'Merchant of Venice- Romantic Comedy or not? Essay\r'

'A quixotic prank is a looseness that integrates wild-eyed elements as sound as humour. In Shakespe be’s wild-eyed comedies, the protagonists live jubilantly invariably after, and more oft propagation than non, the tamper ends with the tolling of wedding bells, with more than one twin getting married to create a joyful zephyr. Love always renderms to blessedness over adversity in his romanticistic comedies. Besides, evil is in addition brought to light, exhibiting enlightenment and reformation. The writing style of romantic prank depicts societies that chamberpotnot accommodate the chief(prenominal)(a) woman, often indicated by the hiding of her true up identity in graze to be able to function in society. Cross-dressing is often used to achieve this purpose and in addition provide comic easing.\r\nYes. It is a romantic comedy.\r\n1. The Merchant of Venice is often categorise as a romantic comedy. To roughly extent, the play does qualify as one. First ly, of the trine plot lines that run through the play, devil atomic number 18 related to love and marriage- the relationships of Bassanio and Portia, as well as that of Jessica and Lorenzo. The play depicts the stories of these both couples, integrating the al-Qaeda of romance, at the uniform time showing how they overcame obstacles to be together.\r\n2. Secondly, in the final stretch of the play, Graziano and Nerissa, and Lorenzo and Jessica, get married. Bassanio and Portia read already been married in the preliminary scenes, and tout ensemble live happily ever after. The play ends happily with the union of the raw siennas, the stillt of Antonio’s ships and evil being brought to light, as we canister see in shylock’s conversion to Christianity.\r\n3. Thirdly, cross-dressing is also feature in Merchant of Venice, as we can see in how the three females, Portia, Nerissa and Jessica garbed up as men. Portia and Nerissa were able to grow their capabilitie s as females, and Jessica was able to reunite with her lover this way. At the same time, the cross-dressing of Portia and Nerissa provides comic relief as we can see in the rings plot. These are all conventions of Shakespeare’s romantic comedies, therefore, the Merchant of Venice can, to a trusted extent be considered as a romantic comedy.\r\nNo. It is not a romantic comedy.\r\n4. However, there are also certain features in Merchant of Venice which do not correspond with the char guesseristics of a romantic comedy. The main themes of a romantic comedy are divinatory to be ingenious and related to goodness (e.g. love), save in Merchant of Venice, the main themes also imply evil, nuisance, payback and discrimination. Firstly, the hatred between Antonio and moneylender can be witnessed in bout 1 characterization 3, where the former calls the last mentioned(prenominal) names like a â€Å"cut-throat chase”. There is a furious transfer of insults, and this soon d evelops into a full-blown argument. The theme of hatred is displayed here, bringing forth an inauspicious atmosphere.\r\n5. Discrimination is also a main theme in Merchant of Venice. Jews are a clear target of discrimination, as we can see in the slip of shylock being discriminated by Antonio, with the latter â€Å"spitting on my (his) Jewish tweed”. Besides, racial prejudice is also shown, with the Prince of Morocco as an example. Although Portia does not say any colour-sensitive remarks to him and claims that all suitors possess a fair determine of wooing her, deep down she understood deems him unsuitable and inferior because of his racial origins, hoping that none of his colour would choose the correct casket.\r\n6. fraud and betrayal are also mired in the play, with Antonio as an example. He is perceived in public as an honorable and respectable character, a gentleman, but in occurrence he has some blue(a) qualities, like the discrimination and maltreatment of the Jews. This can be inferred from the situation that he spits at, insults and kicks usurer whenever he sees him. Besides, Jessica can also be used as an example to represent the theme of deception and betrayal. She dresses up as a male in order to elope with her Christian lover. One could see this as a pursuit of her happiness, but more striking is not and the physical disguise that she wore, but the fact that she betrayed her religion and father. It would be deemed an ungrateful act no matter how ashamed she was of the fact that she was a Jew.\r\n7. More impactful though, is the callousness and vengeance harboured by Shylock. Three thousand ducats are borrowed from him, with a pound of class from Antonio as the penalty if the money is not returned. after in the play, Antonio receives news that his ships have been lost, stripping him of this financial ability to repay the debt. Shylock refuses to spare his life, and insists on having the â€Å"pound of flesh”. In Act 4 Scene 1, the court scene, Shylock asserts that he leave behind still harvest Antonio’s flesh, even though the former was offered two times the sum of money, six thousand ducats. In this scene, Shylock’s thirst and require for revenge are obvious, as well as his hatred for Antonio. His heartlessness and unwillingness to be merciful strikes us as evil acts. These are not rattling palatable, especially in a play categorized as a romantic comedy. This could very well lead to a tragic ending of Antonio being killed, if not for the wit of Portia.\r\nConclusion\r\nDeception, discrimination, evil, vengeance, betrayal and hatred are all shown in this play. This is a stark contrast to the â€Å"pleasant” atmosphere that a romantic comedy is supposed to create. In some situations even, a tragedy could result. Therefore, the Merchant of Venice is a romantic comedy only to a certain extent, at least one that makes us rally about deeper themes and issues.\r\n'