The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare - Relation between Love and Money - Book Report/Review Example

What is the relation between love and money in The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare? The Merchant of Venice, the celebrated romantic comedyby William Shakespeare, has been one of the most renowned plays by the author and it deals with various themes including the relationship between love and money. The play is generally recognized as a lively comedy of love and money in the sixteenth century Venice and the major plot of the play brings out the relationship between the two. Written between 1596 and 1598, the comedy is noted for its dramatic scenes and the character of Shylock, who is one of the most celebrated characters in the whole plays of Shakespeare. Set in Venice, Italy during the Renaissance, The Merchant of Venice deals mainly with about the love exploits of several Italian characters. As the title page of the Quarto text indicates, the play mainly focuses on three important plot lines: first, Antonio the merchant of Venice; second, Shylock, the rapacious Jewish money-lender; and third, the courting and winning of Portia, a singularly wealthy young heiress. Significantly, the courting and winning of Portia is achieved by an odd sort of lottery-like procedure and the relationship between love and money is most obvious all through the play. In the play, the playwright weaves together two ancient folk tales and each of these tales revolves round money and love. The first story involves the vengeful and greedy Jewish money-lender trying to haul out a pound of flesh from the protagonist’s body and the underlying theme is that of money. The second story focuses on a marriage suitor’s choice among three men and the winning of her companion and the theme of love is emphasized by the playwright. It is in the blending of these two ancient folk tales that the reader recognizes the relationship between love and money in the play. A profound analysis of the major plot and themes of the play confirms the close relationship between love and money. Thus, Bassanio realizes that he lacks the funds to impress the wealthy heiress Portia and he turns to his close friend Antonio who is a merchant in Venice. This makes Antonio to borrow money from the Jewish money-lender Shylock, on agreement that he would offer a pound of his flesh if he is not able to repay the debt on time. As Antonio’s business falters in the course of the play, he is unable to repay his debt and Shylock plans to demand a pound of Antonio’s flesh, as per the terms of the loan agreement. This leads to the climax of the play in which Portia’s clever intervention resolves the crisis in the play. Therefore, a close analysis of the plot and major themes of The Merchant of Venice by Shakespeare confirms that love and money are closely connected all through the play and this paper discusses the different types of love in the play in relation to money. Unlike most of the works of literature which deal with the conflicts between love and money, Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice emphasizes the relationship between the two. It is indubitable that one of the major themes of the play is the relationship between love and money. Shakespeare has been highly effective in offering the basic principle working in this relationship and he is extraordinary in the treatment of this relationship between love and money. “In The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare takes a more unusual approach to this subject, treating love as just another form of wealth. Love and money are alike, Shakespeare seems to be saying, in that they are blessings to those who can pursue them in the right spirit. On the other hand, those who are too possessive, too greedy, will get pleasure neither from the pursuit of romantic love nor from the accumulation of wealth. Bassanio sets out to win Portia’s love, solving his money problems at the same time. Shylock, in contrast, is a miser who hoards both his gold and his love and loses his daughter and his riches simultaneously.” (Milton, 34-5) Similarly, Antonio demonstrates the love of a friend for another when he pledges his own flesh to get a loan for Bassanio and he is also rewarded, at the end of the play, for his generosity. Thus, Antonio’s ships reach back at the end of the play and Bassanio’s fortunate marriage enriches him too, bringing him loyalty and friendship of Portia. Therefore, a reflective analysis of the various types of love in the play confirms that love is closely connected to money. A reflective analysis of the overall development of the plot in the play The Merchant of Venice indicates that there various types of love in the play and there is an underlying relationship between love and money. Thus, Bassanio’s love for Portia, along with the love of Jessica and Lorenzo, best illustrates the relationship