威尼斯商人关于人物的英文评价
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The Merchant of Venice
Character Profiles
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Duke of Venice: This character has a minor role in the play, he oversees the trial at the end of the play and presents Shylock with the terms of his release. His character is an example of the “Christian mercy” that Christians preached at the time.
The Prince of Morocco and the Prince of Arragon: These minor characters are suitors to Portia and end up losing in her father’s lottery. These characters are meant to show the value of the lottery because their reasoning for choosing the wrong boxes reveal the bad qualities for a husband to have. They stand in contrast to Bassanio’s correct choice—he is the ideal husband.
Antonio: A Venice merchant who is best friends with Bassanio and often supports him with loans. He is wealthy, but at the start of the play, all of his money is tied up with his five ships which are at sea. He takes a loan from Shylock, a Jewish money lender who he has mistreated in the past. The forfeiture of the bond is a pound of his flesh. Antonio is an example of what is considered a “good Christian” in the play—he is generous and by their standard, “merciful.”
Bassanio: He is best friends with Antonio and often depends on him for money. He owes several debts to Antonio, but requires another loan in order to go to Belmont and attempt to win Portia. He wins her by making the wise decision in the lottery her father has set up and becomes her husband. He shows himself to be a loyal friend to Antonio when he returns to help him escape the forfeiture of the loan from Shylock. His character is an ambiguous figure in the play because he shows himself to be loyal to Antonio, but his giving up of the ring Portia gave him is an act of disloyalty.
Lorenzo: Lorenzo is a rather passive character in the play. He is presumably in love with Jessica, but shows as much interest in her father’s wealth, which he inadvertently obtains through Shylock’s downfall. He steals Jessica from her father’s house and takes her away to marry her.
Shylock:Shylock’s character is a difficult one to discuss because the play can be interpreted in different ways based upon his character’s significance. He is a Jewish money lender in Venice and he is often persecuted by the Christians, most notably Antonio. He loans Antonio three thousand cats on the promise that if it is not repaid, the forfeiture shall be a pound of Antonio’s flesh. This plot to kill Antonio is unethical, but he cites valid reasons for his hatred. If Shylock is viewed only as a cruel villain, then the play is one of the virtues of “Christian mercy.” However, if his downfall and loss of daughter, religion and wealth at the conclusion are seen as the tragic end of a man who was abused by the other characters in the play, then the “Christian mercy” must be seen as cruelty in disguise.
Launcelot: Launcelot is the “clown” in this play and he offers comic relief in several scenes. His role is non-critical to the plot, he quits his service of Shylock and becomes Bassanio’s servant and acts as a messenger between the Christians.
Portia: Portia is the heiress to her father’s wealth and many suitors are seeking her hand in marriage. However, to become her husband the suitor must make the right choice between three caskets (gold, silver, and lead) which each bear an inscription. Bassanio seeks and wins her hand in marriage. Her character seems upstanding and honorable, but she uses a disguise to trick her husband into breaking his promise to her to keep the ring she gave him. She also saves Antonio from the hands of Shylock and so is key in the “happy” ending.
Nerissa: Nerissa is Portia’s waiting woman who marries Gratiano at the same time Portia is married to Gratiano. Her role is minor, she uses the same act of trickery to prove her husband unloyal to her in keeping his promise.
Jessica: This is Shylock’s daughter who shows shame for her father’s actions in the play. She steals from her father and disobeys him in marrying the Christian Lorenzo. She does show some remorse for her own actions and is often portrayed as mourning the loss of her father at the end of the play. Her character is an example of the virtues of Christianity as she converts to the religion to avoid damnation for her father’s “evil” Jewish ways
http://www.novelguide.com/merchantofvenice/characterprofiles.html
2.Analysis of Major Characters
Shylock
Although critics tend to agree that Shylock is The Merchant of Venice’s most noteworthy figure, no consensus has been reached on whether to read him as a bloodthirsty bogeyman, a clownish Jewish stereotype, or a tragic figure whose sense of decency has been fractured by the persecution he enres. Certainly, Shylock is the play’s antagonist, and he is menacing enough to seriously imperil the -happiness of Venice’s businessmen and young lovers alike. Shylock is also, however, a creation of circumstance; even in his single-minded pursuit of a pound of flesh, his frequent mentions of the cruelty he has enred at Christian hands make it hard for us to label him a natural born monster. In one of Shakespeare’s most famous monologues, for example, Shylock argues that Jews are humans and calls his quest for vengeance the proct of lessons taught to him by the cruelty of Venetian citizens. On the other hand, Shylock’s coldly calculated attempt to revenge the wrongs done to him by murdering his persecutor, Antonio, prevents us from viewing him in a primarily positive light. Shakespeare gives us unmistakably human moments, but he often steers us against Shylock as well, painting him as a miserly, cruel, and prosaic figure.
