Reflection

The Merchant of Venice is a comedy of great satire. The theme of the play is the eulogy of love, friendship and kindness. It reflects the comtradiction between the commercial bourgeoisie and usury in the early stage of capitalism, presenting the author's humanist thoughts. Antonio was a generous and kind merchant of Venice. On the opposite, Shylock is a typical merciless and remorseless usurer. Their confrontation can be seen as the conflict between the humanism of emerging bourgeoisie and the extreme egoism of the usurer. It seems that most of the characters in the drama were helping Antonio. We can find the evidences of the virture of Antonio, such as "lend money without taking profit" and "exchange goods with others without taking of interest". Actually, it is Antonio's philosophy of business, separating the deals with the life, which is different from Shylock who shows a shrewd calculation of profit. Such commendation of these two characters reflects the hunanism thought of the Renaissance. Finally, Antonio is saved in the court with the assistance of his friends. The ending is pleasant and satisfying, but it actually is lamentable. Up to know, it still exists the phenomenon that usurers pressed the loaners to live a miserable life. Therefore, we praise Antonio's quality of decency, affection and gentleness. We also encourage to struggle with evil forces instead of compromising with them.