between love and money and one recognizes that money is the chief motivator in the development of both these love affairs. Similarly, in the beginning of the play, Antonio, a rich Venetian merchant, lends money to his best friend Bassanio, the charming and cheerful young man lives beyond his means, and it reveals another layer of love. Shylock, one of the most bewilderingly original characters by Shakespeare, also reveals the relationship between love and money. “More than in any other Shakespearean play, affection and avarice are uneasy bedfellows in The Merchant of Venice. When Solanio mimics Shylock’s anguished cries of “My daughter! O my ducats! O my daughter!” in Act 2, Scene 8, his lines suggest one of the principal motifs of this intriguing script: Money may placate the flesh, but only love can enrich and satisfy our souls. Part of a rich fabric of themes and images in the play this central truth is immediately apparent in the preoccupation with finance displayed throughout the script.” (Flachmann) A close analysis of Bassanio’s love for Portia makes clear that money is the prime motivation for this love and Bassanio is, at least in some measure, motivated by his financial need of achieving the love of Portia. Significantly, Bassanio is aware that Portia, apart from being an attractive woman with admirable character, occupies sufficient money to pay his debts. Bassanio’s principal motivation for the love seems to be the principle ‘wealth first, then beauty’. It becomes clear to the careful reader when, in the opening scene, Bassanio introduces Portia to his friend Antonio. “In Belmont is a lady richly left; / And she is fair and fairer than that word, / Of wondrous virtues… Her name is Portia, nothing undervalued / To Cato’s daughter, Brutus’ Portia… O my Antonio, had I but the means / To hold a rival place with one of them, / I have a mind presages me such thrift, / That I should question-less be fortunate.” (Shakespeare, 1.1.160-76) Therefore, it is fundamental to realize that Bassanio’s love for Portia in The Merchant of Venice is primarily motivated by money and financial need, although Portia is an attractive woman. In the play, the dramatist presents marriage as a union of the wealth and property of the two people in love as well as union of a man and woman. The relationship between love and money in the play becomes obvious to the reader seeing that marriage is presented by the dramatist as a profitable business contract or bond which enables one in buying a wife. “In a sense, Bassanio does buy Portia, using the money he has borrowed from Antonio to present himself as a suitable match for her (indeed, he hires the servant Launcelot Gobbo away from Shylock as part of his new routine). It would be tempting to suggest that friendship is like a loan, and marriage is like full possession.” (Turner, 59) Significantly, Bassanio’s love for Portia is mainly motivated primarily by the possibility of money, wealth, and property that his beloved would bring to his life. “In the opening scene Bassanio describes Portia as “a lady richly left, / And she is fair”. Wealth first, then beauty seems to be his principal motivation.” (Flachmann) Similarly, the love of Jessica and Lorenzo is also motivated by money and these young lovers rapidly spend the money that Jessica steals from her father, Shylock. Therefore, it is obvious that the various types of love in the play demonstrate that love is closely connected to money. In a profound exploration of the major themes, ideas and concepts within the play The Merchant of Venice, it becomes lucid that the dramatist celebrates several important themes in the play which include love, money, wealth, friendship, racism, religion, justice, mercy, loyalty, and parent-child relationships etc. Among these various themes, the author makes an essential relationship between love and money. The themes of love and money run all through the text and three pairs of lovers, such as Bassanio and Portia, Gratiano and Nerissa, and Lorenzo and Jessica, carry the theme of love in the play. Money is the all-embracing power in the play which connects the various characters and their love. “Portia’s money also links her to Shylock. Shylock’s gold allows Bassanio to win Portia and endangers Antonio, while Portia’s money is the necessary, though not sufficient, condition for her activity. The final action links the two more closely, when, without explaining the source of her knowledge, Portia informs Antonio that his ships are returned and his wealth is secure.” (Stockholder, 142) In an analysis of the character of the Jewish moneylender Shylock, one realizes that he demonstrates the relationship between love and money, through his words and actions. It is fundamental to realize that Shylock loves money more than love or hate and his tormented cries of “My daughter! O my ducats! O my daughter!” in the play suggests a principal motif of the