The victorious laugh of love, frienship, justice and commonsence in the merchant of venice by shakespeare

Love, friendship, justice and commonsense in society and in literature 21 II.. Love, friendship, justice and commonsense in the plays of Shakespeare 24 Chapter III: The victorious laugh

Table of content

Page

Acknowledgement 3

A.Introduction 4

I The nationales for choosing the theme 4

II The aims of the Thesis 4

III The objectives of the Thesis 5

IV The limitation of the Thesis 5

V The methods of the study 5

B.Content 7

Chapter I : Background I.England in the renaissance 7

1,What is the Renaissance ? 7

2.England in the Renaissace 9

3.The humanism in the Renaissance 10

II.William Shakespeare 11

1.Life and Work 11

1.1.Life 11

1.2.Work 12

2.His"The Merchant of Venice" 16

2.1.The place of the play in Shakespeare's career 16

2.2.The sources of the play 17

2.3.The characters in the play 17

2.4.The story of the play 18

Chapter II: love, friendship, justice and commonsense in society, in literature and in shakespeare's plays

I Love, friendship, justice and commonsense in society and in literature 21

II Love, friendship, justice and commonsense in the plays of Shakespeare 24

Chapter III: The victorious laugh of love, friendship, justice and commonsense in "the Merchant of Venice "

by Shakespeare.

I Love 29

II Friendship 36 III Justice and commonsense 43

IV The victorious laugh of love, friendship, justice and commonsense 53

Conclusion 55 Referencebooks 56

Acknowledgement

It is true that I could not finish my thesis without the help and encouragement from my teachers, my relatives and my friends because of my private limitted knowledge and some difficulties in literary language, the writing style of the author First of all, I would like to show my deep gratitude and faithful thanks to the directorial Board of the Foreign Language Department that awarded me the opportunity to do this thesis Secondly, I am very grateful to my parents, my friends for their great advices, help and encouragement.

Thirdly, I want to show my deep gratitude to Mr Chris Staples, who lent me some useful materials and gave me interesting ideas.

Finally, I would like to express my special thanks to my supervisor- the teacher Tran Ngoc Tuong (MA) who helped me and supported me enthusiastically during my writing.

A Introduction

I The rationales for choosing the theme

I have a high - faluting and romantic soul I am really fond of literature.Studying literature in native language is difficult but studying literature inforeign language, especially English is more difficult But this gives me achallange to study

Shakespeare is a great writer His works are abundant, grand and deal withmany matters of the Age, the destiny of the whole mankind He is also a veryfamiliar author to the Vietnamese Many his plays have been produced intofamous films and many famous actors want to play parts as Hamlet, Othello,Shylock etc

Shakespeare is worthy of being a "great and old tree " which covers thewhole of the Renaissance literary circles and shines forever later on During hisindefatigable working, he left for people great plays such as "Romeo and Juliet",

"Hamlet", "Othello" So, Shakespeare and his works became a secret tochallenge me to discover With thesis , I will have a good chance to understand

more about himself, his works, especially the great play "the Merchant ofVenice".

That is the reason why I choose this theme for my graduation thesis

II The aims of the thesis

Firstly, studying this thesis helps me understand more profoundlyabout English literature, especially about English literature in the Renaissanceand about famous authors, their famous works as well as their writing style.Secondly, studying this thesis helps me understand more Shakespeare's lifeand career, his outlook and his contribution to English literature and understandmore about his great work " The Merchant of Venice ", especially about thetheme "love, friendship , justice and commonsense " in this work

Finally, studying this thesis helps me improve my English language,especially English literature language

III The objectives of the study

- "Love, friendship, justice and commonsense " in society and inliterature

-"Love, friendship, justice and commonsense " in Shakespeare's plays -"The victorious laugh of love, friendship, justice and commonsense" in

