The Romantic City of Venice Essay - 1041 Words

Venezia, known as Venice to the American, is one of the most unusual and romantic places in the world today. There you hear no car horns, alarms, or even squeaking brakes. There is just peace and quiet with a slight hum of the motor boats zooming by. You can be walking across a bridge where there are two lovers kissing and keep walking to the other side of the area and look back and they are still kissing. There is nothing to interrupt them, not even the slightest care in the world. It is a maze. Around one corner you could run right into the Grand Canal where you can hitch a ride on one of the famous gondolas, or around the next corner you might come to a famous square like the Piazza San Marco where the cobbled ground is covered in†¦show more content†¦They are a dirty marble color and have statues or other kinds of art lining the tops of their buildings. If you follow one of the 150 canals or even go down one of the calis, or alleyways, you will come to a square with some of the best pizzerias in all of Italy. Go into one of the mask shops and be blown away by the abundance and variety of hand crafted, famous masks, so famous that even stars like Tom Cruise have worn them in their movies. In all of the major tourist attractions in Venice you can buy seed to feed the pigeons who are running or scooping overhead, acting like they are starving. You can just throw the seed down on the stone underneath you, and before you have time to duck, hundreds and thousands of birds whiz past your head with no more than a slight breeze that gives you chills as they land silently, gathering, but still listening for the next silent drop. Travel down another hidden alley and you can come to a small, almost private square with a stone platform on which a man is standing. He has a long cord that is tied on both ends to a stick. He slides the ends together and dips it into a bucket that is sitting close by. With the movement of a springing cheetah, he withdraws the stick from the bucket. He slowly moves the ends of string apart while gliding the stick through the air, and when they are far enough apart, a huge bubble starts to appear. As he brings the ends back together, the bubble detachesShow MoreRelatedThe Merchant of Venice as a Romantic Comedy - Critical Analysis1690 Words   |  7 Pagesto follow the Roman tradition of Petrarch and Boccacio. br brShakespeares early comedies were classical in spirit but the later ones were more emotional, fanciful and humorous. ‘The Merchant of Venice falls between there two categories. It leads the list of mature comedies; has more Romantic characteristics than classical. It is also one of the earliest productions of the middle period. In this play Shakespeare seems to have obtained the highest use of his powers as a playwright, his facultiesRead MoreArt: Comparison and Contrast of 19th Century Art Essay1175 Words   |  5 Pages there is a difference between their styles, their point of view, and the scenery. However there are similarities between the two paintings. The paintings that will be compared and contrasted are â€Å"Under the Birches, Evening† and â€Å"The Campo Santo, Venice.† The first painting, â€Å"Under the Birches, Evening†, is done by Pierre Etienne Theodore Rousseau. He was born on April 15, 1812 in Paris, France. 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Granville-Barker, in Prefaces to Shakespeare. br brThis is one way of looking at the play, reading it or enjoying the performance. But it can be a contradiction to our actual feelings about this complex play. ‘The Merchant of Venice might appearRead More1.The Merchant of Venice as a Tragicomedy. 2. The justification of Shylocks actions in The Merchant of Venice. 3.The contrast between Belmont and Venice in The Merchant of Venice2296 Words   |  10 Pagestragicomedy Shakespeares The Merchant of Venice is a comedy with a difference. It was written almost certainly between 1596 1598. The play is classed as one of the 16 comedy plays but it is also a problem play due to the tragic elements woven throughout the intricate plot. The play concludes with a harmonious ending but all through the plot, reoccurring themes of sadness and tragedy are included. In terms of dramatic structure, The Merchant of Venice is undoubtedly a comedy. It follows theRead MoreVisit At St. Mark s Basilica1539 Words   |  7 Pagespillars, and the interior is floor-to-ceiling mosaics. There’s no fee to tour the main part of the basilica, and even booking an entry time online (so you don’t have to wait in the sometimes-long line out front) is free, so after you’ve wandered the city this should be your next stop. There are three smaller museums within the basilica which you’ll have to pay an entry to see; your budget and overall interest should dictate whether you visit all of them, but if you’re just going to pick one then byRead MoreAntisemitism in the Middle Ages1616 Words   |  7 Pagesperiods of time in Jewish history. Christianity’s view of other religions as inferior is portrayed in many well-known pieces of literature, including one of William Shakespeare’s most famous plays, The Merchant of Venice . Towering over Shakespeare’s romantic comedy The Merchant of Venice is the tragic figure of Shylock, a man who represents the treatment of the Jewish people in his time period. Before beginning to understand Shylock, it is vital to understand the historical and dramatic influencesRead MoreThe Two Worlds of Venice and Belmont Depicted in Shakespears The Merchant of Venice865 Words   |  4 PagesThe Two Worlds of Venice and Belmont Depicted in Shakespears The Merchant of Venice In The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare explores two different yet similar worlds. The world of Venice and the world of Belmont. These two worlds have many differences and some similarities. For example, Venice is a completely different setting compared with Belmont. Also, the characters in Venice are different but also similar to the ones in Belmont. Furthermore, the society in VeniceisRead MoreCommon Features of a Shakespeare Comedy1745 Words   |  7 Pagesin sexual attraction and romantic love. * Mistaken identities: The plot is often driven by mistaken identity. Sometimes this is an intentional part of a villain’s plot, as in Much Ado About Nothing when Don John tricks Claudio into believing that his fiance has been unfaithful through mistaken identity. Characters also play scenes in disguise and it is not uncommon for female characters to disguise themselves as male characters, seen in Portia in the Merchant of venice. Shakespeare’s 17 comediesRead MoreThe Ambiguities Of Shakespeare s Shylock1110 Words   |  5 Pagescompany, John Barton, multiple productions of Merchant of Venice had several variations but they still stayed true to the ambiguities that Shakespeare installed in the play. If we look at the ambiguities of Portia, Antonio, Bassanio and Shylock, we will see that they all have both good and bad qualities. The first character we look at is Bassanio, on one hand he is the idealized lover, the person that is courting Portia, who is the romantic heroine; if we look at his motives we would see that is in