Introduction
The Merchant of Venice is a play written by William Shakespeare during the 16th century. The characters in the play demonstrate virtues of friendship, love, and hate. Shakespeare highlights typical examples of true friendship and romantic love in the play. The theme of love mainly revolves between Bassanio and Portia, among other romantic relationships. Marital ties denote romantic love in The Merchant of Venice. However, the aspects of hatred are exemplified by religious conflict between Christians and Jews. Financial bondage between Christians and Jews culminated in the conflict during Renaissance illustrated by Shakespeare’s play. The Jews were treated less inhumanely in a predominantly Christian society. As well as this, the hate between characters bred immorality and antagonism. The Merchant of Venice conspicuously employs friendship, love, and hate as the main themes in the plot reflect social attributes, including religious conflict, in Europe during Renaissance.
Relationships in The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
The relationship between Antonio and Bassanio highlights the aspect of friendship in the merchant of Venice. Antonio was a Venetian merchant who supported Bassanio financially when he was in desperate need of three thousand ducats to afford a fashionable trip from Venice to Belmont to court Portia. At that time, Antonio had no money to lend to his friend since he had invested all his money in trading goods in transit. Antonio, however, accompanies his friend to a Jewish shylock to borrow money. Antonio is ready to sign as the guarantor to Bassano’s loan. The Shylock is begrudging to Antonio and offers the loan at no interest rate, but with a condition, he will be entitled to Antonio’s pound of flesh in case of loan default. Antonio and Bassanio are strong and inseparable friends ready to take any risk to help each other.
Friendship is stronger than any kind of debt and should reflect a total commitment to one another. Bassanio is concerned about the debt he owes to Antonio. Bassanio wants to share the risks with his friend despite realizing the danger. At the same time, he is desperately looking for adequate ways to repay the debt, without thinking about the unfair taking of property or money. Bassanio tells Antonio, “To you, Antonio, I owe the most in money and love. And from your love I have a warranty To unburden all my plots and purposes How to get clear of all the debts I owe” (Shakespeare 1.1. 15). Antonio, however, has a different view of friendship and is passionate about helping Bassanio regardless of the debt. Bassanio wants an honorable way to pay the financial debt. Friendship in the play is crucial to demonstrate that true friendship is unbreakable, notwithstanding the situation. The Merchant of Venice demonstrates that financial strain cannot limit true relationships.
Bonds, as demonstrated by Shakespeare, override self-interest. Although Bassanio needs money for a mean reason of courtship, Antonio inconsiderately risks his life to help his friend. Antonio gets in trouble after the news that he had lost his ships, bleaching his financial bondage with the Shylock. Upon getting the news, Bassanio shortened his wedding trip and immediately returned to Venice to help his friend. The other aspect of friendship painted in The Merchant of Venice is driven by the hierarchical status between Nerissa and Portia (Xiu 3). Nerissa is Portia’s lady in waiting, and they both demonstrate a close reciprocating relationship. Shakespeare is able to bring out female affection in their exchanges of compliments that make them seemingly equals. The homo-social depiction of friendship in The Merchant of Venice countermand self-interests and hierarchal authority.
Shakespeare creates an acute sense of love expressed in the relationship between different characters. Bassanio and Portia shared a strong love bond that led to their marriage. Portia is a wealthy heiress whose father had set forth terms of her marriage in his will. The father had stipulated that the suitor who could correctly choose among the three caskets would have Portia’s marital right. Portia was pursued by wealthy highborn suitors such as the prince of Aragon and Morocco. Contrastingly Bassanio was a nobleman struggling financially and dependent on loaning to get to Belmont. Contrary to the depiction of women in the Renaissance, Portia is depicted by Shakespeare with authority and wealth. Portia is represented by a strong woman who can, wants, and knows how to choose her own destiny. The other suitors chose the wrong boxes, and only Bassanio could choose the correct box. The aspect of unconditional love is a major theme in The Merchant of Venice highlighted through the relationship between Bassanio and Portia.
