The Merchant Of Venice As A Romantic Comedy - Critical Analysis :: Free Merchant of Venice Essays

We can trace the origin of Comedy to Dionysis- the Greek divinity fudge of Wine who was hilarious, satirical and irreverent in spirit. Ben Jonson in Volpone (1605) that is considered to be the sterling(prenominal) buffoonery in English epitomized the simple spirit of comedy. Shakespeare was aware of the classical tradition by the chose to follow the Roman tradition of Petrarch and Boccacio. Shakespeares proterozoic comedies were classical in spirit but the later ones were more emotional, fanciful and humorous. The Merchant of Venice falls between there two categories. It leads the list of climb on comedies has more romanticistic characteristics than classical. It is alike one of the earliest productions of the middle period. In this play Shakespeare seems to have obtained the highest use of his powers as a playwright, his faculties as a poet and philosopher seem to be approaching their grand maturity without losing the ardor and hopefulness of youth. on that point is lofti ness of thought and expression. Romance was an old tradition and Romantic ideas were third estate during Shakespeares time. Romantic Comedy in the 16th C was meant for the magnanimousness and the comic relief in the plays was meant for the groundlings. There were many differences between the Romantic Comedies and classical comedies. In the classical tradition, the characters were give ined with ruthless force and the plays were realistic, spiritual and critical. notwithstanding in Romantic comedies that Shakespeare wrote there was plenty of with but there was also an appeal to the emotions rather than the intellect and they were also less critical in purpose. Like Meredith said, they are thunders of laughter clearing the air and heart. It is a comedy of emotions, which wins the audiences sympathy with the woes and exhalations of the characters. The various characteristics of Romantic comedies are present in The Merchant of Venice. The leading themes of most of these plays were sock and Friendship. These comedies were an exposition of Love and its manifold modifications. And on one level The Merchant of Venice is also a play about friendship and love. In the first scene itself Antonio displays the constitution of love and friendship that he feels for Bassanio,My purse, my person, my extremest meansLie all unguaranteed to your occasions.The love of friendship seems to dictate most of Antonios actions. He signs the kind Bond and it can be seen as the ultimate gesture that he can make for the sake of friendship.