The Merchant of Venice Group

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bonebird
bonebird
Student
College - Senior

Where does the second scene of The Merchant of Venice take place?

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Posted by bonebird on Monday October 5, 2009 at 1:38 PM and tagged with act 1 scene 2, characters, the merchant of venice.

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  1. scarletpimpernel Teacher
    High School - 12th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    Act 1, Scene 2 takes place in Belmont, the fictional, idyllic home of Portia.  The introduction to the scene includes:

    "SCENE II: Belmont. A room in PORTIA'S house."

    And it features Portia and her maid Nerissa.  Here, for the first time, the audience meets Portia who will play a significant role in the play and witnesses her independent, rather disdainful attitude toward men. Shakespeare also uses the scene to set up Nerissa as Portia's sidekick, a virtual mirror of Portia's way of thinking and activities.

    Shakespeare employs the back-and-forth setting (between Venice and Belmont) to contrast the letter of the law attitude of Venice with the spirit of the law philosophy of Belmont. By differing between not only the type of characters who are from each city but also the language that those characters speak, Shakespeare is able to demonstrate the importance of mercy, forgiveness, and love.  He begins the play with Antonio's melancholy business dealings in Venice and ends it with the couples' "happily ever after" relationships in Belmont.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/merchant-of-venice/act-scenes-1-3-s...
    http://www.enotes.com/merchant-of-venice/style

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    Posted by scarletpimpernel on Monday October 5, 2009 at 5:13 PM