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The Merchant of Venice (Shakespearean Wordplay (puns: play on words that…
The Merchant of Venice
Mythology
Ex: Portia is compared to the Golden Fleece and the suitors to Jason and the Argonauts from Ancient Greece.
Throughout the play Shakespeare references the Odyssey and even shapes some of his characters using legends from the Odyssey.
Shakespeare's Sentences
This means that a reader may see a sentence that they recognize but it could mean something completely different
Shakespeare also likes to shift from "normal" English to Shakespearean. An example of this is Shakespeare saying "He does not go" in one sentence and then in the next one he will say "He goes not"
Shakespeare's writing can be difficult to understand because English relies heavily on the positioning of words, in Shakespeares time the way they wrote and talked was differnt
Shakespearean Wordplay
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metaphors: an object or idea that's conveyed like it was something else, that usually has some similar features.
"If you please to shoot another arrow that self way/ Which you did shoot the first, I do not doubt, / As I will watch the aim, or to find both / Or bring you latter hazard back again." (1.1) .
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similes: comparisons between two entities, uses like or as.
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Shakespeare's Words
"As you begin to read the opening scenes of a Shakespeare play, you may notice occasional unfamiliar words. Some are unfamiliar simply because we no longer use them."
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"In The Merchant of Venice, as in all of Shakespeare's writing, more problematic are the words that are still in use but that now have different meanings."
Examples
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and my favorite, ripe for urgent
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