Comparison of William Shakespeares Great Works - Essay Example

Comparison of William Shakespeare’s great works “The Merchant of Venice” and “Romeo & Juliet” are known as one of the most excellent and truly outstanding works by William Shakespeare and in the English literature as well. It has been observed that unexpected situations and circumstance are faced by the people of the William Shakespeare’s plays which are also one of the most repeating and reappearing themes in most of his novels. “The Merchant of Venice” and “Romeo & Juliet” are an example of this observation where two people of that time are going through the life of today and dealing with different emotions and behaviors which includes conflicts, love, revolt and apostasy, and desolation. Hence, these plays have shown the true nature of mankind and their behaviors which they deal with every now and then. “These two sides make themselves known throughout the play, and yet are never reconciled, leaving readers or viewers unsure of who exactly Shylock really is, and so unsure of how to judge him as a Jew.” (Wonnacott, 1) William Shakespeare has explored and investigated the meaning of love at first sight as well as conflict with the beloved ones. “Dont waste your love on somebody, who doesnt value it.” (Shakespeare and Levenson) Love and conflict are the most important and most recurring themes these both novels of William Shakespeare share in between them. These plays share the same concept, idea, meaning, and theme throughout the play but they are not classified in the same category. “The Merchant of Venice” is considered as a puzzled act or play whereas “Romeo & Juliet” is known as a catastrophe or tragedy as there are many important points where these novels differ in various extents. It is common observation that Shakespeare in work incorporates a fine amalgamation of sonnets, oxymoron’s, expression and exaggeration and bold scenarios in order to depict love. This not only assists him to show vibrant and intense relations between the people (characters). Some may contradict this representation of love as they might consider it to be not a precise depiction of love among the characters. The way love has evolved throughout also narrates a great amount about this form of love. In both of these plays, it is shown that the feeling of love is created and developed as soon as the people in the play has seen each other, that is, love at first sight, and hence the concept of “love at first sight” has gained immense popularity. Portia has described Bassanio as a good man and worthy in “The Merchant of Venice”. (Shakespeare and Phelps) This part has shown that Portia looks up to Bassanio approvingly and ranks him better than all her admirer she has had. “The emotion is spread out thoroughly like warm butter on hot toast. The tragedy in The Merchant of Venice is believable and almost true in a sense of my opinion in relating to greed, human desire, and most important let not forget, anguish.” (Cahn) Hence, here William Shakespeare has indicated that Portia finds and chooses Bassanio who is “worthy” because of his honesty, integrity, and honor and not his materialistic side in the novel. On the contrary, Shakespeare has shown, which we get to see is a typical example of love at first glance in Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare has displayed this as Romeo falls in love with Juliet just from seeing her for the very first time. William Shakespeare has further explained “love at first sight” in a way that Rome and Juliet has shared and talked only 14 lines with each other before they kiss each other for the first time. The timeline of their life is developed in such a way that they travel journey of seeing each other, to getting married later, and then finally sacrificing their lives in favor of each other. Conflict is another theme which is shared by these two novels of Shakespeare. It is not wrong to say that conflict is the primary theme of “The Merchant of Venice” and “Romeo and Juliet” both. In “Romeo & Juliet”, the conflict is displayed between the families of Romeo and Juliet. On the other hand, a huge conflict is shown by Shakespeare in “The Merchant of Venice” between Antonio (merchant) and Shylock (moneylender). On the big scale, this conflict is between the Jews and Christian communities. A huge conflict between two communities or groups of people is described in both of these novels. However, in “Romeo & Juliet”, both of the main characters die after sacrificing their lives for each other, whereas in “The Merchant of Venice”, the Christian wins as they are saved from death or happily married in the end. The main conflict which has recurred is between Juliet and her family in “Romeo & Juliet” and Jessica and Shylock in “The Merchant of Venice”. Both of these characters, Juliet and Jessica have the same nature and everything, but their ending is different which depicts them as characters. Jessica, comparatively, had a better ending than Juliet as Juliet faced a death by sacrificing her life in the end of story. Therefore, Shakespeare develops the conflict in a variety of different ways, but not always in a way that a modern audience can appreciate without knowing what has been taught behind the scene or some part of the history of it. “Romeo and Juliet become immortalized, somewhat ironically, through art, and their love is immortalized by their statues “in pure gold” which lay side by side in the streets of Verona” (Laird, 210) Hence in a nutshell, “The Merchant of Venice” and “Romeo & Juliet” are the great works of the great William Shakespeare who has immensely introduced “love at first sight” in the English literature and made it popular since then. Shakespeare has brilliantly written these acts which consist and share the main themes in between them. These two novels are perfect examples of how the human behavior changes according to the different situations and circumstances he has faced in his life. My only love sprung from my only hate./ Too early seen unknown, and known too late. Prodigious birth of love it is to me that I mist love a loathed enemy” (1.5.135-139). Things have tremendously changed since Shakespeares period in a way that most of the people have adopted unwanted approach which leads to disaster like fights and disputes between parents and children which further leads them to attempt an unwanted act. If proper understanding of Romeo and Juliet was taken into account such kind of act would not take place and it would have ended up in a positive way. Works Cited: Cahn, Victor L. Shakespeare the Playwright: A Companion to the Complete Tragedies, Histories, Comedies, and Romances. Westport, Conn. [u.a.: Praeger, 1996. Print. Shakespeare, William, and Jill L Levenson. Romeo And Juliet. 1st ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. Print. Shakespeare, William, and William Lyon Phelps. The Merchant Of Venice. 1st ed. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1923. Print. Wonnacott, Marsha. The Merchant Of Venice As A Non-Racist Text. Valley Humanities Review Spring 2013 1.1 (2014): 1-12. Web. Laird, D. (1964). The generation of style in ‘Romeo and Juliet’. The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, 63(2), 204-213. Read More