Throughout the play there are moments were the emotional intensity is high and others where it’s low. The main, most powerful excitement in “The Merchant of Venice” starts to rise when we hear about Antonio ships and drops Shylock has been punished. The courtroom is a very tense scene. Although we know what happen we would follow the action in silence. To the Elizabethan audience the play would have been unknown. In Elizabethan times Jews were not expected to hit back to the Christian abuses therefore Shylock’s actions would not have been understood by the audience and regarded as immoral. The law of Venice itself prohibited Jews from retaliating. Shylock used the law to reciprocate against Antonio. He used the Christian law against a Christian. This would have made him an even more hated figure by the audience. The Elizabethan just like the rest of the white Christian population thought themselves as being superior to other races, like Jews. Shylock had tricked Antonio, showing more intelligence than him.
The Elizabethan audience would have shouted out rude remarks. They’d have become furious when Shylock refuses the money and some could have even thrown food on the stage. Finally when Portia stops Shylock the Elizabethans would have been overjoyed. As we look at Gratiano as an unfeeling racist the Elizabethans would have loved it when he discriminates and torments Shylock, joining in the discrimination. According to them Shylock got the punishment he deserved for such wickedness.
Although today’s audiences sees Shylock as a man who has been controlled by his feelings and goes too far in his search for revenge, we do feel sorry for him. Nevertheless what he was trying to do is wrong. It is impossible to watch this play today without big feelings of discomfort because we see each other as equal and think it is wrong to maltreat people because of their race.
The humour is practical rather than jokes said by the characters. For example in the end Portia and Nerissa torment their husbands for giving their rings away when it is they who have them. They share this secret with the audience while the husbands do not know yet that their wives were the doctor and the clerk. It is amusing the situation Bassanio and Gratiano find themselves in. Alternatively this scene can be played as a very serious one because their husbands have been persuaded to give the rings, which they swore they’d wear until death.
The play was originally described as a comedy while in fact it is a drama. The views on races have completely changed and today we have totally different views and treatments towards the outsiders. Unlike the Elizabethans we think it’s completely wrong to abuse or mistreat people because of their race. We see the play as a drama rather than a comedy as it was originally described. The needs of the audiences have changed. Today we have different views towards racism. Rather than being prejudice we judge people on their actions. The only parts of the play that today’s audiences could look at as comical are the scenes with Morocco and Arragon and when Portia and Nerissa torment their husbands in Act 5. This is of course if the characters are played in comical ways.
‘The Merchant of Venice’ is a story of love and hate. Shakspeare has joined together hatred and racism evolving around Shylock with love and romance story developing with Lorenzo and Jessica, Basanio and Portia and Gratiano and Nerissa. The amorous scenes like the ‘gentle night’ with Lorenzo and Jessica sharply contrast in the scenes where is shown hatred, revenge and racism like the ‘court scene.’ There is love and hatred language used before. For example when Portia gives herself to Bassanio – “her gentle spirit/ Commits itself to be directed” and when Shylock reveals his hatred for Antonio – “I hate him for he is a Christian”. But in my opinion the ‘moonlight night’ is the most romantic scene and the ‘courtroom’ shows more of the issues of racism and hate.
The romantic language used by Lorenzo and Jessica while speaking gently to each other, remembering famous lovers contrast with the language for revenge used by Shylock and the racist language used by Gratiano towards Shylock.
‘The moon shines bright, in such a night as this,
When the sweet wind did gently kiss the trees,
And they did make no noise, in such a night.’
contrasts with
‘My deeds upon my head! I crave the law,
The penalty and forfeit of my band.’
and
‘O be thou damned, in execrable dog.’
It looks a little absurd for racism and hatred to unfold with romance and love. Nevertheless it does make a powerful combination of contrast and provides us different with aspects and ways to look at the play. Through years people have been concentrating in different points. As we tend to focus in Shylock’s tragedy the Elizabethans would focus in the love story. After Shylock leaves the stage the atmosphere lightness up. Right after the “court scene” we meet the episode of romance and rings. We are transported from the tense atmosphere of the courtroom in to the world of the couples. After getting what they wanted and expected, Shylock to lose, the Elizabethans would have enjoyed the poetry between Lorenzo and Jessica and the torment of Bassanio and Gratiano by their wives. The sudden change in temper and variety would look bizarre to us. Focusing on Shylock we fail to adapt as good to the romance and jokes of the next few scenes. We would be left shocked by what happens in the courtroom. However Shakespeare gives us time for the tragic feelings evoked in the audience to soften and mellow by adding the ring episode.
