The victorious laugh of love, frienship, justice and commonsence in the merchant of venice by shakespeare

Table of content

Page

Acknowledgement 3

A.Introduction 4

I. The nationales for choosing the theme 4

II. The aims of the Thesis 4

III. The objectives of the Thesis 5

IV. The limitation of the Thesis 5

V. The methods of the study 5

B.Content 7

Chapter I : Background

I.England in the renaissance 7

1,What is the Renaissance ? 7

2.England in the Renaissace 9

3.The humanism in the Renaissance 10

II.William Shakespeare 11

1.Life and Work 11

1.1.Life 11

1.2.Work 12

2.His"The Merchant of Venice" 16

2.1.The place of the play in Shakespeare's career 16

2.2.The sources of the play 17

2.3.The characters in the play 17

2.4.The story of the play 18

Chapter II: love, friendship, justice and commonsense
in society, in literature and in shakespeare's plays.

I. Love, friendship, justice and commonsense in society and in literature 21
II. Love, friendship, justice and commonsense in the plays of Shakespeare 24

Chapter III: The victorious laugh of love, friendship,
justice and commonsense in "the Merchant of Venice "

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by Shakespeare.

I. Love 29

II. Friendship 36

III. Justice and commonsense 43

IV. The victorious laugh of love, friendship, justice and commonsense 53

Conclusion 55

Referencebooks 56

Acknowledgement

It is true that I could not finish my thesis without the
help and encouragement from my teachers, my relatives and my
friends because of my private limitted knowledge and some
difficulties in literary language, the writing style of the author.

First of all, I would like to show my deep gratitude and
faithful thanks to the directorial Board of the Foreign Language
Department that awarded me the opportunity to do this thesis.

Secondly, I am very grateful to my parents, my friends
for their great advices, help and encouragement.

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Thirdly, I want to show my deep gratitude to Mr. Chris
Staples, who lent me some useful materials and gave me

interesting ideas.

Finally, I would like to express my special thanks to my
supervisor- the teacher Tran Ngoc Tuong (MA) who helped me and
supported me enthusiastically during my writing.

A. Introduction

I. The rationales for choosing the theme
I have a high - faluting and romantic soul. I am really fond of literature.

Studying literature in native language is difficult but studying literature in
foreign language, especially English is more difficult. But this gives me a
challange to study.

Shakespeare is a great writer. His works are abundant, grand and deal with
many matters of the Age, the destiny of the whole mankind. He is also a very
familiar author to the Vietnamese. Many his plays have been produced into
famous films and many famous actors want to play parts as Hamlet, Othello,
Shylock etc.

Shakespeare is worthy of being a "great and old tree " which covers the
whole of the Renaissance literary circles and shines forever later on. During his
indefatigable working, he left for people great plays such as "Romeo and Juliet",
"Hamlet", "Othello". So, Shakespeare and his works became a secret to
challenge me to discover. With thesis , I will have a good chance to understand

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more about himself, his works, especially the great play "the Merchant of

Venice".

That is the reason why I choose this theme for my graduation thesis.
II. The aims of the thesis

Firstly, studying this thesis helps me understand more profoundly
about English literature, especially about English literature in the Renaissance
and about famous authors, their famous works as well as their writing style.

Secondly, studying this thesis helps me understand more Shakespeare's life
and career, his outlook and his contribution to English literature and understand
more about his great work " The Merchant of Venice ", especially about the
theme "love, friendship , justice and commonsense " in this work.

Finally, studying this thesis helps me improve my English language,
especially English literature language.

III. The objectives of the study
- "Love, friendship, justice and commonsense " in society and in

literature
-"Love, friendship, justice and commonsense " in Shakespeare's plays
-"The victorious laugh of love, friendship, justice and commonsense" in

" The Merchant of Venice " by Shakespeare
IV. The limitation of the thesis
- Studying the background of the Renaissance, Shakespeare's life and

work, the play "The Merchant of Venice".
- Studying the theme "The victorious laugh of love, friendship, justice

and commonsense" in the play "The Merchant of Venice" by Shakespeare.
V. The methods of the study
- Studying materials dealing with the thesis.
- Analysis method (main method).
- Synthetic method .
- Making the best use of the help of the supervisor Mr. Tran Ngoc Tuong