" The Merchant of Venice " by Shakespeare

IV The limitation of the thesis

- Studying the background of the Renaissance, Shakespeare's life andwork, the play "The Merchant of Venice"

- Studying the theme "The victorious laugh of love, friendship, justiceand commonsense" in the play "The Merchant of Venice" by Shakespeare

V The methods of the study

- Studying materials dealing with the thesis

- Analysis method (main method)

I England in the Renaissance

1 What is the Renaissance ?

2 England in the Renaissance

3 The humanism in the Renaissance

II William Shakespeare

1 Life and Work

1.1 life

1.2.work

2 The Merchant of Venice

2.1 The place of the play in Shakespeare's career

2.2 The sources of the play

2.3 The characters in the play

2.4 The story of the play

Chapter II :

love, friendship, justice and commonsense

in society, in literature and in shakespeare's plays

I Love, friendship, justice and commonsense in society and in literature

II Love, friendship, justice and commonsense in Shakespeare's plays

III Justice and commonsense

IV The victorious laugh of love, friendship, justice and commonsense

Conclusion

Reference books

B Content

Chapter I : Background

I England in the Renaissance ( 15th to 17th centuries )

1 What is the Renaissance ?

From 14th century to 17th century, a new ideological and culturalcampaign rose up enthusiastically and drastically in Europe never before hadhumankinds witnessed

Firstly , the " new wind " blew up in Italia in 14th century Then, it spread

to the rest of Europe in 15th,16th,17th centuries

The Italian called this movement "Renascita", the French called it "LaRenaissance " This movement marked the transition from the Medieval world tothe modern one in Western Europe

The term "Renascita" or "Renaissance" means literally " Rebirth"

"Renaissance" means not only " the revival of interest in the ancient culture ofGreece and Rome "but also "the discovery of the world and humanbeings" .More than that, it implies "the awakening of man's mind and capacity, ofindividual spirit and secularism

1.1 Renaissance : The revival of interest in the ancient culture of Greece and Rome

Although people, in the Middle Ages, read and studied the Greek andRoman culture, The number of readers of this was very limitted among scholarsand literary men

Now, thanks to Patriarch's and Boccacio's enthusiasm in propagating thespirit of humanism in Greek and Roman culture, thanks to the extremelyimportant invention of the printing machine, the number of ancient writers'readers increased greatly and the reading and studying of the Greek and Romanculture became an interest

From 14th to17th centuries , the European were thirsty for seeking therelics of the ancient culture of Greece and Rome People emulated one another

in learning Greek and Latin in order to read the ancient manuscripts

The translation,the introduction and publication of the ancient philosophicaland literary works of Greece attracted a great number of scholars, researchersand printers etc It is true that never before had ancient Greece and Rome beenmore paid attention to, interested in, exalted than in this period

1.2 Renaissance : The discovery of the world and humanbeings

People began to think differently about the universe and the place ofhumanbeings within it Thanks to a great increase in the geographical andscientific knowledge

In geographical field, Newton discovered "Law of gravity" and many otherdiscoveries were also made These helped people know their position and fate inuniverse It became clear that the earth moved around the sun.

In the Middle Ages, men completely lost their value and position.Thechurch of Rome taught them that they were symbols of evils and sins, they wereslaves in this temporary world They lived temporarily and waited for apermanent life in paradise

In the Renaissance, men were reborn They began to accept this world with

a much more optimistic attitude They realized the meaningfulness of earthly lifethat was beautiful and interesting.They needed to enjoy it

1.3.Renaissance : The awakening of man's mind and capacity, of individual spirit and secularism

Renaissance men were quite different from Middle Age ones whodespised the materialistic and sexual desires Men of this period wanted toescapse from the strict, cramped and austere pattern of life in Middle Ages inorder to come to new luxurious life, new economic, political and social life The power of church over men's minds was defeated They did not believe

of Renaissance placed their interest in humanbeings They agreed with theancient thinkers in evaluating and exalting the dignity of humanbeings Theyconsidered men to be the creator of the world This period called for giants,produced giants - giants in power of thought, passion, character in universalityand learning