play, i.e. only love can enrich and satisfy our souls, although money may calm down the flesh. In the same way, when Shylock explains, in an aside in Act 1: Scene 3, the major reason for his hatred of Antonio, it is an affirmation suggesting that money is stronger than love as well as hate. “I hate him for he is a Christian, / But more for that in low simplicity / He lends out money gratis, and brings down / The rate of usance here with us in Venice” (Act 1 Scene 3: 36-7) Therefore, it is obvious that Shylock depended too much on the powr of money and denied the power of love in the beginning of the play. However, “the dramatic arc of Shylock’s character has evolved greatly from the beginning of the play, where “monies” was his only “suit” (1.3.111). Devastated by his daughter’s elopement with a Christian and her theft of so much of his hard-earned wealth, Shylock begins to understand that human relationships are more precious and ephemeral than the pursuit of riches… No amount of money can bring back Shylock’s wife and daughter, just as nothing but Antonio’s death can compensate for years of anti-Semitic scorn and ridicule.” (Flachmann) Therefore, it is obvious that the character of Shylock also plays a crucial role in presenting the relationship between love and money. Similarly the relationship between Antonio and Bassanio also brings out the value of love above money or wealth. Thus, Bassanio makes an important declaration that he values the friendship of Antonio more important than his romantic love or the wealth. “Antonio, I am married to a wife / Which is as dear to me as life itself; / But life itself, my wife, and all the world, / Are not with me esteem’d above thy life: / I Would lose all, ay, sacrifice them all / Here to this devil, to deliver you.” (Act 4 Scene 1: 278-83) Therefore, the relationship between Antonio and Bassanio suggests the power of love and friendship above money and it is this same power that saves the life of Antonio by the end of the play. In a careful investigation of the major themes of the play, one recognizes that love is a central theme which is shown in various ways in the play and there is an obvious relationship between love and money. Love assumes a variety of forms in the play including romantic love, love in friendship, love between parents and children, and love or amity of a brother for his sister. Every character in the play that represents the theme of love is also in search of money and better fortune. The example of Bassanio’s love for Portia illustrates how important money is in the smooth course of love. Both Antonio and Portia, who time and again tells that money can’t buy happiness, are in search of money. “Although Antonio and Portia give lip service to the commonplace adage that money can’t buy happiness, both characters, like Bassanio, are obsessed with wealth. Antonio’s avaricious pursuit of foreign markets stretches his fleet of ships to the breaking point, while Portia, newly won in the casket stratagem, declares to Bassanio that she wishes to be ‘trebled twenty times myself, / A thousand times more fair, ten thousand times / More rich, that only to stand high in your account / I might in virtues, beauties, livings, friends, / Exceed account” (3.2.153–157).” (Flachmann) Therefore, money is a chief motivation of every character in the play as well as every love-relationship in the play, and the obvious relationship between love and money becomes lucid to the readers. In conclusion, a profound exploration of the major characters, themes, and the plot of The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare confirms that the different types of love in the play are presented in relation to money. In other words, love and money are closely connected all through the play and the various types of love are presented in close relation to money, wealth, property etc. Significantly, Bassanio’s love for Portia is primarily motivated by money and Bassanio’s financial need of achieving the love of Portia is evident from his own words. Similarly, the love of Jessica and Lorenzo is also motivated by money and the money that Jessica steals from Shylock has a major role in their love. Works Cited Flachmann, Michael. “My Daughter, My Ducats: Love and Money in The Merchant of Venice.” Utah Shakespearean Festival. 2006. Dec 01. 2009. . Milton, Joyce. William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. Barron’s Educational Series. 1985. P 34-5. Shakespeare, William. The merchant of Venice. William George Clark and William Aldis Wright. (Ed). Clarendon Press. 1868. P 6. Stockholder, Kay. “Dreaming of Death: Love and Money in The Merchant of Venice.” The Dream and the text: essays on literature and language. Carol Schreier Rupprecht. (Ed). SUNY Press. 1993. P 142. Turner, Frederick. Shakespeare’s twenty-first century economics: the morality of love and money. New York: Oxford University Press US. 1999. P 59. Read More