There are also other illustrations of romantic love between characters demonstrated by Shakespeare. Lorenzo and Jessica break religious and social barriers to engage in unconditional love. Jessica is a Jewish girl and the daughter of the rich Shylock who overcomes embarrassment and social alienation by marrying Lorenzo. Jessica’s father deeply abhors Christians and would wish her daughter gets a Jewish suitor. On the other hand, Lorenzo was a Christian and a friend to Antonio who was ready to pursue the great risk love with Lorenzo. Jessica disguisedly changes her dressing to elope with Lorenzo. The forbidden relationship between Lorenzo and Jessica depicts true love. Gratiano and Nerissa also fall in love and perform a double wedding with Bassanio and Portia. Nerissa and Gratiano also move to Venice to save Bassanio’s friend Antonio from the harsh conviction. Shakespeare illustrates friendship in the collaboration and support by the parallel couples. Romantic love and amicable connections between couples to form friendship ties are shown in The Merchant Venice.
Hate in The Merchant of Venice is expressed through the prejudice between Jews and Christians. The play was created during Renaissance when there were established differences and conflicts between Christians and Jews (Russell 150). Jews are depicted as greedy and inhumane to Christians, and there is entrenched skepticism between the two religions. The Jewish Shylock is a blatant abominator of Christianity who values financial gains over human consideration and love. Christians, like Jews, are, however, also are depicted as greedy, corrupt, and selfish in The Merchant of Venice. During Renaissance, Jews were blamed for crucifying Jesus; hence their services and synagogues experienced constant havoc. Anti-Semitism during Renaissance is illustrated by Shakespeare, where Christians defined Jews with all kinds of evil and despised them in society. The Jewish shylock hate for Christians resulted from long-standing berating and discrimination from the Christians. The difference in moral standards between Christians and Jews is evident in the court hearing debilitating interreligious bondage. Religious conflict is the leading cause of hate in The Merchant of Venice.
The revenge tragedy accelerating hate crimes is discouraged in The Merchant of Venice. Shylock intends to weaponize the loan to execute revenge against Antonio through the loan agreement. Antonio criticized and condemned Jewish shylocks for exorbitant interest rates, and he could offer interest-free loans just to discredit the Jewish lending system. Launcelot, who served in Shylock’s household, shifted allegiance to work for Bassanio. The social misconception about the Jews also turns the shylocks’ daughter against Judaism and Jewish marriage. In the trial, Shylock objects to double compensation by Bassano and insists that he needed to collect the bonds as agreed (Shakespeare 14). Portia, upon examining the loan contract, declares that the Shylock is only entitled to Antonio’s flesh but not blood. Trapped by the absurdity of the agreement, Shylock is entitled to no compensation at all. He is also found guilty of conspiring against a Venetian citizen and fined all of his propriety. Hate crimes and revenge are demoralized by Shakespeare when he portrays Shylock as the perpetrator and victim of religious hate.
Conclusion
In conclusion, friendship, love, and hatred are the main themes in The Merchant of Venice. The characters in the play exert different kinds of bondage and controls to foreground the themes. The friendship between Antonio and Bassanio is strong, and Antonio is willing to pawn his life for friendship. Love is also depicted as an important factor of bondage between characters to overcome social barriers. Marriage was used to seal romantic love in Renaissance. Anti-Semitism is popular in the play causing instability, havoc, and social division between Christians and Jews. Jews were discriminated against by Christians, prompting them to revenge and Christianity abhorrence. Shakespeare has treated ideas of friendship, love, and hate very successfully in the drama play The Merchant of Venice.
Works Cited
Jackson, Russell W. “Questions of Racism: The Merchant of Venice and Othello.” The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Screen (2020): 149. Web.
Shekespeare, Willam. The merchant of Venice. Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd, 1948.
Xiu, G. A. O. “Understanding the Image of Jews in a Chinese Translation of The Merchant of Venice Accompanied with A Paratext.” Journal of Literature and Art Studies 10.9 (2020): 766-773. Web.