Portia
Quick-witted, wealthy, and beautiful, Portia embodies the virtues that are typical of Shakespeare’s heroines—it is no surprise that she emerges as the antidote to Shylock’s malice. At the beginning of the play, however, we do not see Portia’s potential for initiative and resourcefulness, as she is a near prisoner, feeling herself absolutely bound to follow her father’s dying wishes. This opening appearance, however, proves to be a revealing introction to Portia, who emerges as that rarest of combinations—a free spirit who abides rigidly by rules. Rather than ignoring the stipulations of her father’s will, she watches a stream of suitors pass her by, happy to see these particular suitors go, but sad that she has no choice in the matter. When Bassanio arrives, however, Portia proves herself to be highly resourceful, begging the man she loves to stay a while before picking a chest, and finding loopholes in the will’s provision that we never thought possible. Also, in her defeat of Shylock Portia prevails by applying a more rigid standard than Shylock himself, agreeing that his contract very much entitles him to his pound of flesh, but adding that it does not allow for any loss of blood. Anybody can break the rules, but Portia’s effectiveness comes from her ability to make the law work for her.
Portia rejects the stuffiness that rigid adherence to the law might otherwise suggest. In her courtroom appearance, she vigorously applies the law, but still flouts convention by appearing disguised as a man. After depriving Bassanio of his ring, she stops the prank before it goes to far, but still takes it far enough to berate Bassanio and Graziano for their callousness, and she even insinuates that she has been unfaithful.
Antonio
Although the play’s title refers to him, Antonio is a rather lackluster character. He emerges in Act I, scene i as a hopeless depressive, someone who cannot name the source of his melancholy and who, throughout the course of the play, devolves into a self-pitying lump, unable to muster the energy required to defend himself against execution. Antonio never names the cause of his melancholy, but the evidence seems to point to his being in love, despite his denial of this idea in Act I, scene i. The most likely object of his affection is Bassanio, who takes full advantage of the merchant’s boundless feelings for him. Antonio has risked the entirety of his fortune on overseas trading ventures, yet he agrees to guarantee the potentially lethal loan Bassanio secures from Shylock. In the context of his unrequited and presumably unconsummated relationship with Bassanio, Antonio’s willingness to offer up a pound of his own flesh seems particularly important, signifying a union that grotesquely alludes to the rites of marriage, where two partners become “one flesh.”
Further evidence of the nature of Antonio’s feelings for Bassanio appears later in the play, when Antonio’s proclamations resonate with the hyperbole and self-satisfaction of a doomed lover’s declaration: “Pray God Bassanio come / To see me pay his debt, and then I care not” (III.iii.35–36). Antonio ends the play as happily as he can, restored to wealth even if not delivered into love. Without a mate, he is indeed the “tainted wether”—or castrated ram—of the flock, and he will likely return to his favorite pastime of moping about the streets of Venice (IV.i.113). After all, he has effectively disabled himself from pursuing his other hobby—abusing Shylock—by insisting that the Jew convert to Christianity. Although a sixteenth-century audience might have seen this demand as merciful, as Shylock is saving himself from eternal damnation by converting, we are less likely to be convinced. Not only does Antonio’s reputation as an anti-Semite precede him, but the only instance in the play when he breaks out of his doldrums is his “storm” against Shylock (I.iii.132). In this context, Antonio proves that the dominant threads of his character are melancholy and cruelty.
http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/merchant/canalysis.html