(MA), the lectures of Mr. Chris Staples and friend's ideas.
VI. The main content of the thesis

Chapter I : Background

I. England in the Renaissance
1. What is the Renaissance ?
2. England in the Renaissance

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3. The humanism in the Renaissance
II. William Shakespeare

1. Life and Work
1.1. life
1.2.work
2. The Merchant of Venice
2.1. The place of the play in Shakespeare's career
2.2. The sources of the play
2.3. The characters in the play
2.4 . The story of the play

Chapter II :
love, friendship, justice and commonsense
in society, in literature and in shakespeare's plays.

I. Love, friendship, justice and commonsense in society and in literature
II. Love, friendship, justice and commonsense in Shakespeare's plays

Chapter III :
"The victorious laugh of love, friendship, justice and
commonsense" in the play "The Merchant of Venice"

by Shakespeare

I. Love
II.Friendship
III. Justice and commonsense
IV. The victorious laugh of love, friendship, justice and commonsense

Conclusion
Reference books

B . Content

Chapter I : Background

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I. England in the Renaissance ( 15th to 17th centuries )

1. What is the Renaissance ?

From 14th century to 17th century, a new ideological and cultural

campaign rose up enthusiastically and drastically in Europe never before had

humankinds witnessed.

Firstly , the " new wind " blew up in Italia in 14th century . Then, it spread

to the rest of Europe in 15th,16th,17th centuries.

The Italian called this movement "Renascita", the French called it "La

Renaissance ". This movement marked the transition from the Medieval world to

the modern one in Western Europe.

The term "Renascita" or "Renaissance" means literally " Rebirth".

"Renaissance" means not only " the revival of interest in the ancient culture of

Greece and Rome "but also "the discovery of the world and humanbeings" .

More than that, it implies "the awakening of man's mind and capacity, of

individual spirit and secularism.

1.1. Renaissance : The revival of interest in the ancient culture of

Greece and Rome

Although people, in the Middle Ages, read and studied the Greek and

Roman culture, The number of readers of this was very limitted among scholars

and literary men.

Now, thanks to Patriarch's and Boccacio's enthusiasm in propagating the

spirit of humanism in Greek and Roman culture, thanks to the extremely

important invention of the printing machine, the number of ancient writers'

readers increased greatly and the reading and studying of the Greek and Roman

culture became an interest.

From 14th to17th centuries , the European were thirsty for seeking the

relics of the ancient culture of Greece and Rome. People emulated one another

in learning Greek and Latin in order to read the ancient manuscripts.

The translation,the introduction and publication of the ancient philosophical

and literary works of Greece attracted a great number of scholars, researchers

and printers etc. It is true that never before had ancient Greece and Rome been

more paid attention to, interested in, exalted than in this period.

1.2. Renaissance : The discovery of the world and humanbeings

People began to think differently about the universe and the place of

humanbeings within it. Thanks to a great increase in the geographical and

scientific knowledge .

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In geographical field, Newton discovered "Law of gravity" and many other
discoveries were also made. These helped people know their position and fate in
universe. It became clear that the earth moved around the sun.

In the Middle Ages, men completely lost their value and position.The
church of Rome taught them that they were symbols of evils and sins, they were
slaves in this temporary world . They lived temporarily and waited for a
permanent life in paradise.

In the Renaissance, men were reborn. They began to accept this world with
a much more optimistic attitude. They realized the meaningfulness of earthly life
that was beautiful and interesting.They needed to enjoy it.

1.3.Renaissance : The awakening of man's mind and capacity, of
individual spirit and secularism

Renaissance men were quite different from Middle Age ones who
despised the materialistic and sexual desires. Men of this period wanted to

escapse from the strict, cramped and austere pattern of life in Middle Ages in
order to come to new luxurious life, new economic, political and social life.

The power of church over men's minds was defeated. They did not believe
in God.

God was not the creator of the world, they praised life on the earth. Their
happiness, their life only existed on the earth, not on the heaven. They believed
in their ability, power of creation. They could do everything to achieve
happiness. People realised that it was the medieval feudalism and the church that
had hindered their culture from development and had dispossessed them of their
right to a proper life on earth and their right to creation.The progressive thinkers
of Renaissance placed their interest in humanbeings. They agreed with the
ancient thinkers in evaluating and exalting the dignity of humanbeings. They
considered men to be the creator of the world. This period called for giants,
produced giants - giants in power of thought, passion, character in universality
and learning.