Act 5 draws us from Shylock’s world. It would have also been too abrupt to end the play with Shylock’s exist. At the end there is a happy ending for all except Shylock and Jessica, the outsiders.
Shakespeare could have given the play another title like ‘The Jew of Venice’, The Gentleman of Venice’ or ‘The Lady of Belmont’ but he chose to call it ‘The Merchant of Venice’. Antonio is the merchant of play. So why did Shakespeare name the play after this character?
Antonio is the fountain of the play. He is racist and arrogant that takes pleasure in humiliating outsiders without taking in configuration that the victim would one day hit back. Antonio is one Venice’s principal anti-Semites. Antonio is one of the characters that represents how the white Christians would feel towards the outsiders in Elizabethan times and how the whites would treat them. He is the one that triggers everything. He has invested his money and is exposed to Shylock by Bassnio. Being against money lending he borrows 3000 ducats and is tricked into signing the bond. You don’t expect favours from someone you have maltreated but Antonio being arrogant easily falls in Shylock’s trap. Maybe this explains Shakespeare action.
Antonio has called Shylock ‘misbeliever, cut-throat dog and spat upon my Jewish gabber dine’, simply because ‘I am a Jew’. Shylock tells he has ‘cooled my friends’ and ‘heated mine enemies’.
Antonio arrogance shows when he’s asked by Shylock why he expects money from someone he has abused and humiliated. Antonio answers:
“I am as like to call the so again,
To spit on the again, to spurn thee too,
If thow wilt lend this money, lend it not.
As to thy friends,
But lend it rather to thine enemy.”
Antonio regards Jews as less than human. In the court scene Antonio offers his share if Shylock turns into a Christian which looks as a merciful act from him. But in fact Antonio strips Shylock of the last things he has left. By becoming a Christian Shylock abandons his religion nor can he lend money because the law does not allow it for the Christians. Antonio has separated Shylock by the last things identifying him as ‘who he is’.
Jews are originally from Israel. Many Jews migrated in other countries to seek new lives. They are known as hard working and clever people that know how to deal with business matters. Jews kept their religion, culture and traditions. Through the history they have been persecuted and tortured. Many countries have records of crimes against Jews.
Shylock is the Jew of this play. He is identifiable as member of an alien race by appearance, manners and speech. The Christians need his services to borrow money but hate him for being a usurer. Shylock is one of the most complex characters Shakespeare has ever written about. He can either be interpreted as a dark villain, an insensitive moneylender that makes money from people’s misfortunes and takes great delight on his way to kill a merchant that has exposed his corrupt ways. Or as the victim of the society, someone who has been humiliated because of his race and becomes obsessed in his search for revenge. Audience over the years have regarded Shylock in different ways and have had different feelings towards him. Of course Shylock is a bit of both but today we look at him as a victim rather than a villain.
Being a successful usurer Shylock has suffered humiliation and racism. The main fountain of his suffering is Antonio and his friends. Just like the other Jews Shylock has tried to ignore and rose over the prejudice following him. Shylock has kept his traditions and religion. Tubal is willing to help Shylock in searching for his daughter which would suggest that Shylock is respected in the Jewish community. What happens to him represents what has happened to Jews through the history.
We firstly meet Shylock in scene three, when Bassanio and Antonio see him to borrow 3000 ducats. Shylock is intelligent and a good businessman. He manages to hide his feelings towards Antonio and reveals them aside to the audience. He says that ‘I hate him for he is a Christian, lends out money gratis’ and ‘he hates our secret nation’.
Although Shylock gives three reasons I believe that the only real reason he hates Antonio is that he is a racist anti-Semitic who has humiliated and abused him and other Jews. Shylock informs us that his treatment has been taking place before the play started by referring to ‘ancient grudge I bear him’.
Some people may think that Shylock is an unfeeling money leader who was given a chance to be accepted and is being rejected because of his intensively and ruthless ambitions. They would rely on Shylock’s hatred - ‘I hate him for he is a Christian’ and what Jessica says about her father’s intention - ‘he would rather have Antonio’s flesh’ therefore say that Shylock’s true purpose was to kill Antonio. But I don’t agree. A lot happens in this play that could change Shylock’s intentions. I look at him as a man with a darker side that is pushed too far. Antonio many times has insulted him by calling him a misbeliever and cut-through dog disrespecting his faith, has spat on him and kicked as though he was an animal.
