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Finally the two families
watch the two lovers’ bodies and agree to end the conflict between them and
bury these two together.
Romeo and Juliet is the most famous love story in
the English literary tradition. Love is naturally the play’s dominant and
most important theme. The play focuses on romantic love, specifically the
intense passion that springs up at first sight between Romeo and Juliet. In
Romeo and Juliet, love is a violent, exciting, overpowering force
that replaces all other values, loyalties, and conventions. However, there
are some scenes in which the tenderness of love is represented, for example
in the famous garden scene:
But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief
That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she. . . .
The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars
As daylight doth a lamp; her eye in heaven
Would through the airy region stream so bright
That birds would sing and think it were not night. (Act II, Scene i, L44-64)
The relationship between love and death, passion and violence— The
themes of death and violence are filled in Romeo and Juliet, and they
are always connected to passion, whether that passion is love or hate. The
connection between hate, violence, and death seems obvious. But the
connection between love and violence requires further investigation.
The conflict in society — Romeo and Juliet involves the
lovers' struggles against public and social institutions that are against
their love. Such troubles are from the concrete to the abstract: families
and the placement of familial power in the father; law and the desire for
public order; religion; and the social importance placed on male honor.
These institutions often come into conflict with each other. The importance
of honor, for example, time and again results in conflicts that disturb the
public peace.
The Merchant of Venice
 The Merchant of Venice was written sometime
between 1596 and 1598. The Merchant of Venice is regarded as one of
best Shakespeare’s comedies. It is a work in which good defeats evil. Some
issues remain unsolved.
In The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare put two stories
into one, and one having a vengeful greedy creditor trying to get a pound of
flesh, the other having a marriage suitor’s choice. Shakespeare criticized
the money-oriented merchant, who seeks a literal pound of flesh from his
Christian opposite, the generous, faithful Antonio. Another important
character in this play is the heroine Portia. She successfully defended
Antonio from Shylock’s evil suit.
In Belmont, Portia expresses sadness over the terms of her
father’s will, which stipulates that she must marry the man who correctly
chooses one of three caskets. None of Portia’s current suitors are to her
liking, and she and her lady-in-waiting, Nerissa, fondly remember a visit
paid some time before by Bassanio.
Bassanio wants to meet Portia and court her, but as a
merchant he has not enough money to do so. So he asks his friend Antonio, a
Venetian merchant, to help him and loan him some money. Antonio tries to
help his friend but he himself doesn’t have enough money to loan so he comes
to a Jewish moneylender Shylock in Venice. Antonio suggests that he should
be the guarantor. Shylock hates Antonio because Antonio looks down upon his
business. Shylock agrees to lend money to Bassanio without interest under
one condition that if Bassanio is not able to pay back the money, he will
have a pound of flesh of Antonio. Antonio agrees.
At Belmont Bassanio meets Portia, and they two fall in love
with each other. Meanwhile, Shylock’s daughter Jessica falls in love with
Lorenzo. Portia gives Bassanio a ring as a token of love, and makes him
swear that under no circumstances will he part with it. Soon they are
joined, unexpectedly, by Lorenzo and Jessica. The celebration, however, is
cut short by the news that Antonio has indeed lost his ships, and that he
has to pay back to Shylock. Bassanio and Graziano immediately travel to
Venice to try and save Antonio’s life. After they leave, Portia tells
Nerissa that they will go to Venice disguised as men. Shylock is very happy
to know that Antonio’s ship is drown at sea and he can claim the debt.
Shylock ignores the many beggings to spare Antonio’s
life, and a trial is called to decide the matter. In the courtroom, Portia
disguises herself as a young man of law, and by her wonderful speech, she
saves Antonio. In the contract, there is no mention of blood so Portia asks
Shylock to have flesh without blood. Trapped by this logic, Shylock hastily
agrees to take Bassanio’s money instead, but Portia insists that Shylock
take his bond as written, or nothing at all. Shylock is guilty of being
against the life of a Venetian citizen, which means he must turn over half
of his property to the state and the other half to Antonio. Shylock’s life
is spared but he leaves the place. The following speech by Shylock expresses
his reasons of claiming a pound of flesh.
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