shakesperean comedy

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE

CHARACTERSANTONIOSHYLOCKPORTIA

BASSANIOJESSICA

LORENZOLEONARDOBALTHASAR

STEPHANOLAUNCELOT GOBBO

OLD GOBBONERISSA

SALANIO, SALARINO, GRATIANO, SALERIO

PRINCE OF MOROCCO, PRINCE OF ARRAGON

DUKE OF VENICE

CHARACTERS

SETTINGS- VENICE- ITALY- BELMONT

- Shakespeare does not identify the precise location of Belmont but the stage directions refer to it being on Europe’s continent.

-Venice is in the northeastern Italy on the coast of the Adriatic sea, in the early and medieval renaissance times, Venice was one of Europe’s greatest centers of commerce.

PLOT/SUMMARY . . .

Shakespearean Shakespearean

ComedyComedy

Contrasting…Contrasting…

• Plot from fiction• involves men of

middling estate; its perils are small-scale, its outcomes peaceful

• beginning in turmoil but ending in harmony, celebrates life

• Plot from histories• 'omnia contra', the

persons and issues are exalted and they end unhappily

• course from prosperity to calamity expresses rejection of life

What is implied by What is implied by the most basic the most basic

distinction of all, distinction of all, that comedy ends that comedy ends

happily and tragedy happily and tragedy unhappily?unhappily?

• often use puns, metaphors, and insults to provoke "thoughtful laughter.“

• Disguises and mistaken identities are often very common

• action is often strained by artificiality, especially elaborate and contrived endings

• Plot• Themes• Predictable Patterns• Wide Variety of

Characters

• Love provides the main ingredient • Foreshadowing and foreboding

• All Shakespearean comedies have five acts. – Climax -third act

• Songs often sung by a jester or a fool

• foil and stock characters are often inserted into the plot.

• Convolunted, twisted, extremely hard to follow

• LOVE and FRIENDSHIP, played within a courtly society

• ANTI-SEMITISM• INTER-MARRIAGE• Many are repeated – never-ending struggle between the

forces of good and evil. – love has profound effects, and that

people often hide behind false faces.

• hero rarely appears in the opening lines• Hero is virtuous and strong• Shakespeare assumes that we know the basic

plot, and he jumps right into it with little or no explanation

• foul weather parallels the emotional state of the characters.

• audience is often informed of events before the characters

• often introduces a character and then discards him, never to be seen again in the balance of the play

• female leads are usually described as petite, and often they assume male disguises

• Character names are often clues to their roles and personalities

• stock charactersstock characters

• Tragicomedies• romantic comedies• comedies of justice• simple entertaining

comedies with good wholesome fun

Comedies may be sub-categorized as…

1. The main action is about love. 2. The would-be lovers must overcome

obstacles and misunderstandings before being united in harmonious union.

3. Frequently, it contains elements of the improbable, the fantastic, the supernatural, or the miraculous. The happy ending may be brought about through supernatural or divine intervention

Romantic Comedy Conventions

4. there is frequently a philosophical aspect involving weightier issues and themes:

• personal identity• the importance of love in human existence• the power of language to help or hinder

communication• the transforming power of poetry and art• the disjunction between appearance and

reality• the power of dreams and illusions.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

• written in 1596• has become one of Shakespeare's most loved comedies• makes fun of everything from love at first sight to realistic staging

• the play refers to "fair vestal throned by the west," which was once thought to have been a polite acknowledgement of the Queen's presence in the audience.

The Merry Wives of Windsor

• written some time between 1597 and 1599

• the only comedy that Shakespeare set in his own time and country.

As You Like it

Merchant of Venice

SS oo uu rr cc ee sshttp://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id3308

http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/merchant/themes.html

http://www.field-of-themes.com/shakespeare

http://www.planetpapers.com/Assets /3348.php

http://aspirations.english.cam.ac.uk

http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/xMerchantof.html

http://www.onlineshakespeare.com/comedies.htm

Encyclopedia Britannica “Merchant of Venice“

A Routledge Literary Sourcebook on William Shakespeare The Merchant of Venice

Cambridge Guide to Shakespearean Comedy