Shylock brings up the bond as a merry sport and tricks the arrogant Antonio into signing it. Although he doubts the safety of Antonio’s ships he lends him the money but I believe he just wanted to teach Antonio a lesson.
Shylock has suffered in human treatment in the hands of the Christian. Although the ethnic minorities had some rights the law of Venice prohibited the outsiders like Shylock from retaliating when Christians abused them. Even Shylock’s servant, Lancelot has no respect for him. Shylock uses this Christian law to hit back at Antonio. He has been bullied and wants revenge but has no intention of harming Antonio.
Shylock is a good loving father but strict. He has planned Jessica’s future and is devastated when she steals from him and runs away. As a father he fails to understand Jessica’s feelings.
In the Modern version of the play Shylock and Jessica sing to each other. We realise they love each other and have a good father and daughter relationship by the eye contact, how they sing to each other warmly. Shylock touches Jessica with love and gently kisses her hand. Then Lancelot mentions that there is a mask ball and Shylock suddenly slaps Jessica. This suggests that he’s very strict and does not want his daughter to have anything to do with Christians.
He immediately shows signs of regret. You can tell by his body language that he is sorry and feels bad about what he did but does not actually apologise to her. This night the Christians conspire against Shylock. They invite him to dinner while Lorenzo and others get Jessica.
What Jessica has done is the most appalling disaster that can happen to an orthodox Jewish family. She defies her father and steals from him. In such cases the daughter would be considered dead. Shylock has been abandoned by his own flesh and blood, which really wounds him. Leah’s ring has big sentimental valve to shylock. The fact that Jessica gave it away for a monkey deepens his wound. She is seduced by Christians to run away leaving behind her father, her house, her religion, culture and traditions. Shylock is torn to pieces. The repetition of words in the conversation with Tubal adds to the dramatisation, shows how saddened Shylock is. -“Why there, there, there, there!”
This is what causes the fire of revenge within Shylock to start burning out of control. When he hears about Antonio’s ships he feels the need for revenge. He could not control his daughter’s actions nor how the Christians treat him but he is able to control the life of Antonio and the Christian law itself gives him this right. He chooses to plea for Antonio’s flesh and revenge all the humiliation that he has suffered from him.
‘If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?’ Shylock argues that a Jew and a Christian are the same therefore he will take revenge just like a Christian would. He says to Salerino and Solanio that ‘The villainy you teach me I will execute.’
Modern plays make “The Merchant of Venice” Shylock’s play. Shylock stops tolerating his in human treatment and rebels against it. He knows that suffering is the badge of his tribe and wants to change the way the world treats Jews. He refuses the money but is touched by Portia’s speech. He insists that he must cut a pound of Antonio’s flesh. Shylock knows what he is doing is wrong but he must avenge his treatment, daughter and wife. His social side tells him to take the money but his emotional side insists on revenge. So deep in his pain to push him in extreme circumstances. But he was wrong in thinking that the law could be exploited for him. Portia stops him announcing that Shylock has been breaking the law. As consequence half his wealth is confiscated by the state, his life is forgiven but he is forced to convert into a Christian.
Once again Shylock is a looser in a Christian world. His humanity is laughed at. He is reduced to the very thing that humiliated him, stole his daughter and spat on him. He abandons the fight to change how the world treats the Jews and learns that suffering will always be his tribe’s badge. His liability to obsession has dragged him to the brink of death. But he does not die physically. By forcing him to become a Christian Antonio and the Duke strip away the last things he has left. His money, his proud, his daughter, his religion and everything that makes him who he is, is taken away from him by the Christian society. There is nothing left to indicate that this man is Shylock. By being a Christian he cannot even practise his occupation.
The Oliver version of the play ends with a Kaddish, a song sang to the Jews dead. For a man like Shylock this is spiritual death. The true him does not exist any more. Shylock threatens no further revenge, on the contrary he quietly with draws saying that he is ‘not well’.
Portia is the lady of Belmont. It is her hand that Bassanio wants to win. She is described by Morocco as ‘this shine, this mortal breathing saint’, by Arragon as ‘my hearts hope’, by Lorenzo as awarded with ‘god-like amity’, by Bassanio as ‘of wondrous virtues’ and even by Jessica as ‘the joys of heaven here on earth’.
