There are many fairytale elements in ‘The Merchant of Venice’ . For illustration. there is the thought of being three different points such as the three coffins. three thousand ducats in the bond and the three matrimonies. There is besides the thought of misrepresentation. which is featured in many fairy narratives. An illustration of this thought is when Jessica betrays her male parent to run off with Lorenzo. There is besides disguise. when Portia and Nerissa disguise themselves as male beds to salvage Antonio from the bond. The thought of Shylock taking a lb of flesh from Antonio’s organic structure is a bloodstained image. which makes Shylock a typical scoundrel from a fairy tale.
The component of a princess who is imprisoned in a tower is added when Portia is non able to take her ain suer due to her asleep father’s wants. as the suer must take from one of three coffins. and if he chooses the right 1 he will be able to get married Portia. However. Portia’s ideal suer. Bassanio. taking the right coffin. completes this component and they are able to fall in love and unrecorded ‘happily of all time after’ . Although ‘The Merchant of Venice’ displays a few features from fairy tales. there are really obvious elements losing such as thaumaturgies and a moral to all that has happened. There is usually an obvious scoundrel as good ; although Shylock is the ‘villain’ in this drama. there are parts where we do experience sorry for him.
The chief feature that ‘The Merchant of Venice’ contains is that of the figure three being used throughout the continuance of the drama. This characteristic occurs several times and plays a important portion in the plot line. A really popular fairy tale that contains this component of the three is ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’ . Throughout this narrative. the figure three is used many times ; the three bears. the three bowls of porridge and the three beds. There are a batch of illustrations of ‘”three” in the Merchant of Venice. similar to that of the aforesaid fairy tale. There are the three coffins incorporating either gold. Ag or lead. which are a extremely of import portion of the narrative.
As the coffins are an of import portion of the drama. this emphasises the importance of this fairytale component. Money is besides of great importance and is shown utilizing the component of three as good. This portion of the drama involves three of the chief characters ( Shylock. Antonio and Bassanio ) . The bond made between Shylock and Antonio is deserving three 1000 ducats and Antonio has three months to pay it back. When Antonio is non able to pay back the debt on clip. he offers Shylock three times the original bond.
Frequently in fairy tales. characters hide their true individualities to assist accomplish something. There are several illustrations of this. In ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ . the wolf disguises himself as Red Riding Hood’s grandma to be able to eat her. In ‘Snow White’ . the evil queen disguises herself as an old adult female to sell a poisoned apple to Snow White in order to kill her. ‘Sleeping Beauty’ is another illustration of camouflage and misrepresentation as the enchantress coaxes Sleeping Beauty to utilize the spinning wheel so that she will prick her finger and dice. An illustration of camouflage and misrepresentation in ‘The Merchant of Venice’ is Jessica masking herself as a adult male and running off to run off with Lorenzo.
She betrays her male parent and her faith by making this. Portia and Nerissa disguise themselves as male attorneies because Bassanio was so disquieted about what would go on to Antonio as a consequence of the bond. At the clip. adult females were no considered able plenty to hold such a profession. These points are highly of import because if Jessica had no run off. Shylock may hold been more willing to accept Antonio’s offer and have been more merciful to him. Portia and Nerissa have besides deceived their Bassanio and Graziano by doing them think that they had given their rings away when they had truly given them to their married womans.
Some fairy tales have an facet that is slightly ghastly. An illustration of this is in ‘Cinderella’ when the ugly sisters cut off their toes to do the shoe tantrum. In ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ . the lumberman cuts the wolf unfastened and the grandma comes out which is besides a instead bloodstained image. The bloodstained facet of ‘The Merchant of Venice’ is the bond ; if Antonio can non refund his debt ( three thousand ducats ) in three months. so Shylock will be able to take a lb of flesh. This portion of the drama is in Act 1 Scene 3. utilizing the figure three to mean the importance of this portion yet once more.
Opportunity and destiny are immense portion of the drama every bit good as in fairy tales. In ‘Cinderella’ . it by opportunity that she drops her shoe at the dance so the Prince is able to happen her once more and is it is fate that they are together once more. In ‘Beauty and The Beast’ . Belle’s male parent gets lost in the forests near the Beast’s palace which is destiny as he able to see his darling girl once more. Throughout the drama. Shylock’s destiny and opportunity alterations. At the beginning of the drama. we see him to be in a strong place as he is able to do Antonio hold to this hideous bond. We see him to be even stronger when the debt has non been repaid and he has won. However. when Shylock discovers that he can non slop a Venetian citizen’s blood. his destiny has changed and he has lost. His luck besides alterations. because his wealth has gone to his girl.
