William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice focuses heavily on many issues that are still prevalent in our 21st century, including marriage and relationship commitment, but it is represented as individual convenience or profit, rather than love. In the play, love is falsely represented by the characters. They love the idea of having wealth and fame and will therefore "love" someone who has these things. However, they lack the affection that true love requires. They are more focused on their own profit rather than true love. We say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay One of the first relationships introduced in this play is the romance between Jessica and Lorenzo and it seems to be based more on what can be achieved from marriage, than love. These two characters intend to get married and go through this process very quickly. Although at first it may seem that the rush to get married is due to the great affection that exists between the two, later it is thought that their marriage may not have happened for the right reasons. For Jessica, marriage is an opportunity to escape her father's house, as she is unhappy there. Jessica seems to think that Lorenzo will only like her for her money and her looks. In the play Jessica dresses up as a boy so she can run away with Lorenzo, she says: “Here, take this coffin. It's worth it. I'm happy that it's night and that you don't look at me, because I'm very ashamed of my exchange. The chest referred to contains jewels and gold to support them in their life together. However, when he says it's worth it, he's also saying I'm worth it. She has the feeling that Lorenzo might get angry with her for all the difficulties they have to face to escape. She also has a feeling that he won't love her when she's dressed as a boy, because he thinks he likes her for the way she looks. Lorenzo doesn't show much preference either for money or because he loves Jessica. It seems they both just want a relationship, either to escape a loveless home or for money. An example of this in the 21st century is the recently separated couple, Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth. The celebrity couple started dating when Miley was 17 and Liam was 20, in 2010. This is a similar age to when Jessica and Lorenzo most likely got married. Two years later they got engaged and a year later they broke up. Then they turned on and off again many times and even had some cheating backlash. In 2016 they got engaged again and married in 2018. They were married for seven months before breaking up again. Many times they blame their breakup on being young. Plus, Jessica and Lorenzo will get married even younger and maybe not even for the right reasons, meaning their relationship could end up like Miley and Liam's, due to their rush to get married. This shows how Jessica and Lorenzo's relationship is based more on what can be gained from marriage (or what can be escaped in Jessica's case), than on love. One of the play's most important dilemmas is the coffin competition for Portia's hand in marriage and how her possible suitors don't seem to be competing for the right reasons. Portia's father had organized a coffin race to decide her marriage before he died, but Portia fears this idea. However, she has to complete it, but becomes more and more upset by it as it progresses. Many of its options enter the competition boastful and proud. They believe they deserve Portia based on their personal merits. The first candidate, the Prince of Morocco, states: “How much I deserve! Why, that's the lady. I deserve it..
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