Merchant of Venice themes

Men and women
1. women - helpless, vulnerable, pretty and treated as an object
  1. Lorenzo refers to Jessica as a "shrew"
  2. speak in prose - lower status
2. men - high status, dominant, wealthy, powerful
3. women not allowed in court
  1. stereotype challenged when Portia goes to court
    1. had power
4. Portia and caskets - like a prize to be won
5. when disaster averted - done by a woman
  1. challenges stereotype
Appearance and reality
1. Caskets
  1. Gold- pretty but if chooses, led by beauty
  2. silver - second best but if chooses has a big ego
  3. lead - less pretty but if chooses will gain Portia
2. Portia and Nerissa - 'can't do things' to start with but actually can
  1. court case
3. Shylock - seen as horribly really victim
4. Jessica - supposed to be a Jew, denies religion + runs of with a christian
Venice and Belmont
1. Belmont
  1. pastoral setting, typical comedy setting
  2. Made up place
  3. upper class/wealthy
  4. Racist talk about Morocco's complexion
  5. female dominated
2. venice
  1. Male dominated
    1. women have no power on paper
      1. but Portia and Nerissa have power in court
  2. strict law
  3. Venice = urban setting - typical tragedy setting
3. different stories in each place
Justice and mercy
1. Shylock wanted justice in court
  1. got legal justice not moral justice
2. Mercy - forgiveness someone who could be punished
3. Jessica - no mercy
4. Shylock force to become christian
  1. believe mercy but not - only thing he had left
5. Justice - fair behaviour/treatment

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Merchant of Venice themes

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	Created by Lois Kennerley about 7 years ago