During the play Portia changes from one identity to another. She moves from her soft existence to the harsh, strict young advocate in the court of law and than back again. Portia has one true friend that she confides in, her maid Nerissa. She has a variable character. She is gentle and nice to those that she likes and ruthless to those that she dislikes. She communicates gently and politely with Bassanio’s friends but ruthlessly punishes Shylock and makes racist remarks on her suitors. These characteristics of her character allows on actress to develop her role.
Portia compares herself to the Dardanian wives considering herself as a victim that she can’t choose her own husband but has to marry the first, no matter whether she likes him or not, that chooses the right casket. She acts differently with Bassanio. She enjoys staying with him and opens herself to him. I think that she does have feelings for Bassanio but Portia believes that women should keep quite about their feelings and that is what she does. Bassanio does not see Portia only as the woman who he loves but also as a rich prize and a source of wealth. Portia’s reference of the rack suggests that she doubts Bassanio’s love. Nevertheless she is happy when Bassanio chooses right.
She gives herself to Bassanio as an “unlessoned girl, unschooled, unpractised’ wishing to be ‘a thousands times more fair’ and ‘ten thousands times more rich’ for him. Her gentle spirit commits it self to yours’ and Portia makes Bassanio ‘her lord, her governor, her king’ giving herself and what is hers to him as soon as he makes the right choice.
From the moment she marries Bassanio she will be known as ‘Lord Bassanio’s wife’ rather than Portia. For example when Lorenzo asks Jessica what she thinks of Portia he uses the title ‘Lord Bassanio’s wife, rather than her name.
In my opinion Portia is racist and does not like the outsiders. When Jessica firstly arrives in Belmont she is not welcomed with her name like Lorenzo and Salerio but only as ‘Lorenzo’s infidel’ by Gratiano. Portia ignores Jessica together with Bassanio and Gratiano. Like the other Christians she addresses Shylock as the Jew and uses his name only one time.
When we meet Portia in Belmont she is very feminine and elegant. In the courtroom she talks, behaves and even looks like a man. Bassanio obviously does not know his wife well. Having given herself to him he does not think that Portia is so intelligent and capable of freeing Antonio.
In the courtroom Portia can either be played as someone intending of humiliating Shylock or someone pushed to extreme measures by Shylock’s violent pursuit of revenge. I see Portia as a touch of cruelty. She is very persuasive, determined to win and get her way. She knew all along about the loophole in Shylock’s bond but she only stops him when he is close to stick a knife in Antonio’s flesh. During the court hearing she carefully plans her actions against Shylock. She firstly pretends to be on Shylock’s side and than she reveals the loophole protecting Antonio. Portia is determined to punish Shylock and does so ruthlessly. Portia does not show the mercy that ‘droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven’ which she recommended Shylock earlier in the scene.
I think that Portia took possession of Antonio’s letter that has news about the ships on her way to Venice but she decided not to tell anyone because she knew about the loophole and was confident that she would win the case.
After the court room Portia persuades Bassanio to give her the ring he swore he would keep until death and never to part with. I see this as Portia’s test of Bassanio’s promise and love rather than a joke, because she knows the importance of the ring. Portia wants to see how strong Bassanio’s resistance will be and whether he will keep his word.
Portia is also religious. After managing to take the ring from Bassanio she questions his loyalty and has stopped to pray for her marriage. Portia is also a very strong woman. In her Basanio has found a reliable and loving wife but who will claim superiority and hold control. Although it will be Portia that would have the last say in business matters. I think that their marriage will work. Portia can persuade Bassanio to do almost anything for her.
The Duke is the most important citizen in Venice. He has more power but also more obligations to his fellow Venetians. We are introduced to the Duke gradually by references made by other characters but we only meet him in the courtroom. The Duke has served Shylock when the law has requested it. For example when Jessica ran away Shylock needed support from the Duke to look for her. Although the Duke did go with Shylock to look for his daughter, he did it because Jessica had stolen and broken the law, not because he wanted to help Shylock.
