Twilight Lexicon Discussion Forums

Discuss the parralles between the Merchant of Venice and Breaking Dawn

I thought it was quite funny that there was a connection between Breaking Dawn and The Merchant of Venice because I had to read Merchant in my English class this year.

I liked how Stephenie tied the courtroom scene in Merchant to the standoff with the Volturi in Breaking Dawn. You could also see the connections between certain characters of both (Caius/Shylock, Alice/Portia). She was also quite clever to allude to the ending by having Alice write her "goodbye" note on the cover page of Merchant. If I would have thought about it more, I would have realized that the ending wouldn't be a fight scene.

When I was in high school and then in college none of my English classes read Merhcant of Venice though we certainly read several other Shakespearian plays. I am going to have to go tothe Library and read this play to understand it further and how it relates to BD.

I imagine Stephenie Meyer thought of this line when she wrote the final encounter:

• PORTIA. [...]
  For, as thou urgest justice, be assur'd
  Thou shalt have justice, more than thou desir'st.

(The Volturi are called the night time patrons of the arts but seem to never have read
The Merchant of Venice though )

I haven't read 'The Merchant of Venice' yet. But it's one of the literature books for this year, so I will very soon.

i agree they are so similar. i had to study it for my GCSE shakespeare play, and so i know it WAY too well now. i think that the battle of wits was cool, but i did not see the Alice/Portia thing. i think that Edward did most of the manovuering, and Alice put the last nail in the coffin, so to speak. i thought that the clue was cool, something i did not expect.

I have read several of William Shakespeare's poems, but unfortunately, I have never gotten a chance to read The Merchant of Venice. If there were any possible way for someone to PM me and maybe summarize The Merchant of Venice, that would be greatly appreciated!!!!

Thanks so much!

Love,
*Wanderer*

the merchant of Venice for me is one of the best shakespeare plays. i love the comedy, because it is a nice break from the targedies of Romeo and Juliet and other like that. i felt that knowing the play (we had to know it in absurd detail for coursework) made me see some links, eg Shylock and Caius

QualityControlWitch wrote:parallels, shmarallels. I think it's very sad that Shakespeare had to come so close to such a terrible piece of writing.

im sorry that you didnt enjoy it.. it must be a very sad life for something as great as this to not give you even the slightest bit of happiness.

haha spicey16, ouch

I like that SM put this little clue, or foreshadowing, in the book. For everyone that complained about an epic battle that never came, they obviously weren't familiar with The Merchant of Venice OR the cover of Breaking Dawn..hello.