Texts and Human Experiences�The Merchant of Venice
Acknowledgement of Country
Overview
1. The Common Module
2. Context
A. Women
B. Mercantilism
C. Anti-Semitism
3. Human Experience
Lack of Freedom
4. Looking at Act 4
Experience of Societal Tension
Antonio vs. Shylock
5. Further Ideas
Human Experiences
Stylistic Features
Claim – Support - Question
6. See ya!
Contact details
Further Reading
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The Common Module: Texts and Human Experiences
Key Understandings
Key Skills
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Approach to Learning
Context
Examining context will give you an understanding of the society that made Merchant of Venice possible.
What were attitudes like at the time? How would audiences have related to Shakespeare’s themes?
Close Examination
Experience The Merchant of Venice in one sitting – watch any of the full productions that are available online, simply search for ‘Merchant of Venice play’ on Youtube and watch one of the stage versions.
Annotate some scenes on your own – examine individual lines and scenes.
Link to ‘Human Experiences’
Use the universal individual and collective human experiences as focal points for your responses.
Everything you learn needs to be reconstituted using human experience as the thesis.
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“I will die as chaste as Diana unless I be obtained by the manner of my father’s will”
- Portia; Act 1, Scene 2
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Context
A. Women
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Women and The Merchant of Venice
Key Understandings
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Student Activity: Draw comparisons between Portia and Elizabeth as women in 16th century Europe. How has Shakespeare (perhaps inadvertently) portrayed the experience of womanhood? ? To what extent is it universal? [Anomalies]
“If you deny it, let the danger light / Upon your charter and your city’s freedom”
- Shylock; Act 4, Scene 1
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Context
B. Mercantilism
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Mercantilism and The Merchant of Venice
Key Understandings
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Student Activity: Compile a list of the many transactions that take place throughout The Merchant of Venice, both literal and figurative, and consider how they contribute to Shakespeare’s representation of a world increasingly concerned with trade. What commonalities can we identify between this world and our current one? [Universal Themes]
“Thou calledst me dog before thou hadst a cause / But since I am dog, beware my fangs”
- Shylock; Act 3, Scene 3
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Context
C. Anti-Semitism?
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Anti-Semitism and The Merchant of Venice
Key Understandings
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Student Activity: Shylock today would be referred to as a ‘loan shark’. In what way is this kind of job today stereotypically presented in texts? What sort of characters typically partake in it? Is there a level of prejudice involved in these representations? [Challenging Assumptions]
Human Experience: Lack of Freedom
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Look at the play
In considering the play’s wider themes, such as the experience of restricted freedom and how fate can be seen as a symbol of this, how does this quote fit now?
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Look at the scene
How does the quote fit into the wider scene? What are you now wondering in regard to this quote’s inclusion?
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Look at the quote
What do you notice? Why did Shakespeare put this line in?
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Making Thinking
Visible routine,
from:
Close-Up on Act 4
The Courtroom as Representation
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The Collective Human Experience of Economic Tension
Liberalisation of Trade
Merchants wanted liberal freedom in order to profit from commerce.
(Shylock, the merchant class, the Laws of Venice)
Protection of the Individual
Consumers desired protection against exploitation.
(Antonio, those who would be exploited by the merchant class)
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VS
Antonio vs. Shylock
Revision Activity: Look at Act 4, Scene 1 and pare back the argumentation into some key points. Sort these into a table and analyse accordingly within the framework of the implicit debate at the heart of the societal tension represented in Shakespeare’s text.
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Human Experiences for Student Examination
The subjective nature of morality
Prejudice and Discrimination
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Social Pressures
The Impact of a Changing Society
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Community and Friendship
Economic Tension
Deception and Appearance
Self-Interest
Restriction of Freedom
Analysing the Text
Aspects of the Text
Look out for:
Think about how these stylistic and grammatical features reinforce your chosen ideas about Human Experiences and shape meaning accordingly.
Stylistic Features
Allusion: A reference, either implicit or explicit, to something outside of the text. Allusions can be categorised in various ways – Mythological, Religious/Biblical, Historical, Literary. They are dependent on context in terms of the audience knowing what this reference means, and act as a form of figurative comparison.
Examples: Shakespeare uses a range of mythological allusions from the classical world (Ancient Rome, Greece) to remind the audience of the qualities of certain mythic figures. He also uses several biblical allusions as a means to explore Shylock’s place in the Christian world.
Stylistic Features
Anadiplosis: When the last word/idea of a clause or sentence is the same as the first word/idea of the next clause or sentence. This can be used to persuasively present an argument in a logical sequence and can be effective due to the emphasis created by the repetition of key ideas.
Examples: In Shakespeare’s time, rhetoric (the art of persuasive speaking) was taught as its own subject. This can be seen in the way in which various characters use anadiplosis in order to evaluate others or offer their opinion on something.
Stylistic Features
Antithesis: An opposition between two things. These pairs are presented in close proximity and make use of parallel grammatical structure or equal weight to show the balanced contrast between ideas.
Examples: Shakespeare uses this technique in every play on nearly every page. In Merchant of Venice, antithesis is used in order to demonstrate the complexity or duality of ideas, or to show a sense of tension between two sides of an argument.
Stylistic Features
Antonomasia: A rhetorical device in which another name is used in placed of person’s real one. This ‘nickname’ or epithet will usually be an abstraction of the person’s qualities in some way – sometimes making use of metonymy or colloquialism.
Examples: Shakespeare uses antonomasia in this play to show the way certain characters reduce others to one aspect of themselves – demonstrating the way characters like Shylock are dehumanised by those in dominant positions of powers.
Stylistic Features
Metaphor and Simile: A simile involves making a comparison to something else by using the word ‘as’, ‘like’ or ‘than’. A metaphor is when a word is figuratively used in place of the true word. Both highlight similarities for better understanding.
Examples: Metaphors are used through the play to demonstrate the way these characters interpret their world – in particular, many of the play’s figures of speech relate to the highly commercial world of Venice, with characters often making comparisons of a financial nature.
Stylistic Features
Motif: An image, sound, action, idea, phrase, word or anything else that repeatedly occurs throughout a poem. Used as a form of symbolism that suggests a message the author wants to convey.
Examples: Shakespeare uses several motifs throughout the play to highlight specific themes, including but not limited to: Antonio and the sea, language with connotations connected to torture, financial imagery, the zoomorphic labelling of Shylock as a ‘dog’, and the plot device of the rings.
Extended Response
Developing notes into a considered and personal response.
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Thanks!
Further Reading
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