Shakespeare's The Merchant Of Venice combines

three themes to form this successful play.

It is actually a combination of romance, comedy

and tragedy. A romance is a love story which ends

with a happy note. Comedy involves an amusing

play which also ends with a happy note. Tragedy

differs from comedy and romance in that, it is a

serious play and the central character exits the

play in disaster. Comedy is one of the themes

portrayed in this play. Examples of comedy are

shown through dramatic irony. One example of this

irony is the ring plot at the end of the play. The

ring plot begins when Bassanio gives up his ring

to Portia, who is disguised as a doctor of law.

Bassanio swore not to let the ring leave his hand

until his death. Bassanio then arrives home to

Portia, who has the ring but does not let Bassanio

know it. After a short fight Portia gives the ring

back to Bassanio and says that she had to sleep

with the doctor to obtain it. The dramatic irony

in this is that we know that Portia is the doctor

and her statement is true. Soon after Portia lets

Bassanio learn that she was in fact the doctor.

Bassanio acknowledges this by telling the doctor

that he can sleep with Portia in his absence.

"Sweet doctor, you shall be my bedfellow: when I

am absent, then lie with my wife."

(Shakespeare, 229, ll. 284 - 286). This too shows

irony because Portia is the doctor and no matter

what he will be sleeping with her.

There is also romance involved in the play.

The romance between Lorenzo and Jessica is bounding

all over the place. Their romance begins when

Jessica decides to run away from her fathers house

with a large sum of money so that they can elope

to Belmont. After Jessica arrives at Belmont with her

Christian suitor, Lorenzo and she are left in charge

of the kingdom while Bassanio and Launcelot travel to

Venice and Portia leaves with Nerissa to a nun's temple

to pray for their husbands safe return. Near the end of

the play, while still in rule of Belmont, Lorenzo proposes

that she and he could make sweet music together.

"Come, ho! And wake Diana with a hymn: with sweetness touches

pierce your mistress' ear, and draw her home with

music."(Shakespeare, 217, ll. 67 - 70). It depicts

Lorenzo's love for Jessica and how much romance

there is between them.

Tragedy unfolds for Shylock near the end of the

play. Shylock loses many things, like his daughter,

his money and his religion. He lost his daughter to Lorenzo,

a Christian, and he, being a Jew took this very hard.

However what made him really depressed was losing all

his valuables. He lost his money and other jewelry, but he

also lost the ring his wife gave him before being wed.

After receiving this information he depended on the

bond between him and Antonio to bring his spirits up. However

the bond between him and Antonio is lost when Portia finds a

loop hole in the contract. The contract states that Shylock is

entitled to a pound of Antonio's flesh. The loop hole is that

Shylock is not entitled to a drop of his blood. So if he were

to let one drop of blood fall to the ground the bond would be

forfeited and Shylock would lose the case. Shylock tried to

change his mind and take the money offered to him but the court would not allow it. Shylock then lost all of his money to Lorenzo and he had to become a Christian. It can be seen how sad Shylock is when he says, "Nay, take my life and all; pardon not that: you take my house, when you do take the prop that doth sustain my house; you take my life when you do take the means whereby I live." (Shakespeare, 20 , ll. - )

The Merchant Of Venice is a blend between these three themes. Romance mixes with comedy and tragedy to form the book. The themes are also arranged in a pattern so that the audience is put through a series of emotions. Emotions like love, amusement and pathos. They are also arranged so that these themes are one after another, not one long part. This is why the play is such a success.