In short, the Renaissance was the most progressive, greatest turning-
point never before had mankinds seen. That turning - point occured in all
aspects of life: economy, politics, society, religion, ideology, technology and
science, literature and art. It was the period in which Renaissance literature and
art became more beautiful.

2. England in the Renaissance

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England entered the Renaissance later than Italia and other countries in
Western Europe because of two terribly destructive wars: the war of 100 years

(1337- 1453) between England and France, the war of Roses (1455-1485).
England started their economic recovery and development, cultural expansion
from the end of 15th century on.

In 16th century, Capitalism began to develop in England as well as in other
European countries . However, it had some pecularities. Wool production
became the leading manufacture in England. Landowners drove thousands of
peasants out of their lands , turning these lands into pastures , or "enclosures "
for sheep.
There was no work for the peasants and many of them became homeless
beggars. The government promulgated the law "no wandering" with very cruel
punishment to turn wandering peasants into cheap workers in enterprises.

There were about 7200 drifters killed under the reign of the king Henry
VIII (1509-1547) , the father of Queen Elizabeth I.

After the death of Henry VIII, his daughter Queen Elizabeth I enthroned.
England during her reign was considered to be great and glorious. England grew
prosperous and powerful , deserved to be called " the merry England ".

Positively, it was the period that England became No.1 powerful country in
Europe .

It tried the best to expand its power. England set up for colonization and
exploitation, exploration, travel, a new way of life, new customs brought back by
the sailors and merchants.

However, behind its prosperous face "the merry England", was a society
undergoing the fierce changes of the transition stage from Feudalism to
Capitalism, was a society charged with severe class contradictions that were

always ready to break out drastic wars.

3. The humanism in the Renaissance
The humanism was the progressive ideology creating all spiritual values of
the Renaissance . Human life, the happiness of people and the beliefs in man's
abilities became the main subjects in fine arts and literature of the period.
Humanism considered men the center of universe. Broadly, humanism
suggested any attitude which tended to exalt the human elements such as
faithful, generous, tolerant, gentle ... or stressed the importance of human of
interest as opposed to the supernatural, devine elements or as opposed to the
grosser, animal elements such as jealous, hypocritical, flatulent, etc.

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The works of humanists proclaimed the equality of the people regardless of
their social origin, race, religion . Humanism did away with the dark scholastic
teaching of the Middle Ages . The development of a new social order presented
great possibilities for man's creative power. That is the reason why the humanist
outlook was marked with bright optimism , with belief in man's great abilities
and his high mission.

Humanism recovered men's right to live , their role in universe . It required
to emancipate people from the slavery of Feudal church. It fought against what,
who fought against men. It exalted man's noble qualities and required to give
back earthly life, real mental and bodily life to men.

The humanists agreed with the ancient Greeks and Romans in asserting the
dignity of humanbeings and the importance of the present life.

Humanism is the product of the transition stage from Feudalism to

Capitalism and is a progressive philosophical ideological trend. However, it has
some limitations.

II. William Shakespeare
1. Life and Work
1.1. Life
The greatest playwright and poet not only of England but also of the
humankind, William Shakespeare, was born on April 23, 1564 in the small town
of Stratford - Upon - Avon , about seventy - five miles from London.
Shakespeare grew up in the refinedly beautiful natural landscape with
people's language , folk stories and songs . These left fresh images in his later
works.
Shakespeare is the third of Jonh Shakespeare who was the prosperous
tradesman and merchant and a person of some important functions in the town.
His mother, Mary Arden, was a daughter of wealthy and distinguished family
from Wilmecote.
His two elder sisters died in infancy but three brothers and two other sisters
survived at least into childhood. When Shakespeare was a seven year old boy, he
went to Stratford grammar school where Latin and Greek were almost the only
subjects.
Life itself, contact with everyone and his acqaintance with the rich English
folklore gave him more than the scholastic methods used at school.
In those days , Stratford - upon - Avon was often visited by groups of
travellers who was also actors .

