Does Tiara Really Exist?

"By my troth, Nerissa, my little body is aweary of this great world." (I.ii.1) Just like my previous post, I'll be discussing another theme that seems to come up in the Merchant of Venice: unfairness. We so often see this unfairness happen to many characters in the play, whether it be them treating other unfairly or them being treated unfairly themselves. In this post, I'll be discussing the character Portia, who is a wealthy heiress from Belmont, forced to marry the suitor who chooses the correct casket. To start, Portia has no choice but to follow her father's wish, which was for her to marry the man who chooses the right casket out of three: gold, silver, and lead. She seems very tired meeting all the suitors from around the world, and that results to her being very picky and stubborn about the men surrounding her, proven in the line: " If I live to be as old as Sibylla, I will die as chaste as Diana unless I be obtained by the manner of my father’s w...

"Not a poor boy, sir, but the rich Jew’s man that would, sir, as my father shall specify—" (II.ii.91-92) "The Merchant of Venice" is a play by Shakespeare that discusses themes related to prejudice, racism and much more. After reading through all of Act 1 and half of Act 2, we've already been introduced to a handful of characters that play a part in the story's multiple plots. I'll be discussing the character Lancelot, also known as the Clown and how his actions relate to a few of the themes introduced in the story, namely prejudice between religions and races.  He makes his first appearance in Act 2, Scene 2, with a long soliloquy that talks about his relationship with his master, Shylock (also known as the Jew). He talks about how he wants to stop working for him, proven in the line, " And in my conscience, my conscience is but a kind of hard conscience, to offer to counsel me to stay with the Jew." (II.ii.24-27). He also reveals that ...

How do mercy, justice, and prejudice intersect? D E F I N I T I O N S Mercy - An act of forgiveness Justice - Fair treatment or punishment for an act Prejudice - Preconceived opinion that is not based on experience or reason From my own common knowledge, I know that mercy and justice can be interpreted in law or philosophy. I also know that prejudice can heavily intersect with justice since there might be some stigma towards people that might be getting justice. Even in law, there can be many prejudices towards people that are some certain way whether it be ethnicity, gender, race, religion and much more. This might intersect in a way where the person who is some certain way might get more punishment due to the prejudice that surrounds them. For prejudice and mercy, I think they could intersect in a way that there might be prejudice surrounding the person that affects them, making others feel bad for them. That way, maybe they would be given more mercy than others ...