Appearance vs. Reality in Merchant Of Venice Essay example -- Merchant

The theme of Appearance Vs. Reality is apply through proscribed the act to mislead and confuse so things may not always be what they seem. Shakespe atomic number 18 uses trickery to enhance the unfolding drama and involve his audience to a greater extent fully in the play the audience are party to deceptions which the characters themselves are unaware of. Prejudice was cat valium and the word Jew applied to hardhearted unprincipled moneylenders. An Elizabethan audience would have been happy to see a Jew, Spaniard or a Moor deceived and Shakespeare clearly tried to give his audience what it wanted. In contrast, many some other(prenominal), particularly ladies, would have admired the strong and witty Portia and even though she appears arrogant and racist this would have been accepted in Elizabethan England. every deception carried out by Portia would therefore be admired and applauded by Shakespeares audience and it is not surprising therefore she carries out that many deceptio ns. A major theme running though the play is that of Christians disliking Jews and Jews locomote the feelings. Towards the start of the play Shakespeare introduces deception when Antonio (a Christian) wants a bond from moneylender (a Jew). Shylock agrees to the bond under the condition that Shylock gets a pound of Antonios flesh for each pound he cannot return. This bond seems to come out of friendship from Shylock and he describes, I would be friends with you, and have your go to sleep The audience, however, knows at this point that Shylock is deceiving Antonio although Shylock pretends to like Antonio Antonio is a in effect(p) man and wants to be friends he has already expressed to the audience his villainy for Antonio. Shylock also describes the bond as this merry bond. A merry bond is a bond which is not serious, a joke, and if the footing of the bond were broken you would not expect to see Shylock wanting to take up the strict terms of it. Again, this is another deception , as later on in the play Shylock wants full revenge by fetching his pounds of flesh from Antonio. These are two deceptions played on Antonio by Shylock. An Elizabethan audience might expect nothing less of a Jew. By hiding his hatred for Antonio and making light of the pound of flesh, Shylock succeeds in his deception. The next deception is the elopement of Jessica and Lorenzo a deception in this instant against Shylock. Lorenzo doesnt care about the consequences to Shylock a... ...eceit when they elope. Deception and intrigue were very common in Shakespeares times. He writes about deception as it is what he saw around him and also because it holds his audiences attention curiously when the audience know a character in the play is deceiving another but the other character is not aware of this. Therefore, through deception Shakespeare brings his audience into the play itself and maintains their interest. They would have greatly appreciated being problematic in the deceits and l ies and would have been familiar, from life around them, with the concept of deception and enjoyed it. The business sector All that glistens is not gold has survived over 400 years and is used today to warn that outward appearances may mask what is on the in spite of appearance and this is the message of Shakespeares play. Whether Shakespeare was using deception to put across such(prenominal) a message or just to entertain his audience or both, the use of deception gives the play an intriguing plot, with heroes and villains and a theme which his Elizabethan audience could easily relate to. Work CitedKaplan, M. Lindsay, ed. William Shakespeare The Merchant of Venice. Bedford/ St. Martins brand-new York, 2002.