In short, the Renaissance was the most progressive, greatest point never before had mankinds seen That turning - point occured in allaspects of life: economy, politics, society, religion, ideology, technology andscience, literature and art It was the period in which Renaissance literature andart became more beautiful

turning-2 England in the Renaissance

England entered the Renaissance later than Italia and other countries inWestern Europe because of two terribly destructive wars: the war of 100 years(1337- 1453) between England and France, the war of Roses (1455-1485).England started their economic recovery and development, cultural expansionfrom the end of 15th century on

In 16th century, Capitalism began to develop in England as well as in otherEuropean countries However, it had some pecularities Wool productionbecame the leading manufacture in England Landowners drove thousands ofpeasants out of their lands , turning these lands into pastures , or "enclosures "for sheep

There was no work for the peasants and many of them became homelessbeggars The government promulgated the law "no wandering" with very cruelpunishment to turn wandering peasants into cheap workers in enterprises

There were about 7200 drifters killed under the reign of the king HenryVIII (1509-1547) , the father of Queen Elizabeth I

After the death of Henry VIII, his daughter Queen Elizabeth I enthroned.England during her reign was considered to be great and glorious England grewprosperous and powerful , deserved to be called " the merry England "

Positively, it was the period that England became No.1 powerful country inEurope

It tried the best to expand its power England set up for colonization andexploitation, exploration, travel, a new way of life, new customs brought back bythe sailors and merchants

However, behind its prosperous face "the merry England", was a societyundergoing the fierce changes of the transition stage from Feudalism toCapitalism, was a society charged with severe class contradictions that werealways ready to break out drastic wars

3 The humanism in the Renaissance

The humanism was the progressive ideology creating all spiritual values ofthe Renaissance Human life, the happiness of people and the beliefs in man'sabilities became the main subjects in fine arts and literature of the period

Humanism considered men the center of universe Broadly, humanismsuggested any attitude which tended to exalt the human elements such asfaithful, generous, tolerant, gentle or stressed the importance of human ofinterest as opposed to the supernatural, devine elements or as opposed to thegrosser, animal elements such as jealous, hypocritical, flatulent, etc

The works of humanists proclaimed the equality of the people regardless oftheir social origin, race, religion Humanism did away with the dark scholasticteaching of the Middle Ages The development of a new social order presentedgreat possibilities for man's creative power That is the reason why the humanistoutlook was marked with bright optimism , with belief in man's great abilitiesand his high mission.

Humanism recovered men's right to live , their role in universe It required

to emancipate people from the slavery of Feudal church It fought against what,who fought against men It exalted man's noble qualities and required to giveback earthly life, real mental and bodily life to men

The humanists agreed with the ancient Greeks and Romans in asserting thedignity of humanbeings and the importance of the present life

Humanism is the product of the transition stage from Feudalism toCapitalism and is a progressive philosophical ideological trend However, it hassome limitations

II William Shakespeare

1 Life and Work

1.1 Life

The greatest playwright and poet not only of England but also of thehumankind, William Shakespeare, was born on April 23, 1564 in the small town

of Stratford - Upon - Avon , about seventy - five miles from London

Shakespeare grew up in the refinedly beautiful natural landscape withpeople's language , folk stories and songs These left fresh images in his laterworks

Shakespeare is the third of Jonh Shakespeare who was the prosperoustradesman and merchant and a person of some important functions in the town.His mother, Mary Arden, was a daughter of wealthy and distinguished familyfrom Wilmecote

His two elder sisters died in infancy but three brothers and two other sisterssurvived at least into childhood When Shakespeare was a seven year old boy, hewent to Stratford grammar school where Latin and Greek were almost the onlysubjects

Life itself, contact with everyone and his acqaintance with the rich Englishfolklore gave him more than the scholastic methods used at school

In those days , Stratford - upon - Avon was often visited by groups oftravellers who was also actors

It is quite possible that Shakespeare watched some plays performed bysome such actors and was impressed by them Shakespeare left school early atthe age of 14 as his family got into heavy debts.