He besides had to hold to “presently go a Christian” significance he had lost his faith every bit good. In the scene with the coffins. there could be an component of opportunity at that place every bit good as you have to take which coffin to take. However. the thought of the lottery was at that place forward a ground ; whoever chose the right coffin would be the ideal suer for Portia. Bassanio’s fortune alterations as he was despairing to get married Portia and was able to when he had chosen the correct coffin. This is the same thought as ‘Cinderella’ . as the laden character ( Cinderella and Bassanio ) manage to win the award ( the Prince and Portia ) .
Love is of import in fairy tales and the drama. The bulk of fairy tales involve love in some manner ; in ‘Beauty and the Beast’ . Belle and the Beast autumn in love. in ‘Snow White’ . the Prince and Snow White do every bit good and the same thing besides happens in ‘Cinderella’ and ‘Sleeping Beauty’ . There are several relationships in ‘The Merchant of Venice’ . Portia and Bassanio were brought together by Portia’s deceased father’s will. Nerissa and Graziano met when Bassanio decided which coffin to take and Jessica and Lorenzo ran off to run off. whether it was because they truly did love each other or it was merely to hurt Jessica’s male parent. Shylock. as Jessica was Judaic and Lorenzo was a Christian.
In ‘Aladdin’ . Princess Jasmine is forced to get married a suer that her male parent. the Sultan. finds suited. Jasmine does non hold with this and wishes to take her ain spouse. in this instance. Aladdin. Portia is in the same state of affairs here. as she does non hold with her father’s thought of the lottery to get down with. However. unlike Jasmine. Portia does non withstand her father’s wants and she realises that her male parent has her best involvements at bosom. Her father’s will means that Portia finally gets the individual that she wishes to get married. unlike Jasmine.
Families are usual incomplete in fairy tales. such as Belle from ‘Beauty and the Beast’ does non hold a female parent. as does Cinderella. In ‘The Merchant of Venice’ . Jessica’s female parent has passed off. doing her household incomplete. Her and Shylock do non see oculus to oculus. such as Cinderella and Snow White with their stepmothers. Their relationships are really hapless because of this. which is of import as if the relationship between Jessica and Shylock has been a good 1. she would non hold betrayed him and run off.
The stoping of a fairy tale normally has a moral so that we can larn something from it. ‘Beauty and the Beast’ teaches that it is interior beauty that counts. ‘The Merchant of Venice’ does non hold a moral as such. but it does depend on what audience is reading the drama. The drama was written in about 1597. during the Elizabethan epoch. The Elizabethan audience would hold been anti-semitic and hence would hold had no understanding whatsoever for Shylock. merely because he was Judaic. However. modern audiences would be more sympathetic towards Shylock’s feelings now because we live in a more multi-cultural society. Events such as the Holocaust have made people gain that merely because a individual is a different race or faith. it doesn’t do them any different. We would be much less likely to hold with the Elizabethan audience about Shylock. There could besides be a moral in the coffin scene ; that if you think difficult plenty before making something. you will be rewarded. In this instance. Bassanio thought hard about which coffin to take and when he did so. he was rewarded with Portia’s manus in matrimony.
‘The Merchant of Venice’ has a happy stoping for everybody except Shylock. who is the ‘villain’ . In an anti-semitic society. we would state that Shylock is a scoundrel but he is non considered a scoundrel today. Shylock is a scoundrel in the sense that he wished injury towards Antonio and cared more about himself and his wealth than other people. but audiences at the clip would hold felt no understanding towards him merely because he was Judaic. Usurer may hold a few qualities of a typical scoundrel in fairy tales. but we feel sympathy for him at times. like when his girl betrays him and when he is forced to change over to Christianity.
On last ground that we can non truly see ‘The Merchant of Venice’ to be a fairy tale is because there are excessively many characters. The secret plan is a batch more complex than those of our traditional fairy tales. In fairy tales. there is normally one chief character and the secret plan revolves around them. The ground the secret plan in ‘The Merchant of Venice’ is more complex is because there are several different plot lines that intertwine for the stoping to do sense.
In decision. I would state that there are many fairy tales like elements in ‘The Merchant of Venice’ but there are some elements losing. such as thaumaturgy and an obvious scoundrel. However. when the drama was foremost written. it may hold been considered a fairytale as people would hold considered Shylock to be much more of a scoundrel than do.
