Shylock In The Later Scenes example essay topic

"The Merchant of Venice" is a play that relies on soliloquies to advance the plot, create mood and atmosphere, and to develop character among all the actors. I am here to prove how this happens in two different soliloquies and show you why Shakespeare put them into the play. My first soliloquy is from Lancelot Gobbo and it is taken from Act 2 Scene 2. I know that Lancelot is a secondary character, but this speech is really important in the outcome of this scene. He is talking about if he should run away from his master, who just happens to be Shylock. This soliloquy has all the makings of what a soliloquy should do.

It creates the mood that Lancelot (Shylock's jester) is having a lot of troubles trying to decide whether to run away or not. It must have a lot to do with how Shylock treats him since he calls Shylock "a kind of devil" and also says that he can't handle being "ruled by the fiend". He must have really been mistreated under Shylock's care to go as so far as to run away from him. It creates the mood of sadness and hatred in Lancelot, and a dark evil kind of feeling towards Shylock for what he has done. It develops the character that Lancelot is a hard working man who is just trying to make a decent living but cannot because of the way he is being treated by Shylock. It also shows us that Shylock may be the character that, in the play, is the character to fear.

We don't know the details of what Shylock did to Lancelot so we have to cut him a little slack. But whatever he did to Lancelot has made him very angry and disgruntled. And it develops the plot by starting off the main reason for this scene which is for Bassiano to get into the picture and for Gratia no to ask him if he can go to Belmont with him. It gets to this stage by Old Gobbo askingBassiano if he will employ Lancelot, which he agrees to.

It also tells of what to expect from Shylock in the later scenes which is un heartedness and ruthlessness. My second soliloquy is taken from act 3 scene 2. In this scene Portia asks Bassiano to wait a few days to before he makes his choice on which casket to open in order to see if he will be able to marry Portia, but Bassianorefuses and wants to make his choice immediately. He makes his choice and picks the lead casket, which that we find out later was the right choice. ThenGratiano reveals his own plans to marry Neri ssa, and this all happens from the first speech in this scene which is made by Portia. This soliloquy creates the mood that Portia really likes Bassiano and that he should wait a couple of more days just to make sure he is happy about his choice.

She must really want Bassiano if she is going through all the trouble for Bassiano to get the sud le hints that Portia is giving him. It also shows that Bassiano must really like her to since he is so eager to make his decision. It develops the character of Portia as being someone madly in love with another person. It is clear to me that she is in love with Bassiano.

She talks about how she could teach Bassiano how to choose right, but she can't because of her father's will. To me, she is really love sick. It advances the plot so that the love Portia has for Bassiano, and the love that Bassiano has for Portia, can be more looked at. This sets things up for the wedding scene at the end of the play.

It also sets things up for Bassiano to make his choice later in the scene. So in closing I would just like to remind you again that the soliloquies in any play or novel are really important because they explore the character more deeply than normal speeches, and they also reveal the character's truest and deepest feelings. In other words, it reveals the true colors of the person. So just remember that you can't judge a book by it's cover, nor a character from what they say when there with other people..