To what extent can "The Merchant of Venice" be viewed as a tragedy rather than a comedy?

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To what extent can “The Merchant of Venice” be viewed as a tragedy rather than a comedy?

The Merchant of Venice can be viewed as a tragedy to a certain extent. Shakespeare’s audience would have no difficulty in accepting “The Merchant of Venice” as a comedy however, it is likely that a modern audience nowadays, would view that play as a tragedy. However, I feel that the majority of the play consists of comic elements.

Typical Shakespearean tragedies have common features. A tragedy has a hero of noble birth, which has a fatal flaw and comes close to death. This is what happens in “The Merchant of Venice”. We can consider Antonio as the “hero”, as he is the “merchant “ in the title of the play and he is very nearly killed by Shylock. The tragedy is also based on the antagonism between Jews and Christians and the bong between Shylock and Antonio. Shylock is a money- lending Jew and is depicted as a villain who adds a serious and dark tome to the play. When Antonio cannot pay Shylock back, it becomes apparent the Shylock is determined to get his pound of flesh and not show mercy.

“If it will feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge”

This quotation shows that Shylock intends to carry out his bond purely for justice and does not show sympathy towards Antonio’s life.  As a modern audience. We would find this shocking, gruesome and tragic.

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However, as a modern audience, we can also view the play as a tragedy because of the ill- treatment Shylock is put through. Although. Shylock demonstrates an unyielding hatred of Antonio, we can sympathise with him as he is an individual figure who is humiliated and regularly subjected to vile abuse for no other reason that that he is a Jew. He is scorned for being a moneylender and yet the Christians are quiet happy to accept loans from him. In court, Portia pleads for Shylock to behave with mercy but shows none herself towards him. In Act 4, ...

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