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It is quite possible that Shakespeare watched some plays performed by
some such actors and was impressed by them. Shakespeare left school early at
the age of 14 as his family got into heavy debts.

On november 27, 1582 Shakespeare, then aged at eighteen, married Anna
Hathaway a woman 8 years older than himself . They had three children, a
daughter in 1583 and twins - a boy ( died at 11 ) and girl in 1585.

At twenty one, he left Stratford - upon - Avon for London where he joined a
theatrical company and worked as an actor and a playwright .

In the late 90s, a new theatre called " the Globe " was built on the bank of
the Thames river . Shakespeare became one of its owners . The people of London
liked it more than any other theatres. It was the Globe in which most of
Shakespeare's plays were staged at that time . In 1613 , Shakespeare left London
and returned to his native town of Stratford - Upon - Avon. Three years later , on
April 23 ,1616 , he died and was buried there .

1.2. Work
Shakespeare is the author of two long poems, a collection of 154 sonnets
(14 line poems ), 37 plays including 17 comedies, 10 tragedies, 10 historical
chronicles.
He has enriched the stage with matchless plays and towards the end of his
life, with plays that defy all descriptions, strange plays that haunt the
imagination like visions.
Next to God, a wise man once said, Shakespeare created most. In thirty
seven plays that are his chief legacy to the world and surely no-one ever left a
richer!- human nature is displayed in all its astonishing variety.
His range is enormous : Kings and Queens, Priests, Princes and Merchants,
Soldiers, Clowns and Drunkards, Murders, Pimps, Whores, Fairies, Monsters
and Pale, Avenging ghosts " strut and fret their hour upon the stage ".
His contemporaries praised him as "the honey - tongued poet", "the swan
on Avon river ", "the person waves the spear to cause a stir in the scene".

Perhaps , the best epitaph for Shakespeare was written by his friend and rival,
Ben Jonson , who said "He was not of an age but for all time". Although the
precise date of many Shakespeare's plays is in doubt, his creative work is usually
devided into three periods :

1.2.1- The first period (1590- 1600)

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It is thought that this is his period of trial and probation . He improved and
arranged the traditional classical plays , sometimes in cooperation with other
playwrights to write new ones .

This period was marked by the optimism so characteristic of all humanist
literature , the sky of his mind and his heart is cloudless. His view point towards
man (woman), life is very optimistic. He loves life, people, his country. He
believes in people, their abilities, life, the good and justice.

It is best reflected in his brilliant comedies. His comedies are noticeable for
light wit. They are written in bright spirit of Renaissance.

The comedies describe the advantures of young men and women , their
friendship and love, their search for happiness. The comedies show the "merry
England" of Shakespeare's time . The comedies are usually based on some
misunderstandings that create comic situations. They are full of fun. But the
laughter is not a mockery directed against the people and their vices . He never
moralised in his comedies. His comedies are filled with humanist love for people
and the belief in nobleness and kindness of human nature .

Historical chronicles are plays written on subjects from natural history.

Shakespeare's chronicles cover a period of more than 3 hundred years of English
history. However, the main subjects of chronicles are not the lives and fates of
the Kings but history itself and the development of the country. Like all
humanists of his time , Shakespeare believed a centralised monarchy to be an
ideal form of statepower. He thought it would put an end to the struggle of the
feudals and would create conditions for the progress of the country . One of his
great achievements was that in his chronicles he show not only the kings,
feudals, and churchmen , but lower classes too.

His two long narrative poems " Venus and Adonis " (1592- 1593 ) and " the
Rape of Lucrece " ( 1593-1594) and a collection of 154 sonnets were written in
this period.

The drama "The Merchant of Vevice " and the two early tragedies " Romeo
and Juliet " and " Julius Caesar " show the change in playwright's understanding
of life, whose approach to reality become more pessimistic .

