A Question about THE MERCHANT OF VENICE

Question

0If we accept the view that Antonio is the hero of the play THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, as is clear from the title, then who is the heroine of the play, or the play is without a herione?02br02br00Please favour me with your worthy comments.0-

Julielai · Accepted Answer

0 You can argue this one way or the other, Bird of Paradise. 0-

Castellano · Answer

0 " You can argue this one way or the other, Bird of Paradise." 02br
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00I agree. 02br
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00For example, if you wanted to argue that Portia is the heroine, you could support your argument by stating that Portia was the one who caused Shylock to lose all his wealth and possessions. Also, Bassanio would be in trouble if Portia had not helped him.02br
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00On the contrary, if you wanted to argue that this play has no heroine, I would even go as far as to accept Shylock as the hero of the play because the play is about him, from his affluent beginning to his broke end in the play.0-

Anonymous · Answer

0Castellano,02br
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00It is a generally accepted view that Shakespear has not written a single tragedy without a hero, and not a single comedy without a hero and heroine. Now lets apply this veiw to the THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 02br
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00 "Portia is the heroine of the play" Certainly not, because if it is so than we must say that Bassanio is the hero of the play, since we know about their love affair. And then we must say that the title refers to Bassanio, because all the titles of shakespear's plays which are associated with somebody take the same person as the hero, e.g. Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, Antony AND Cleopetra etc.02br
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00On the contrary we know that the title THE MERCHANT OF VENICE refers to Antonio, which means he is the hero.02br
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00 Now we must accept anyone of the following.02br
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001. Bassanio is the hero, the title refers to him and Portia is the heroine,02br
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002. Antonio is the hero, the title refers to him and there is no heroine.0-

Bird Of Paradise · Answer

0Castellano,02br
02br
00It is a generally accepted view that Shakespear has not written a single tragedy without a hero, and not a single comedy without a hero and heroine. Now lets apply this veiw to the THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 02br
02br
00 "Portia is the heroine of the play" Certainly not, because if it is so than we must say that Bassanio is the hero of the play, since we know about their love affair. And then we must say that the title refers to Bassanio, because all the titles of shakespear's plays which are associated with somebody take the same person as the hero, e.g. Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, Antony AND Cleopetra etc.02br
02br
00On the contrary we know that the title THE MERCHANT OF VENICE refers to Antonio, which means he is the hero.02br
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00 Now we must accept anyone of the following.02br
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001. Bassanio is the hero, the title refers to him and Portia is the heroine,02br
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002. Antonio is the hero, the title refers to him and there is no heroine.0-

Anonymous · Answer

Portia is the heroine as she imbibes all the qualities of a typical Elizabethan heroine. Her intellectual strength can be clearly seen in the "Famous Trail Scene".Moreover, there are instances were she overpowers the male characters of the play.

Anonymous · Answer

The heroine of this play is Portia. She involves in all plots and sub plots. She appears in this play as a powerful character. In fact the story could not be completed without her. What Shakespeare wants to give message to the audience which could not be completed without Portia's appearance in the trial scene.The planning of Shylock revenge from Antonio would be fulfilled if if Portia does not interfere. So, we can say that Portia is the heroine of this play.

A Question about THE MERCHANT OF VENICE

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