English Essay

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Term Paper Title	English Essay
# of Words	1009
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	4.04

English Essay

One of the many elements that make up a classic, is that the book, novel or play can be read in any generation, decade, century or in any part of the globe at any time and have relevance to the reader. The themes of this book should be universal, so that the reader can take something and create a parallel to an event or situation in his or her own life. Although The Merchant of Venice is not considered by many as Shakespeare's greatest play, it still has elements that make it a classic. The Merchant of Venice has many contemporary themes in it. In this essay I will provide you with examples of themes that still hold true today, 401 (1597) years after Shakespeare wrote this masterpiece. The re-occurring themes of love, anti-Semitism and inter-marriages are a few examples of contemporary themes that are manifest in The Merchant of Venice that are still issues that we discuss, worry, and care about today.
A key theme in the book is love. There are many loving relationships in this play and not all are the type that involves the love that a man has for a woman, or vice versa. Bassanio and Portia, Jessica and Lorenzo and Gratiano and Nerissa are all types of love that involve a man and a woman, which are of course relevant to today's society. When one looks deeply into these relationships, they would see parallels to the ones of today. For instance, the concept that all three marriages will probably not last, is a parallel to the number of divorces that are occurring today. More and more divorces are happening and the increase from other years is shocking! One of the main reasons why this is happening is that more people are getting married too fast and leaving no time to realize that there are not meant for each other. This is the same in two - and possibly three - of the relationships. Gratiano and Nerrissa got married after knowing each other for only several hours and Bassiano and Portia got married before they go to know each other (, but you can't fault Portia for this, for strict policies were ordered onto her). Jessica and Lorenzo's marriage might split for other reasons. The second relationship that is explored in The Merchant of Venice is the type of man to man. Homosexuality is a type of love that happens in any period in time and is even more relevant today, as homosexuality has blossomed even more in the 1990's, creating a large issue. Antonio's "love" may not be the type that we are thinking about, but if this happened today we mig...

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