His comedies, tragedies, histories in this period are shown in the following
charts:

Comedies Time Histories Time
The comedies of Errors 1592-1594
Henry VI , part I 1589-1590
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The Taming of the Shrew 1593-1594 Henry VI , part II 1590-1591
The two Gentlemen of Verona 1594
Henry VI, part III 1592-1593
Love's labour's lost 1594-1595 1594-1596
A Midsummer Night's dream 1595-1596 Richard III 1596-1597

1596-1597 King John
The Merchant of Venice Henry IV, Part I 1595
The Merry wives of Windsor 1597 Richard II 1598
1598 Henry IV , Part II 1599
Everyman in his humour 1598-1599 Henry V
Much Ado About nothing 1599
As you like it

Tragedies Time Poems Time

Titus Andronicus 1593-1594 Venus and Adonis 1592-1593
Romeo and Juliet 1595-1596 The Rape of Lucrece 1593-1594
Julius Caesar 1593-1599
1599 Sonnets

1.2.2- The second period (1600- 1608)
This is the period of tragedies. The tragedies reflect the deep unsolvable
contradictions of life, the falsehood, injustice and tyranny existing in society.
They show people who perish in the struggle against Evil.
The tragedies, like the chronicles, are also based on real events but there is
a considerable difference between the two genres. The playwright raised great
problems of good and evil in both . But in the chronicles they are mostly linked
with political themes - the questions of the state and public life of the period
described. In the tragedies which are centred round the life of one man.
Shakespeare touched on the moral problems of universal significance -
honesty, cruelty , kindness , love , vanity and others . That is the reason why his
tragedies are of great interest to every new generation.
His works are the following ones:

Comedies Time Tragedies Time

Twelfth night or What you will 1601-1602 Hamlet 1600-1601
Othello 1604
Troilus and Cressida 1601-1602 King Lear 1605
All's well that ends well 1602-1603 Macbeth 1606
Measure for Measure Antony and Cleopatra
1604 Timo of Athens 1606-1607
1607

1.2.3.The third period (1608-1610)

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His plays of this period differ from everything written by him before.
The playwright still touches upon the important social and moral problems.
But now he suggests utopian solutions to them . He introduces romantic and
fantastic elements which have a decisive role in his plays . The contradictions in
this period are not severe , drastic and do not cause seperation , break up death
as that of the previous period , so plays usually have happy ends , reunion.
His works are the following ones :

Time Comedies Tragedies Histories
Pericles Coriolanus
1608
1609 Cymbeline
1609-1610 The Winter's tale
1611
1611 The Tempest
1612-1613
Henry VIII

2. His "the Merchant of Venice"
2.1. The place of the play in Shakespeare' s career
The Merchant of Venice has a special place in Shakespeare's comedy.
Shakespeare wrote the play sometime between the late summer of 1596 and
1598 and it was printed in 1600 as the comical history of The Merchant of
Venice .
The play belongs to the complex comedies of Shakespeare . So far , many
people have not stopped arguing whether it is a comedy or a tragedy . The severe
and fierce contradiction in the play makes many people think it to be a tragedy
but with the solution to the central conflict ( happy ending story ), with the
optimistic atmosphere of the play and especially it is the work written in the first
period, it reflects his point of view in this period which is very optimistic ,so it is
ranked in comedy.
The Merchant of Venice has still remained a favourite not only with
audience but also with performers . The audience have wanted to see the great
actors and actresses as Shylock and Portia , the actors and the actresses have
wanted to show their skills in these demanding parts.
The depiction of the profound , complex , deversified characters without
having essential features of the character put in the shade proves that the level of
talent of the playwright is gradually ripening. It signals the appearance of the
great realistic writer's great works in the next stage .
2.2. The sources of the play

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Just as with so many of his plays , Shakespeare took ideas from a lot of
different places to make a new and fascinating story . A tale in a book called " Il
pecorone " by the Italian writer Ser Giovanni gave Shakespeare some basic ideas
for his play .

"Il pecorone" - which means "The big sheep" or "The fool" - was published
in1558 .

The idea of the three caskets, which Portia's suitors must choose between,
appears in a lot of tales and Shakespeare probably found it in Italian or English
collections of the stories such as Boccaccio's Decameron or Jonh Gower's
confessio Amantis .

The ideas of an evil , wicked , stingy Jew ( as Shylock ) , a Jewish girl
marrying a Christian (as Jessica marries Lorenzo) may come from a play called
"The Jew of Malta" by Christopher Marlowe which had had a great success.

