to relinquish Portia’s ring. The eventual resolution of this secondary complication allows the play to end with a qualified celebration of love in which women hold the ultimate power.