BUDDY READS/ READ-ALONG - William Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice - Page 6

I know Launcelot is meant to serve as comic relief, but compared to the depth of other characters and themes, his scenes feel shallow and even jarring at times. I’ve never really enjoyed his parts, perhaps I simply not made for European humor . The only real narrative function he serves is to convey what’s happening in Shylock’s house and offer some insight into the dynamics there. Beyond that, his role feels largely dispensable to me.

I always hated his treatment of his father and the insensitive prank he played on the poor old man .

Him and Jessica seemed to a good relationship though , not like master servant but perhaps more like friends . I liked that

I’ll reply to qts and tags in some time , it’s been a busy week

Originally posted by: GumnaamHaiKoii

I know Launcelot is meant to serve as comic relief, but compared to the depth of other characters and themes, his scenes feel shallow and even jarring at times. I’ve never really enjoyed his parts, perhaps I simply not made for European humor . The only real narrative function he serves is to convey what’s happening in Shylock’s house and offer some insight into the dynamics there. Beyond that, his role feels largely dispensable to me.

I always hated his treatment of his father and the insensitive prank he played on the poor old man .

Him and Jessica seemed to a good relationship though , not like master servant but perhaps more like friends . I liked that

Bold@ Absolutely! I completely agree! I didn't enjoy Launcelot's introduction scene very much either.

Red@ Yes, his role feels insignificant to me as well.

Analysis of Act 2: Scenes 4 to 6

Act 2: Scene 4

In this scene, Lorenzo’s friends help him escape with Jessica. This scene focuses on the spirit of friendship. It highlights Lorenzo’s friends care about him and his romantic relationship. This scene focuses on Lorenzo’s love for Jessica, which seems genuine on the surface. However, the scene also raises ethical questions because Lorenzo accepts Jessica’s stolen gold and jewels. As the line between true love and morality blurs, it makes the readers doubt Lorenzo’s character and motives.

Act 2: Scene 5

In this scene, Shylock appears again and talks to his daughter and the clown. Shylock's words express great disdain and disrespect for Christian customs. He instructs Jessica to lock the doors and not to look out at the ‘Christian fools’ through the windows. Here're the exact words he uses in the drama.

“What are there masques? Hear you me Jessica,

Lock up my doors, and when you hear the drum

And the vile squealing of the wry-neck’d fife

Clamber not you up to the casements then

Nor thrust your head into the public street

To gaze on Christian fools with varnish’d faces…”

Masquerade is a metaphor that is used to show that some characters of the drama hide their true selves. Jessica pretends to be an obedient daughter infront of her father, Shylock. However, in reality, she’s a rebellious person and doesn’t respect her father. Therefore, it can be said that she wears a mask to hide her real face.

Act 2: Scene 6

It’s interesting to notice that the female characters often disguise themselves as boys in Shakespeare’s dramas. For instance, Viola disguises herself as a boy named Cesario in Twelfth Night and works for Duke Orsino. In this scene, Jessica also disguises herself as a boy and meets her lover, Lorenzo. When the female characters disguise themselves as boys in Shakespeare’s dramas, they acquire freedom in the patriarchal society and move freely.

I completed scene 7, scene 8, and scene 9 some time back. But I'm not getting enough time to write analysis of those scenes. I don't think I'll be able to post analysis from now on.

I completed scene 1, scene 2, and scene 3 of Act 3. In this Act, Shylock's frustration is shown through his words and it can be understood well that he faced a lot of discrimination. He desires to be treated as a human being. He expresses anger through these words:

"Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is? – if you prick us do we not bleed? if you tickle us do we not laugh? if you poison us do we not die?"

In Act 2, both the Prince of Morocco and the Prince of Arragon fail to select the right casket. However, in Act 3, Bassanio chooses the right casket, and it seems unrealistic to me. In this case, both Portia and Bassanio acquire what they wish for. In the real world, luck doesn't always support lovers like this.

I completed the remaining scenes of Act 3. Scene 4 seems to be more important to me compared to scene 5. In scene 4, Portia reveals her plan of disguising herself as a man to her maid-servant, Nessica, and her dialogues make the readers understand that interesting dramatic events will happen in the upcoming acts. Therefore, a lot of readers may become eager to know what she'll do. In this scene, Portia plans to use a man's disguise because it will help her perform activities smoothly in the patriarchal society. With the help of disguises, Shakespeare wanted to show that the female characters also had the capabilities of using their intelligence, just like men. In scene 5, Launcelot thinks Jessica won't go to heaven because her father is a Jew. On the other hand, Jessica believes her marriage to a Christian will save her. Jessica and the clown's discussion about religions sheds light on two different perspectives. Nothing significant happens in scene 5, and it focuses mostly on the clown, Launcelot's dialogues.

Have you all read the drama in EPUB format? I'm asking this because LizzynDarcy's ebook, The Arden Shakespeare Complete Works, is in EPUB format. But when I tried to open it on my laptop, the ebook didn't open. So, I converted the book into PDF format and then read it. LizzieBennet told us to write the actual page numbers from the book. In my case, the actual page count of the drama is 120 pages. In the PDF version, The Merchant of Venice starts at page number 3531 and ends at page number 3650. But if you guys read the drama from the EPUB version of the same book, your page counts will differ.

Originally posted by: Shirsha

Have you all read the drama in EPUB format? I'm asking this because LizzynDarcy's ebook, The Arden Shakespeare Complete Works, is in EPUB format. But when I tried to open it on my laptop, the ebook didn't open. So, I converted the book into PDF format and then read it. LizzieBennet told us to write the actual page numbers from the book. In my case, the actual page count of the drama is 120 pages. In the PDF version, The Merchant of Venice starts at page number 3531 and ends at page number 3650. But if you guys read the drama from the EPUB version of the same book, your page counts will differ.

I’m reading it in my phone so I’ll be logging the no of pages in the ePub version, Shirsha.

Originally posted by: missFiesty_69

I’m reading it in my phone so I’ll be logging the no of pages in the ePub version, Shirsha.

Okay, what is the page count of the EPUB format? Have you counted?