It is necessary to talk further about social - political origin . Around the
time Shakespeare wrote this play , the antisemitism in England increased . In a
Christian country , people hated the Jews , especially around this time , too, there
was a real - life trial of a Jewish man from Portugal , Roderigo Lopez .
He was Queen Elizabeth's doctor and was accused of treason for attemping to
kill her . He was executed in 1594.

2.3 . The characters in the play
-The Duke of Venice
- The Prince of Morocco (suitor to Portia )
- The Prince of Arragon ( suitor to Portia )
- Antonio , a merchant of Venice
- Bassanio , his friend , suitor to Portia
- Solanio , Gratiano , Salerio ( friends to Antonio and Bassanio )
- Lorenzo , in love with Jessica
- Shylock , a rich Jew
- Tubal, a Jew his friend

- Launcelot Gobbo, a clown, servant to Shylock
- Old Gobbo, father to Launcelot
- Leonardo, servant to Bassanio
- Balthasar, Stephano ( servants to Portia )
- Portia , an heiress
- Nerissa, her waiting - woman
- Jessica , daughter to Shylock

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- Magnificoes of Venice, officers of the court of justice, Gaoler, musicians,
servants and other attendants .

2.4. The story of the play
Antonio , a rich merchant , is sad without any obvious reason . His friends
ask if he is worried about his merchants , or he is in love , but he denies these .
Antonio has in the past lent money to his friend Bassanio. This time
Bassanio wants to set himself up to try for the hand in marriage of Portia, a
wealthy and beautiful heiress. To finance this, Antonio now has to borrow
money, as all his resources are at present in his ships , trading to distant
countries .
At Belmont , her newly - inherited estate about twenty miles from Venice,
Portia feels frustrated by the terms of her father's will . He has laid down that
everyone who hopes to marry her must choose between a casket of gold , silver
or lead . Portia will have to accept as her husband the man who demonstrates
sound values by making the "correct" choice . All suitors must also take an oath
never to marry if they fail in this contest . Many totally unsuitable young men
decice to leave without taking their chance . The next suitor is the prince of
Morocco .
Back in Venice , Bassanio approaches Shylock , a wealthy Jew , who lends

money in return for interest . Shylock and Antonio are already enemies. Each of
them hates what the other stands for . Shylock agrees to lend 3000 ducats on
Antonio's bond . On this occasion , in stead of taking a percentage of the loan as
interest , Shylock offers a "joke " bond - the forfeit of a pound of Antonio's flesh
if the loan is not repaid in three months . Antonio agrees to this against
Bassanio's advice.
Shylock's daughter , Jessica , elopes with Lorenzo , her darling , taking
Shylock's money and jewels .
Meanwhile , at Belmont , the prince of Morocco has chosen a golden casket
and the prince of Arragon has chosen the silver one , thus , they failed the test
and left .
Shylock seems distressed almost to madness by the loss at the same time of
his daughter, a considerable amount of money and jewellery of real and
sentimental value. He learns of Lorenzo's and Jessica's spending spree and is
then a little comforted by persistent rumours of shipwreck affecting Antonio's
cargoes. He is now looking for vengeance.

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Portia and Bassanio are instantly attracted to each other . Bassanio sees all
the virtues of plain lead , and makes the right choice . They are both ecstatically
happy and Portia gives Bassanio her ring , making him promise never to part
with it . Gratiano and Nerissa have also been in love and she too gives him her
ring , on the same terms .

Lorenzo and Jessica arrive , bringing a letter from Antonio. All his ships
have sunk and his forfeit is being claimed by Shylock. Portia, realizing
Bassanio's distress, arranges a speedy wedding for the two couples and sends the
two men back to Venice with an offer of several times the original loan . Portia
and Nerissa, disguished as a lawyer and his clerk , go to the court and use her

skill and knowledge to defend Antonio .

Antonio has been allowed to visit Shylock from gaol to try to persuade
him to be lenient . Shylock , however , is bent on revenge . In court , Antonio
makes it clear he is resigned to his fate . He knows the law can not , in fact must
not , be altered for one man's convennience after appealing in vain to Shylock for
mercy, Portia confirms the law, to Shylock 's delight .