On november 27, 1582 Shakespeare, then aged at eighteen, married AnnaHathaway a woman 8 years older than himself They had three children, adaughter in 1583 and twins - a boy ( died at 11 ) and girl in 1585

At twenty one, he left Stratford - upon - Avon for London where he joined atheatrical company and worked as an actor and a playwright

In the late 90s, a new theatre called " the Globe " was built on the bank ofthe Thames river Shakespeare became one of its owners The people of Londonliked it more than any other theatres It was the Globe in which most ofShakespeare's plays were staged at that time In 1613 , Shakespeare left Londonand returned to his native town of Stratford - Upon - Avon Three years later , onApril 23 ,1616 , he died and was buried there

1.2 Work

Shakespeare is the author of two long poems, a collection of 154 sonnets(14 line poems ), 37 plays including 17 comedies, 10 tragedies, 10 historicalchronicles

He has enriched the stage with matchless plays and towards the end of hislife, with plays that defy all descriptions, strange plays that haunt theimagination like visions

Next to God, a wise man once said, Shakespeare created most In thirtyseven plays that are his chief legacy to the world and surely no-one ever left aricher!- human nature is displayed in all its astonishing variety

His range is enormous : Kings and Queens, Priests, Princes and Merchants,Soldiers, Clowns and Drunkards, Murders, Pimps, Whores, Fairies, Monsters

and Pale, Avenging ghosts " strut and fret their hour upon the stage ".

His contemporaries praised him as "the honey - tongued poet", "the swan

on Avon river ", "the person waves the spear to cause a stir in the scene".

Perhaps , the best epitaph for Shakespeare was written by his friend and rival,

Ben Jonson , who said "He was not of an age but for all time" Although the

precise date of many Shakespeare's plays is in doubt, his creative work is usuallydevided into three periods :

1.2.1- The first period (1590- 1600)

It is thought that this is his period of trial and probation He improved andarranged the traditional classical plays , sometimes in cooperation with otherplaywrights to write new ones

This period was marked by the optimism so characteristic of all humanistliterature , the sky of his mind and his heart is cloudless His view point towardsman (woman), life is very optimistic He loves life, people, his country Hebelieves in people, their abilities, life, the good and justice

It is best reflected in his brilliant comedies His comedies are noticeable forlight wit They are written in bright spirit of Renaissance

The comedies describe the advantures of young men and women , theirfriendship and love, their search for happiness The comedies show the "merryEngland" of Shakespeare's time The comedies are usually based on somemisunderstandings that create comic situations They are full of fun But thelaughter is not a mockery directed against the people and their vices He nevermoralised in his comedies His comedies are filled with humanist love for peopleand the belief in nobleness and kindness of human nature

Historical chronicles are plays written on subjects from natural history.Shakespeare's chronicles cover a period of more than 3 hundred years of Englishhistory However, the main subjects of chronicles are not the lives and fates ofthe Kings but history itself and the development of the country Like allhumanists of his time , Shakespeare believed a centralised monarchy to be anideal form of statepower He thought it would put an end to the struggle of thefeudals and would create conditions for the progress of the country One of hisgreat achievements was that in his chronicles he show not only the kings,feudals, and churchmen , but lower classes too

His two long narrative poems " Venus and Adonis " (1592- 1593 ) and " theRape of Lucrece " ( 1593-1594) and a collection of 154 sonnets were written inthis period

The drama "The Merchant of Vevice " and the two early tragedies " Romeoand Juliet " and " Julius Caesar " show the change in playwright's understanding

of life, whose approach to reality become more pessimistic

His comedies, tragedies, histories in this period are shown in the followingcharts:

The comedies of Errors 1592-1594 Henry VI , part I 1589-1590

The Taming of the Shrew 1593-1594 Henry VI , part II

Henry VI, part III 1590-1591

The two Gentlemen of Verona 1594

Much Ado About nothing 1598-1599 Henry IV , Part II 1598

Romeo and Juliet 1595-1596 The Rape of Lucrece 1593-1594

1.2.2- The second period (1600- 1608)

This is the period of tragedies The tragedies reflect the deep unsolvablecontradictions of life, the falsehood, injustice and tyranny existing in society.They show people who perish in the struggle against Evil

The tragedies, like the chronicles, are also based on real events but there is

a considerable difference between the two genres The playwright raised greatproblems of good and evil in both But in the chronicles they are mostly linkedwith political themes - the questions of the state and public life of the perioddescribed In the tragedies which are centred round the life of one man

Shakespeare touched on the moral problems of universal significance honesty, cruelty , kindness , love , vanity and others That is the reason why histragedies are of great interest to every new generation

-His works are the following ones:

1.2.3.The third period (1608-1610)

His plays of this period differ from everything written by him before.

The playwright still touches upon the important social and moral problems.But now he suggests utopian solutions to them He introduces romantic andfantastic elements which have a decisive role in his plays The contradictions inthis period are not severe , drastic and do not cause seperation , break up death

as that of the previous period , so plays usually have happy ends , reunion

His works are the following ones :

2 His "the Merchant of Venice"

2.1 The place of the play in Shakespeare' s career

The Merchant of Venice has a special place in Shakespeare's comedy.Shakespeare wrote the play sometime between the late summer of 1596 and

1598 and it was printed in 1600 as the comical history of The Merchant ofVenice

The play belongs to the complex comedies of Shakespeare So far , manypeople have not stopped arguing whether it is a comedy or a tragedy The severeand fierce contradiction in the play makes many people think it to be a tragedybut with the solution to the central conflict ( happy ending story ), with theoptimistic atmosphere of the play and especially it is the work written in the firstperiod, it reflects his point of view in this period which is very optimistic ,so it isranked in comedy

The Merchant of Venice has still remained a favourite not only withaudience but also with performers The audience have wanted to see the greatactors and actresses as Shylock and Portia , the actors and the actresses havewanted to show their skills in these demanding parts

The depiction of the profound , complex , deversified characters withouthaving essential features of the character put in the shade proves that the level oftalent of the playwright is gradually ripening It signals the appearance of thegreat realistic writer's great works in the next stage

2.2 The sources of the play

Just as with so many of his plays , Shakespeare took ideas from a lot ofdifferent places to make a new and fascinating story A tale in a book called " Ilpecorone " by the Italian writer Ser Giovanni gave Shakespeare some basic ideasfor his play

"Il pecorone" - which means "The big sheep" or "The fool" - was publishedin1558

The idea of the three caskets, which Portia's suitors must choose between,appears in a lot of tales and Shakespeare probably found it in Italian or Englishcollections of the stories such as Boccaccio's Decameron or Jonh Gower'sconfessio Amantis

The ideas of an evil , wicked , stingy Jew ( as Shylock ) , a Jewish girlmarrying a Christian (as Jessica marries Lorenzo) may come from a play called

"The Jew of Malta" by Christopher Marlowe which had had a great success

It is necessary to talk further about social - political origin Around thetime Shakespeare wrote this play , the antisemitism in England increased In aChristian country , people hated the Jews , especially around this time , too, therewas a real - life trial of a Jewish man from Portugal , Roderigo Lopez

He was Queen Elizabeth's doctor and was accused of treason for attemping tokill her He was executed in 1594

2.3 The characters in the play

-The Duke of Venice

- The Prince of Morocco (suitor to Portia )

- The Prince of Arragon ( suitor to Portia )

