Skip to main content

How has Shakespeare interwoven the main plot of The Merchant of Venice with the subplots?

The main plot of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice is the Antonio-Bassanio-Shylock plot, in which the merchant Antonio borrows money from the Jewish moneylender Shylock in order to fund Bassanio's courtship. Along the way, Shylock convinces Antonio to agree to giving him a pound of flesh if he can't pay back the loan. This plot is the main focus of the story, but it also relies on two subplots to progress.


First of all, there is the subplot involving Portia, her suitors, and the three caskets. In this subplot, a series of suitors try to guess the correct casket and win the right to marry Portia, a rich heiress. This subplot is interwoven with the main plot because Portia is the woman Bassanio aims to woo, and so Antonio only borrows the money from Shylock in order to help Bassanio fund his attempt to win the heiress of Belmont's love. 


Second, there is a subplot involving Lorenzo, a friend of Bassanio and Antonio, and Jessica, Shylock's daughter. Lorenzo and Jessica elope, enraging Shylock. This second subplot connects to the main plot because, since Shylock is upset with Lorenzo for stealing away his daughter, he's in a particularly foul mood, especially when it comes to Lorenzo's friends, Antonio and Bassanio. Thus, when Antonio fails to pay the loan, Shylock is only too happy to exact his revenge. Thus begins the main climax of the story and the famous trial scene in which Portia comes to Antonio's rescue.


Therefore, we can see that the main plot of the play relies on two interwoven subplots to progress, and the ways in which Shakespeare brings these seemingly diverse stories together is quite masterful. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

etymology - Origin of the greeting "Sweet dreams".

Does anybody know the etymology of the phrase "sweet dreams"? I tried googling but did not find anything satisfying. Is this a relatively new phrase of the modern world or has this been in use for some time? I think it's the latter one. Answer The OED has the interjection as "a farewell to someone going to bed" from the 20th century: 1908 Sears Roebuck Catal. 198/1 Tenor Solos..Good Bye, Sweet Dreams, Good Bye. But it goes back until at least the 19th and possibly 18th centuries. John Wolcot, writing under the pseudonym of Peter Pindar, used it in his poem "Orson and Ellen; A Legendary Tale" published in 1801: Also from 1801 in The infernal Quixote (Page 287) by Charles Lucas: In the March 1776 of The Universal Magazine was published "The Serenade. A Pastoral Tale. From the German of Gesner" , where the shepherd Daphnis watches over his beloved as she sleeps and sings: The same tale appears in 1776's as Idyl XI, " Daphnis ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

What are the similarities between the relationships of the characters in The Outsiders and Romeo and Juliet?

At first glance, it might appear as if the characters in  The Outsiders  by S. E. Hinton and  Romeo and Juliet  by William Shakespeare do not have much in common; however, when one isolates the core of the conflicts, it becomes clear that the relationships in both stories are rooted in rivalry and secrecy.  In both  The Outsiders  and  Romeo and Juliet , an overarching theme is rivalry. While   socioeconomic status separates the greasers from the Socs in The Outsiders , last names separates the Montagues from the Capulets, who appear to be relatively equal in terms of socioeconomic status. Due to these rivalries, there are instances of deadly interactions in both stories. In  The Outsiders , Johnny kills Bob (whether his actions were justified or not is debatable). In  Romeo and Juliet , Romeo kills Tybalt and Paris, and Tybalt kills Mercutio. These deaths have profound effects on the main characters. In Ponyboy's case, the Johnny's death and other events in the novel inspire h...
Post a Comment
Read more