He has all the grisly apparatus prepared, the knife and the scales, and
Antonio is stripped and ready when Portia points out that no blood must be spilt
or Shylock must die. Further , because he has tried to kill a Venitian citizen , half
his goods go to his intended victim and half to the state . Also, only the Duke
can spare his life . Showing the mercy which shylock would not, the Duke spares
Shylock's life and at Antonio's request he can keep half his wealth as long as the
other half may go to Lorenzo and Jessica and the rest to them on his death .

Shylock must also become a Christian . He is a broken man .
As the lawyer and clerk , the only gifts Portia and Nerissa will accept for
their services from Antonio and Bassanio are the rings they gave their husbands .
These are parted with reluctantly .
Arriving back at Belmont, Portia and Nerissa soon confront their
"husbands' betrayal " and suggest the missing rings were given to women. They
clear up the misunderstandings . Lorenzo and Jessica are delighted to learn of
their future fortune . And Antonio discovers that three of his ships have come
safely to habour after all.

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chapter II :
love , friendship , justice and commonsense

in society, in literature and in shakespeare's plays.

I . Love, friendship, justice and commonsense in society and
in literature.

1. Love :
It is very difficult to define what love is. Love may be the concord of two
souls.
The Viet Namese poet Xuan Dieu thought " Yêu là chết trong lßng mét Ýt".
Love plays a special part in man's life and it is the most beautiful and important
part
Life without love is meaningless . It is the foundation of man's happiness .
Love makes people live better , more happily and meaningfully . Love has a very
strong power , people can do everything even die for their love . People can
sacrifice, suffer from body , mind in order to attain real love .
Love is a favourite topic for all time . It brings an inexhaustible inspiration
for writers , poets , composers . Many composers have created a lot of songs
about love making people dote on . Many poets such Puskin , Tago , Xuan Dieu
etc became famous thanks to their poem about love . There are not any gaps in
love between the poor and the rich, the noble and the vile, the white and the
colour, the old and the young etc .
In Viet Namese literature, love between Tien Dung and Chu Dong Tu is an
immortal love song. Tien Dung overcomes the separation of poverty and wealth,
social position to attain and protect her love . Although Tien Dung is a beautiful
and wealthy princess, Chu Dong Tu is a poverty - stricken young man, and even
if she gets married with him, her father will disown and throw her out of his

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palace, she still decides to live with him and finally they live happily together all

their life.

This proves that nothing is stronger than love . But it does not mean that
love always brings happiness for everyone. It can bring tragedy, death, pain for
people.The obstacles of man's life and society hinder people's love and lead to
pitiful deaths . As in Viet -Namese literature , My Chau and Trong Thuy love
each other but the wars betweet their countries cause their painful death . Or as
in Chinese literature , although Liang Shan Bo and Zhu Zing Tai love one
another deeply and faithfully , they try their best to struggle against the hate
between their families to protect their love and happiness, finally they die of that
hate. Love can end tragically but the above deep , faithful loves are known and
praised for all time .

2. Friendship .
Wherever we live we are bond to have friends . Noone in this life has not a
friend. A friend is a person who always shares happiness or sorrow with us or
helps us overcome difficulties to get success in life . Friendship makes happiness
double, reduces half sorrow . A life without friends becomes sad, insipid ,
colourless . But it is in fact not easy to have a real bosom friend .
Surely , noone does not know the lofty and beautiful friendship between
two great people : Cark Mark and Engels .
We feel great emotion and admiration for the very noble and sincere
friendship between Luu Binh and Duong Le . We also can not stop melancholy ,
sympathetic streams of tears for the separation of two bosom friends Ba Nha - Tu
Ky.
A very warm fast friendship will survive for all times in mankind's heart.
In the Greek mythology , speaking more clearly in the epic " Illiat " by
Holme, there is also a profound and great friendship between Asin and Patroclie.
When hearing the news that Patroclie , his dearest friend , is killed by Hecto,
Asin falls down and writhes in dust . He screams with an extremely strong pain.

his another friend has to hold his arms tight because if not he will commit
suicide to "follow " Patroclie.
After killing Hecto to revenge for his friend , he still tosses about
sleeplessly all through the night because of being fretty with obsessive
memories of his friend . He goes out of his camp , walks aimlessly along
seashore with a great grief . When the sun rises , he jumps on combat vehicle
and drags the body of Hecto three circles around the tomb of Patriclie . He says

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that whenever he still lives he will not forget to think of his friend . Many
researchers say this is the first friendship that is expressed emotionally,
profoundly in literature .

