The+Merchant+of+Venice

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Read the Play

No Fear Shakespeare

Characters


 * **[|Antonio]**– a merchant of Venice
 * **Bassanio**– Antonio's friend, in love with Portia; suitor likewise to her
 * **Gratiano**, **Solanio, Salarino, Salerio**– friends of Antonio and Bassanio
 * **Lorenzo**– friend of Antonio and Bassanio, in love with Jessica
 * **[|Portia]**– a rich heiress
 * **Nerissa**– Portia's waiting maid
 * **Balthazar**– Portia's disguise as a lawyer
 * **Stephano**– Nerissa's disguise as 'Balthazar's law clerk.
 * **[|Shylock]**– a rich Jew, moneylender, father of Jessica
 * **Tubal**– a Jew; Shylock's friend
 * **Jessica**– daughter of Shylock, in love with Lorenzo
 * **Lancelot Gobbo**– a foolish man in the service of Shylock
 * **Old Gobbo**– father of Lancelot
 * **Leonardo**– servant to Bassanio
 * **Duke of Venice**– Venetian authority who presides over the case of Shylock's bond
 * **Prince of Morocco**– suitor to Portia
 * **Prince of Aragon**– suitor to Portia
 * Magnificoes of Venice, officers of the Court of Justice, Gaoler, servants to Portia, and other Attendants

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THE SUITORS

The Neapolitan Prince ** Neapolitan ** means of or pertaining to [|Naples], a city in Italy

The County Palatine A ** county palatine ** or ** palatinate ** [|[1]]  was an area ruled by a hereditary nobleman possessing special authority and autonomy from the rest of a [|kingdom] or [|empire]. Usually in Scotland or England. The name derives from the [|Latin] adjective // palatinus //, "relating to the palace", from the noun // palatium // , " [|palace] ". [|[2]]  [|[3]]  It thus implies the exercise of a // quasi // - [|royal prerogative] within a [|county], that is to say a [|jurisdiction] ruled by an [|earl] , the English equivalent of a [|count]. A duchy palatinate is similar but is ruled over by a [|duke], a nobleman of higher [|precedence] than an earl or count. The nobleman swore allegiance to the king yet had the power to rule the county largely independently of the king. It should therefore be distinguished from the [|feudal barony], held from the king, which possessed no such independent authority.

Monsiour Le Bon -- A French lord

Falconbridge -- A British lord The Scottish Lord The German -- Duke of Saxony's Nephew

USURY? This is a useful article about lending money with interest to non-jews. I found it helpful because it is written in the context of Merchant of Venice.

Antisemitic Images Through the Ages







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[|HALACHIC LOANS]

Here is an article from Rav Simmons of Aish Hatorah outlining permissible loans in Judaism.

.  Characteristics of a Shakespearean Comedy
 * **Young lovers struggling to overcome obstacles:**These obstacles are typically brought about by the elders in the play, often parents or guardians of the lovers. Various circumstances cause the lovers to be kept apart, either literally or figuratively, and thus they must find their way back together in the end.
 * **Courtly vs. Pastoral Setting:**While intrigue and misunderstanding abound in the urban setting of the noble's court, everything becomes clear and love is allowed to flourish when the characters find themselves in the countryside.
 * **Clever plot twists:**Shakespearean comedy always involves multiple plot lines, cleverly intertwined to keep the audience guessing. These unexpected twists are always straightened out in a happy ending.
 * **Use of puns:**Shakespeare was a master of wordplay, and his comedies are filled with puns and witty language games. Sometimes silly, sometimes bawdy, yet always clever, his plays on words are a distinguishing feature of all his works. You'll need to brush up on your Elizabethan English if you want to catch all of his jokes.
 * **Stock characters:**Shakespeare, like many classical writers, relied heavily on stock characters for his plays. You'll notice several that keep appearing in The Bard's work: the young couple, the fool, the clever servant, the drunk, etc. These stock characters were instantly recognizable stereotypes to Elizabethan audiences.
 * **Happy endings:** All Shakespearean comedies end happily. Most often, this happy ending involves marriage or pending marriage. Love always wins out in the end.
 * **Stock characters:**Shakespeare, like many classical writers, relied heavily on stock characters for his plays. You'll notice several that keep appearing in The Bard's work: the young couple, the fool, the clever servant, the drunk, etc. These stock characters were instantly recognizable stereotypes to Elizabethan audiences.
 * **Happy endings:** All Shakespearean comedies end happily. Most often, this happy ending involves marriage or pending marriage. Love always wins out in the end.

Assignment on Humor in Shakespeare's Plays 

**__Characteristics of a Shakespearean Tragedy:__ ** The following fourteen points are a summation of a typical Shakespearean tragedy.

1.) Tragedy is concerned primarily with one person – The tragic hero. 2.) The story is essentially one of exceptional suffering and calamity leading to the death of the hero. The suffering and calamity are, as a rule, unexpected and contrasted with previous happiness and glory. 3.) The tragedy involves a person of high estate. Therefore, his or her fate affects the welfare of a whole nation or empire. 4.) The hero undergoes a sudden reversal of fortune. 5.) This reversal excites and arouses the emotions of pity and fear within the audience. The reversal may frighten and awe, making viewers or readers of the play feel that man is blind and helpless. The audience will regard the tragic hero as an individual who is up against an overwhelming power that may treat him well for a short period of time, but will eventually strike him down in his pride. 6.) The tragic fate of the hero is often triggered by a tragic flaw in the hero’s character. The hero contributes in some way, shape, or form to the disaster in which he perishes. 7.) Shakespeare often introduces abnormal conditions of the mind (such as insanity, somnambulism, or hallucinations). 8.) Supernatural elements are often introduced as well. 9.) Much of the plot seems to hinge on “chance” or “accident”. 10.) Besides the outward conflict between individuals or groups of individuals, there is also an inner conflict(s) and torment(s) within the soul of the tragic hero. 11.) The tragic hero need not be an overwhelmingly “good” person, however, it is necessary that he/she should contain so much greatness that in his/her fall the audience may be vividly conscious of the individual’s potential for further success, but also the temptation of human nature. Therefore, a Shakespearean tragedy is never depressing because the audience can understand where the hero went wrong. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">12.) The central impression of the tragedy is one of waste. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">13.) The tragic world is one of action. Action is created when thoughts turn into reality. Unfortunately for the tragic hero, their plans do not materialize as they may have hoped and their actions ultimately lead to their own destruction. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">14.) The ultimate power in the tragic world is a moral order; more specifically, the struggle between good and evil. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">a) The main source of the problems which produces all the death and suffering is evil in the fullest sense. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">b) This evil violently disturbs the moral order of the world. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">c) Evil is seen as something negative, barren, weakening, destructive, a principle of death. It isolates, disunites, and annihilates. Only while some vestiges of good remain in the hero, can he/she still exist. When the evil masters the good in the hero, it destroys him/her and those around them. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">d) This evil is eventually destroyed and the moral order of the world is re-established. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">// The cycle of a tragedy is as follows: // **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Good….…Evil…….Chaos…....Death…....Re-assertion of Good ** []