A witty and highlight-packed comedy masterpiece.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)Wikipedia.
The Merchant of Venice was written by Shakespeare around 1596 or 7.
I read "The Merchant of Venice" translated by Tsunen Fukuda, Shinchosha.
Let's take a quick look at the synopsis.
The spit is received with one's own head! Now, I ask for your judgment, the one who is as per the testimonial--.
The aggressor turns around and becomes the pursued.
A stunning courtroom scene, full of suspense and irony. A timeless comedy masterpiece.
A young merchant in Venice, Antonio, borrows money from an unscrupulous loan shark, Shylock, by pledging a pound of his own breast meat for a friend in love. However, his merchant ship is lost at every turn in a storm, and he loses all of his possessions. With no way to repay his debts, he is forced to have the flesh of his chest cut off. This witty and heartbreaking reversal of fortune is a timeless comedy classic that will move you with fresh emotion.
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The protagonist, Antonio, a wealthy merchant, borrows a large sum of money for a friend. Normally he would have had some money on hand, but he had invested all of his wealth in four ships that he had sent out to do business. He had to borrow money from Shylock, a notorious Jewish loan shark.
Shylock had a growing hatred for Antonio on a daily basis.
Antonio openly despised Shylock because he was a Jewish loan shark. He also lent money to people without charging interest. In other words, he interfered with Shylock's business.
Shylock cannot suppress his anger when Antonio says to him, "Hey, you Jew, lend me some money.
He said, "You've scorned me and interfered with me for so long, and now you ask me to lend you money? It was this kind of anger that led to the outlandish request for a pound of Antonio's breast meat as collateral for the loan.
From there, the story takes an unexpected turn and Antonio finds himself in a tight spot, unable to repay his debts. What is the fate of Antonio? This is the main flow of this work.
The main plot of this work is the confrontation between Antonio, who could not repay his debt, and Shylock, a loan shark, but that is Shakespeare. The story that goes on in parallel with this main story is also interesting.
It was a friend in love who caused Antonio's debt in the first place. He was going to ask the woman he was in love with to marry him, but he didn't have enough money.
So Antonio, who was very fond of his friend, went to Shylock to try to get some money for him. What happened to him has already been mentioned, but this work also tells the love story of his friend Bassanio.
He falls in love with Portia, a beautiful woman who has just inherited a huge fortune.
Many suitors came to her. But what she offered them as a condition of marriage was the solution to a mysterious riddle.
The content was to choose one of the gold, silver, or lead boxes, and if they could choose the correct answer, the marriage would be recognized.
In fact, this was her late father's will, and Portia, unable to choose her own marriage partner, lamented that she had no choice but to "leave it to this box. Her servant consoles her.
Your father was a very, very noble man. When a person with a beautiful heart dies, good thoughts come to mind. Therefore, rest assured, the three boxes of gold, silver, and lead that your father concealed in his body will be kept in the vault.tag (usu. bamboo, wood, ivory, etc.)If the person who wins her father's heart out of all of them is the one who will take her home, and if he is the one who can be chosen without a doubt, then there is no doubt that he is the one whom she will love.
The Merchant of Venice, translated by Tsunen Fukuda, Shinchosha, p. 20
As promised in the story, a number of men try to solve the riddle, but they fail miserably. Inside the wrong box are the words of his late father, who bitterly criticizes the man who chose the wrong box, and these words are again very funny and clever.
The scene where the men who come to court are racking their brains over which box to choose is interesting, but this scene where they are beaten to a pulp is also wonderful.
To begin with, the riddle "Choose one of the boxes of gold, silver, or lead. The riddle, "Choose one of the gold, silver, or lead boxes, and I will give Portia to the one who chooses the correct box," is already full of fun, isn't it? It reminds me of the golden axe and the silver axe. If it were me, I wonder which one I would choose.
Now, finally, that man appears among the many defeated suitors.
Now, will Bassanio be able to choose the right box and will he be able to marry?
And their meeting will ultimately save their best friend Antonio. A brilliant ending. Shakespeare is indeed a great playwright.
Thoughts - From a Dostoevskyian Perspective
The Merchant of Venice" is full of highlights with the confrontation between Antonio and Shylock and Bassanio's courtship, but there are still other highlights. There is much more to "The Merchant of Venice," but you will have to wait until you read it to find out for yourself.
However, there was one thing that stuck out to me.
That is the point that this work seemed to me to be a condensed version of society's view of Jews at the time.
The villain of the film, Shylock, is a Jewish loan shark.
He is portrayed as a villainous man without blood or tears, but one wonders if he is actually that evil.
It was the Christians themselves who persecuted the Jews, restricted their occupations, and forced them to engage in the moneylending business, which was anathema to Christianity.
Jews became moneylenders in order to survive. And while Jews may have the image of being rich, in reality most were persecuted and lived in poverty, unable to hold major jobs.
Jews who were making money as loan sharks were also living in a situation where they did not know when their debts would be overturned. They did not know when or if they would be publicly deprived of their money by the powers that be. That is why they took high interest rates and collateral to protect their livelihood.
Moreover, in this work, Shylock's daughter elopes with Antonio's associates and even absconds with his property.
Shylock loved his daughter. But he is betrayed by his daughter. And he has all his possessions stolen...
In this light, I felt that it is a bit unfortunate to condemn Shylock as a stingy villain. Moreover, in the last part of the film, all the members attack Shylock together.
The villain Shylock is defeated by the power of justice, and the finale ends with a happy ending, but for me, I was a little disappointed that this was really a happy ending.
Nevertheless, it is nonsense to think of the times and social conditions of more than 400 years ago in the sense of modern Japanese. This is this.
This was a common sense in European society at that time. I felt that this work had a great significance for me as an opportunity to think about the present day based on such history.
This work is also the masterpiece tragedy of Pushkin, the national poet of Russia, whom we have previously introducedThe Stingy Knight.This has also had a significant impact on the
Shakespeare created Shylock, who became the symbol of the vicious miser and miserly man in this work.
Shylock's form would go on to inspire literary scholars around the world.
Dostoevsky was also strongly influenced by Shylock and Pushkin's "The Stingy Knight" and wrote a full-length novelMinors."The company is creating a
I felt the power of Shakespeare and the power of literature as Shylock's image continues to live on in different forms.
The above is a synopsis of Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" - a classic comedy full of wit and highlights.
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