3. Justice and commonsense
The philosophies "One good turn deserves another" and "As the call, so
the echo" are man's beliefs , wishes . In life , those who are charitable , honest ,
righteous and sacrificial will be worthily compensated with a happy , wealthy ,
comfortable life and vice versa , those who are greedy , selfish , cruel , take
advantage of and harm man will be punished , expelled , wiped out . This is
mankind's wish of justice and commonsense . This is clearly and profoundly
expressed in Viet Namese legends .
In " Tam Cam " , Tam is a beautiful, gentle, pain staking girl . However,
She early must put up with a loss. She lives with her stepmother and the
stepmother's daughter , Cam , who are very cruel , greedy . They trample on
Tam's human dignity, maltreat her and finally kill her . At the end of the story,
Tam comes to life again, then gets married with a rich king and becomes queen .
Cam and her mother are punished and die painfully.
Or in "Thach Sanh ", Thach Sanh is a poor , honest, talented , virtuous man .
He has a lot of merits so he gets married with the princess and becomes the king.

Ly Thong and his mother are ungrateful, greedy for talent, beauty, fame and
position.They take advantage of, deceive, harm Thach Sanh and despoil his
merits. Although, with his benevolence and nobility, Thach Sanh forgives them ,
finally they are turned into dor-beetles and live dishonourably in dirty places.
When the aspiration for justice , commonsense is still in no enough
condition to be much carried out in real life . The folk authors create
supernatural , miraculuos personalities such as the Fairy , the Buddha etc to
carry out them.
In " Donquixote "by Cervantes, Donquixote loves people, freedom, fairness,
benevolence and righteousness . He wants to be an errant knight to rescue man
from sorrow and distress , recover justice, commonsense and morality for man.
He is ready to fight , sacrifice for these noble spirit values.
He rescues a herds-baby from her harsh owner's maltreatment or liberates
penal-servituded prisoners from violence without asking for any private benifit .

II. Love, friendship, justice and commonsense in Shakespeare's
plays

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1. Love
Love is the favourite theme of Shakespeare .Love brings endless inspiration
for him. Love theme brings immortal masterpieces such as "Romeo and Juliet",
"Othello" for him , raises his talent , fame and social position to a higher scale.
Throughout his comedies is wedded paired love . His comedies assert love is the
ferment of life , is excellent happiness in this world . Love makes people more
intelligent, lucid, braver. It is the origin of power that can defeat whatever,
whoever fights against it , against people.
In " A midsummer night 's dream ", Shakespeare takes us into a half true,
half dreamed , half earthed , half fiery landed world , a world of romantic love,

love affair. Since then , he raises the singing voice of praise for youth love .
His " Romeo and Juliet " is the most famous love story in literature , is the
tragedy of pure and faithful love . Romeo and Juliet do not submit to obstacles,
difficulties.
They always struggle to protect their love . The long standing feud between
two families , feudal system of education , Tybalt's death (Juliet's dearest
cousin), the reputation , talent , wealth of Parit do not separate their love .
Although they die of their fighting for their love , from then the mean , narrow
minded feudal society admires them greatly. Their love stops the long standing
feud. Shakespeare shows the strong power of love .
Love between Desdemona and Othello in "Othello" is also one of the
beautiful famous love stories of mankind's literature . Desdemona is determined
to fight to get her love regardless of the differences between race and age
(Othello is black and much older than her) . Her love for Othello is pure,
beautiful, faithful.
The role of women in love in Shakespeare's plays is very considerable. His
women- not like the women in the Middle Ages- are very active in love affairs.
They are always thirsty for seeking the men, the love and always struggle to
protect their love. That is Shakespeare's new progressive thought about love.
2. Friendship
Shakespeare's plays are full of friendships , deep relationships between two
people who are often of the same sex , which give comfort and support and often
act as the springboard for change in character's understanding of themselves .
Shakespeare often shows very warm and fast friendships in his plays .

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