Blog Post due 2-24

Who is the Merchant of Venice?
I think that Antonio is the Merchant of Venice. It would make sense that the Merchant of Venice would be the protagonist since it's the title of play, and since Shylock is the antagonist of the play, that would make Antonio the protagonist, and thus the Merchant of Venice. I think that the conflict between Shylock and Antonio is the main conflict of the story. The deal between Shylock and Antonio happened in the beginning of the play, so it makes sense for it to be kind of the main thing throughout the play. Once the deal has been made, Shylock spends the time up until the trial wanting Antonio not to be able to repay him so that Shylock will be able to kill Antonio. The definition of an antagonist is someone who is opposed or hostile towards someone. To me, trying to kill someone makes you both hostile and opposed towards them, which would make Shylock the antagonist. On the flip side, a protagonist is the main character. I think a better definition would be the person who opposes the antagonist, and Antonio seems to oppose Shylock the most, which is why he is the protagonist and therefore the Merchant of Venice. Also, its the MERCHANT of Venice, which doesn't mean that it has to be an actual merchant, but it would make more sense for the Merchant of Venice to be an actual merchant. Antonio seems to be the main merchant in the play.

Journal due 2/17/13

Is the Merchant of Venice a comedy, tragedy, or a tragicomedy? 

I think that the Merchant of Venice is a tragicomedy. There are some funny parts, especially with Portia's suitors and their self-confidence in their abilities to pick the right chest, but I think that a lot of the play has had some underlying tragic tones in it. If Antonio doesn't end up being able to pay Shylock back the 3,000 ducats he owes, then Shylock gets a pound of his flesh, which isn't really very funny. Also, some people think that Antonio likes Bassanio, and if that's true then it's kind of sad that Bassanio would rather be with Portia. 

Journal due 2/10/14

2) How is Belmont different from Venice? How can we use the Green World theory to interpret this? 

In class we talked about the difference between the Green World and the City World. We said that Belmont is part of the Green world and Venice is the City World. I think that Belmont IS part of the Green World in the Merchant of Venice, but since it's also a city, in another play it could be considered part of the City World. In the Merchant of Venice, Belmont is where Portia and Nerissa are, while Venice is where all of the men like Bassanio, Lorenzo, Shylock, Gratiano, and Antonio. All of the business transactions and stuff like that happen in Venice, and the romance happens in Belmont  as the suitors try to win over Portia and play the game so they can marry her. Belmont also has intergenerational strifes because Portia is kind of upset at her father because he made it so she can't choose her husband if she wants her inheritance. These strifes may not be resolved because Portia's father is dead, but she may come to terms with everything he did. Venice has a lot of social hierarchy that Belmont doesn't have. Most of the things we read about happening in Venice were about money or how Jews and Christians disliked and didn't trust each other, while things that happened in Belmont so far were about romance and family issues. 

Journal 2-3-14

In class, we watched the Crash Course video on the Renaissance and whether it was a thing. John Green argued that because it didn't really affect people who weren't upper class, it shouldn't really be called a thing.  I don't really agree with John Green about the fact that the renaissance wasn't a thing. The renaissance is just a name for some things that happened during a time period. In, fact some historians call it the Early Modern Period instead. Just because it didn't affect a lot of people like women, Jewish people, and pretty much everyone who wasn't rich, it still caused a lot of expansion in the arts and science.