Despite not expressing himself in public the Duke is also racist and has anti-Semitic views. This is the man that should treat all people as equal and that should do justice yet he calls Shylock “a stony adversary, an inhuman wretch” that is "uncapable of pitty, void and empty”. Addressing to Shylock as the Jew he instructs to “go one and call the Jew into the court room”. He instructs Shylock to withdraw his plea on “humanitarian grounds”. The Duke has to make the choice of either to let Shylock take Antonio’s life, the life of a Christian, or to let Antonio go free and not do as the law says. He is not sure what would be the right thing to do and has asked for Bellario’s help in this matter. Surprisingly the Duke does not ask Gratiano to leave the courtroom when he discriminates Shylock.
He is happy to dismiss the court and rule out Shylock’s plea when Portia shows him a way of doing so. He pardons Shylock’s life so “that thou shalt see the difference of our spirit”. Later he threatens to go back to his earlier decision in order to force Shylock to convert into a Christian. Overall the Duke’s main function in the play is to show the ultimate authority in the Venetian justice system. As the Duke he fails to understand how deep this racism has hurt Shylock so he does not do anything to at least try to bring to an end.
Gratiano supports Bassanio in his ventures in Venice and Belmont. By discriminating Shylock he presents the common Elizabethan anti-Semitic prejudices. As a young man Gratiano likes partying with friends but his insensitive side overshadows his character. We are told that he is insensitive, has rough manners and “speaks a great deal of nothing” by his friends. He helps Lorenzo take Jessica in order to hurt Shylock and welcomes Jessica as “Lorenzo’s infidel” when she arrives in Belmont.
Gratiano leaves his fortune on whether to marry Nerissa or not in Bassanio’s hands. This shows that he does not love her. Because love is missing in their relationship I do not think that Gratiano and Nerissa’s marriage will work. He may be joking about his bet proposal with Bassanio and Portia but it shows he prefers sons rather then daughters.
He likes attention to be paid to him. When he and Nerissa reveal their relationship Gratiano is the one that wants to tell the details and barely give Nerissa time to speak. He copies Bassanio in almost every aspect and just like him, he gives away without hesitation the ring from Nerissa, which he had promised to keep until death. This action makes you question what Nerissa really means to him.
Gratiano’s harsher side is made public in the courtroom when he constantly shouts verbal abuse at Shylock. He viciously abuses Shylock saying that a dead wolf’s soul entered his body whilst he was still in his mother’s womb. He does not feel anything but hatred towards Shylock and he is the one that recommends Shylock’s execution.
Jessica is Shylock’s daughter. She has been grown in a Jewish household and according to Jewish traditions. Despite Shylock being a strict father they have a loving and caring father – daughter relationship. Shylock’s mood and dissatisfaction sometimes irritate her. She lives in her father’s house and obeys his rules.
Against her father’s wish she falls in love with a Christian, Lorenzo. Being seduced by him and frustrated by her father’s over-protection she elopes with her lover and steals money and jewels from her father. Jessica knows how much this will hurt her father, but does not change her mind. It is her action that makes Shylock feel the need for revenge. Jessica’s loss shatters Shylock’s heart and scars.
In Lorenzo she has found somebody who loves her and cares about her and she is accepted into the gentile Society. However she feels as an outsider in Belmont and as though she does not belong there. She is in Belmont surrounded by Christians, while there is a court case taking place in Venice in which her father is involved. Although she has run away Jessica still loves her father and is worried about him.
Jessica is aware of how the Christians she is living amongst have treated her race and her father. The contrast between how she has lived and her present lifestyle plus how the Christians react to her father’s loss makes Jessica question her decision to run away. As they all go in to celebrate, Jessica is left outside alone, feeling pain and guilt.
Venice was a city of contrast, of love and hate, loyalty and prejudice, wealth and poverty, power and obedience, justice and injustice. Venice was a city of culture and sophisticated behaviour. It had a Jewish minority as well as an African population. These ethnic minorities do not have equal rights to the Christian ruling class, although Venice had a legal system that gave rights even to outsiders.
Venice was a big centre of trade. Obviously it is ruled entirely by men. They are the ones that control the trade, politics and law with woman playing no part in the men’s business. Woman can not own property neither. When Portia marries Bassanio she gives herself and all she owns to him.
Patriarchy rules in Belmont and Venice. Despite Portia being head of household, her dead father controls her destiny from the grave. Even when she escapes from her father’s wills she subjects herself to her husband. From now she will be known as Lord Bassanio’s wife.
Portia disagrees with the way Venice is run and the way women are treated in Venice. Although she does not express how she feels we understand this by her actions. One of the reasons she punishes Shylock so harshly is to show what woman are capable to do. Also one of the reasons she goes so far in her persuasion for the ring is to prove to herself and the audience that men are weak plus she can have control over the including her husband.
