Belmont is a place of youth, happiness and concord, Venice a place of age, melancholy and strife.

Authors Avatar

Julia Bodkin Page.

“Belmont is a place of youth, happiness and concord, Venice a place of age, melancholy and strife.”

To what extent do you agree with this statement with particular reference to Act 1 Scenes i and ii, Act 3 Scene ii and Act 4 Scene i.

     Shakespeare sets “The Merchant of Venice”, in two very contrasting settings of Venice and Belmont. Venice is the city of the merchants; it symbolizes money, business, men and hate. Belmont is a magical town which Shakespeare created to symbolise women, happiness, poetry and love. Shakespeare uses this juxtaposition to give a dramatic effect on the audience and he uses the places to introduce various contrasting themes and emotions. In Shakespeare’s time, to set the play in two very different settings was particularly radical and innovative because of the traditions of theatre set by Greek unities. It was simply not possible to show too much on the stage and so the audience would have come to ‘hear the play’, rather than to see it. By focusing closely upon language differences to show character or setting Shakespeare broke the rules of unity, which had been revived in the Renaissance period. The characteristics of Venice are shown as that of strife, age and melancholy and those of Belmont as a place of happiness and concord. Initially, these places seem to fit the title’s descriptions and Shakespeare shows how the places oppose each other. However, gradually and once the audience begin to ‘hear the play’, it appears all is not as opposing as it seems. Through the language and ideas brought out through the plot, the audience realises it is not the complete truth and that there is more to each setting than is first thought. The more you delve into the play, the more it is apparent that the two places’ themes appear to be often crossed over and constantly change. Strife, for example, is brought into Belmont by an aged father’s will which shows how the concepts of Venice are introduced into the magical place of Belmont. Whereas, in Venice, Belmont’s youthful attitude intervenes when a couple in Venice run off together when the parent forbids it. As the play progresses even more similarities appear between the two settings and more often than not the concepts of the contrasting places become crossed.

     In Act 1, Scene 1, the audience is introduced to Venice and its themes and characteristics. These themes of age, melancholy and strife are shown throughout the scene through the language Shakespeare uses. The play begins in a melancholy tone, as Antonio is introduced,

“In sooth I know not why I am so sad.”

Here Shakespeare demonstrates the melancholy in Venice through the character Antonio’s sadness and confusion. As the audience later find out, Antonio is one of the richest merchants, however this initial line shows despite his money he is discontented and this shows how Venice is not perfect. Even though, Venice is a wealthy industrial, business-rife city it is not as exciting as first thought by the audience for whom it had the appearance that it was an exotic and thrilling place. For Antonio, Venice has not lived up to his expectations. This first line primarily helps to set the impression that working in Venice is risky business and that the merchants lives are full of worry and anxiety. The majority of the first act is written in prose which was used, in the Elizabethan era, to show gossip or low life characters. As the story unfolds of Antonio’s fortune, it is brought to the audience’s attention how his fortune lays on the sea.

Join now!

“Your mind is tossing on the ocean,”

This indicates to the audience that, Antonio must own some sort of big ship and that his mind is constantly with his boats. He always worries that something is going to go wrong. This shows the issues of melancholy and anxiety that lie in Venice. Antonio also represents age, because he is one of the oldest merchants in Venice and is getting weary of life. He is also in denial of life’s value and thinks that everything is always going to go wrong.

“Why then you are in love.”

        ...

This is a preview of the whole essay