The Merchant of Venice;

1
The Merchant of Venice

• A delightful introduction for Mr Sharpes
  Sparkled Cherubs

2
GO SHAKEY BABY! GO!!!

• Wrote The Merchant of Venice around 1596 but
  still relevant today
• boys still fall in love with girls, girls still
  fall in love with boys,
• people get into trouble over debt
• fathers can still be very controlling of
  daughters
• religious intolerance still haunts us
• wives still worry about the fidelity of their
  husbands
• women usually still save the day!

3
Language and Style

• Stage Directions not read aloud, tell you what
  an audience would see, movement, setting, emotion
  watch for characters being left on their own
• Use of aside character will make brief
  remarks to the audience that seem unimportant
  no other characters hear these but they make us
  feel privileged! This shapes and moulds our
  views we know more than others on the stage!
  (DRAMATIC IRONY)

4

• Use of soliloquy characters are left
  dramatically on the stage on their own and launch
  into lengthy speeches that give lots of info
  rapidly to the audience
• Use of monologue a character delivers a
  lengthy speech to another, the purpose being to
  pour out emotion

5
Pronunciation and Rhythm

• Apostrophes used for missing letters reduce the
  number of beats in a word looked (look ed)
  2 beats, lookd (looked) 1 beat
• Shakey was keen to prove how clever he was by
  writing largely in something called IAMBIC
  PENTAMETER

6

• Each line of iambic pentameter has 10 syllables
  with 5 stressed and 5 unstressed beats
• In sooth, I know not why I am so sad.

7
The Characters

• Bassanio
• A young Venetian
• Wants to marry Portia
• Best friends with Antonio
• Borrows money from Antonio
• to woo Portia

8
The Characters

• Antonio
• A middle aged bachelor
• A wheeler dealer merchant and all-round nice
  guy
• Best friends with Bassanio
• Borrows money from
• Shylock to lend to Bassanio

9
The Characters

• Portia
• A rich young heiress
• Bound by her father
• A thoroughly modern woman
• Beautiful
• Funny
• Strong
• Independent
• Clever

10
The Characters

• Shylock
• A Usurer money-lender
• Jewish
• Hated by Antonio