“The Merchant of Venice” shows the danger of judging by appearance. The gold and silver caskets are examples of how the exterior show can be misleading. Morocco and Arragon choose these two caskets because of their posh appearance but in fact these caskets are just illusions. This is very well said by the line:
‘All that glisters is not gold’.
Later in the play Portia and Nerissa disguise themselves as men in order to represent Antonio in court. This would be regarded as joke by the Elizabethan audience where as I think that it is a way Shakespeare explains us how sexiest the wives were in Elizabethan times. The fact that Bassanio and Gratiano fail to recognise their wives as the doctor and clerk present a big problem today.
In the two play versions that I have watched different ways were found of how to screen the courtroom in order to make it also realistic. In the Oliver production Portia always avoided eye contact with Bassanio and only looked back at him from a certain distance. In the Modern production the husbands were sited at the back of the courtroom with the other people present in the court away from where the action was taking place. And when Portia requested the ring all the attention was drawn to the ring so Bassanio refused not looking straight in Portia’s eyes. I preferred the way it was dealt with this problem in the Modern production. It was impossible for Bassanio to recognise his wife during the court because he was sitting in a certain distance and could look at her in the eyes because he would refuse the request of someone who had just saved his friend’s life. On the other hand I find rather it absurd the way this problem has been dealt within the Oliver production. Bassanio’s sited quite close to Portia while there is debate taking place from which Antonio’s and Shylock’s lives depend on yet Bassanio does not look at the advocate but only listens.
Perhaps the appearance is not the only factor that women are not recognised. Portia and Nerissa act, talk and behave just like man. They not only fool their husbands but also everyone else in the courtroom including the Duke himself. The appearance of looking as a man is important but Portia’s ability to hide her feminine side and copy a man’s attitude and gestures is crucial. During the court hearing Portia integrates into a whole new male person.
The husbands do not know their wives very well but nobody expected Portia and Nerissa to show up at the court as themselves and certainly not as the layer and clerk to represent Antonio. There also a letter from Bellario saying that he had sent Balthazar, a young doctor. Nobody expect Bellario letter to be part of Portia’s game.
It was also impressive the way Portia handled the situation and the strategy she used. Nobody in the courtroom would think that a woman is capable of having so much knowledge and could be so intelligent. From the moment Portia and Nerissa enter to the end the atmosphere in the court was very tense. Everyone in the courtroom would have been focused in the proceedings so they accepted Portia and Nerissa as they were presented and didn’t doubt their identities.
However Gratiano that closely talked with both Portia and Nerissa making eye contact failed to recognise his wife or Portia. Although Gratiano is not intelligent and was overjoyed with excitement for Antonio, it makes me doubt his love the fact that he did not recognise his wife. Overall I believe that ways can be found around this problem.
Shakespeare’s language is not like every day speech. He always tried to write his verse or prose in ways that would have the greatest dramatic impact. In The Merchant of Venice Shakespeare has used two different types of speech: prose and blank verse. Low class like Lancelot speaks in prose while high class like Portia speaks in blank verse. Shylock, as an outsider, speaks both in blank verse and prose.
‘You know me well and herein spend but time’.
The line has ten syllables and five are stressed while the other five are unstressed. Also the line that follows has five stressed and five unstressed syllables:
‘To wind about my love with circumstances’
This is typical line used by Shakespeare in his plays.
These are examples of blank verse. It is called blank because it does not rhyme. Shakespeare uses blank verse in a formal speech between two important characters and when something important is being said. However when something important is being said or a scene is about to end the character usually speaks in rhyme.
‘You that choose not by the view
Chance as fair, and choose as true.
Since this fortune falls on you,
Be content and seek no new.’
The language used by the characters depends on the situations and characters’ feeling. It also helps us learn about a character. For example Antonio speaks formally when he is depressed and seems unable to relax. Bassanio uses strong classical imagery to describe Portia. Shylock use of repetition to show that he is preoccupied with the idea of revenge. When describing their partners the lovers get carried away using language of love poetry. Lancelot wants to climb up the social ladder and tries to use clever words but fails.
The superb storyline, the complexity of characters, how the story unfolds and the use of language makes Shakespeare’s plays some of the most fascinating and intriguing in the world.