10. William Shakespeare
Níže je uveden pouze náhled materiálu. Kliknutím na tlačítko 'Stáhnout soubor' stáhnete kompletní formátovaný materiál ve formátu DOCX.
Plot: Antonio, an antisemitic merchant, takes a loan from the Jew Shylock to help his friend to court Portia. Antonio can't repay the loan, and without mercy, Shylock demands a pound of his flesh. The heiress Portia, now the wife of Antonio's friend, dresses as a lawyer and saves Antonio.
Characters:
Shylock: Shylock is The Merchant of Venice’s most remarkable figure x no consensus has been reached on whether to read him as two-dimensional and shallow. Jewish stereotype, or a tragic figure, a victim of mistreatment of the Christian society
Shylock is also a „creation of circumstance“ – a product of discrimination and extremely poor treatment by the dominant Christian community coupled with recent events such as the disappearance of his daughter and property. All of these circumstances have twisted Shylock and have pretty much forced the human being into the stereotypical role we ale led to despise.
See the famous monologue: “If you prick us, do we not bleed?“ – Shylock expresses his immense frustration and points out that he, as a Jew, is every bit as human as any Christian in just about every aspect of life
On the other hand, Shylock’s calculated attempt to revenge the wrongs done to him by murdering Antonio, prevents us from viewing him in a primarily positive light.
Portia: Quick-witted, wealthy, and beautiful, Portia becomes the antidote to Shylock’s malice.
During the play she develops, though. At first: not so much initiative + resourcefulness, she is a kind of prisoner – her father’s will prohibits her from marrying a man of her own choice and is instead forced to marry the suitor who happens to mass a test which revolves around choosing the correct casket
When B. arrives, however, Portia proves herself to be highly resourceful, begging B. (who she loves) to stay a while before picking a casket, and finding loopholes in the will.
Also, in her defeat of Shylock, Portia wins by applying a more rigid standard than Shylock himself by (flesh and blood) exploiting the fact that the conditions make no mention of spilled blood, allowing her to conclude that Shylock would face a significant penalty should he fail to extract exactly one pound of flesh without spilling a single drop of Antonio’s blood
She is able to make the law work for her.
There is a fascinating paradox in her appearance at court:
The lack of mercy – despite the lengthy monologue (given contemporary sexism)
Woman at the court outsmarted every man present there (controversial for the time)
She tests the husband’s loyalty
After depriving Bassanio of his ring, she stops the prank before it goes too far, but still takes it far enough to scold Bassanio and Gratiano for their callousness, and she even suggests that she has been unfaithful.
Antonio: Antonio is a rather lacklustre character. Strangely, the title refers to him
Opening scene – hopelessness, depression, melancholy
Through the play he displays fondness of Basanio
Antonio never names the cause of his melancholy, but the evidence seems to point to his being in love, despite his denial of this idea. The most likely object of his affection is Bassanio, who takes full advantage of the merchant’s boundless feelings for him.