- Antonio , a merchant of Venice

- Bassanio , his friend , suitor to Portia

- Solanio , Gratiano , Salerio ( friends to Antonio and Bassanio )

- Lorenzo , in love with Jessica

- Shylock , a rich Jew

- Tubal, a Jew his friend

- Launcelot Gobbo, a clown, servant to Shylock

- Old Gobbo, father to Launcelot

- Leonardo, servant to Bassanio

- Balthasar, Stephano ( servants to Portia )

- Portia , an heiress

- Nerissa, her waiting - woman

- Jessica , daughter to Shylock

- Magnificoes of Venice, officers of the court of justice, Gaoler, musicians,servants and other attendants

2.4 The story of the play

Antonio , a rich merchant , is sad without any obvious reason His friendsask if he is worried about his merchants , or he is in love , but he denies these Antonio has in the past lent money to his friend Bassanio This timeBassanio wants to set himself up to try for the hand in marriage of Portia, awealthy and beautiful heiress To finance this, Antonio now has to borrowmoney, as all his resources are at present in his ships , trading to distantcountries

At Belmont , her newly - inherited estate about twenty miles from Venice,Portia feels frustrated by the terms of her father's will He has laid down thateveryone who hopes to marry her must choose between a casket of gold , silver

or lead Portia will have to accept as her husband the man who demonstratessound values by making the "correct" choice All suitors must also take an oathnever to marry if they fail in this contest Many totally unsuitable young mendecice to leave without taking their chance The next suitor is the prince ofMorocco

Back in Venice , Bassanio approaches Shylock , a wealthy Jew , who lendsmoney in return for interest Shylock and Antonio are already enemies Each ofthem hates what the other stands for Shylock agrees to lend 3000 ducats onAntonio's bond On this occasion , in stead of taking a percentage of the loan asinterest , Shylock offers a "joke " bond - the forfeit of a pound of Antonio's flesh

if the loan is not repaid in three months Antonio agrees to this againstBassanio's advice

Shylock's daughter , Jessica , elopes with Lorenzo , her darling , takingShylock's money and jewels

Meanwhile , at Belmont , the prince of Morocco has chosen a golden casketand the prince of Arragon has chosen the silver one , thus , they failed the testand left

Shylock seems distressed almost to madness by the loss at the same time ofhis daughter, a considerable amount of money and jewellery of real andsentimental value He learns of Lorenzo's and Jessica's spending spree and isthen a little comforted by persistent rumours of shipwreck affecting Antonio'scargoes He is now looking for vengeance

Portia and Bassanio are instantly attracted to each other Bassanio sees allthe virtues of plain lead , and makes the right choice They are both ecstaticallyhappy and Portia gives Bassanio her ring , making him promise never to partwith it Gratiano and Nerissa have also been in love and she too gives him herring , on the same terms

Lorenzo and Jessica arrive , bringing a letter from Antonio All his shipshave sunk and his forfeit is being claimed by Shylock Portia, realizingBassanio's distress, arranges a speedy wedding for the two couples and sends thetwo men back to Venice with an offer of several times the original loan Portiaand Nerissa, disguished as a lawyer and his clerk , go to the court and use herskill and knowledge to defend Antonio

Antonio has been allowed to visit Shylock from gaol to try to persuadehim to be lenient Shylock , however , is bent on revenge In court , Antoniomakes it clear he is resigned to his fate He knows the law can not , in fact mustnot , be altered for one man's convennience after appealing in vain to Shylock formercy, Portia confirms the law, to Shylock 's delight

He has all the grisly apparatus prepared, the knife and the scales, andAntonio is stripped and ready when Portia points out that no blood must be spilt

or Shylock must die Further , because he has tried to kill a Venitian citizen , halfhis goods go to his intended victim and half to the state Also, only the Dukecan spare his life Showing the mercy which shylock would not, the Duke sparesShylock's life and at Antonio's request he can keep half his wealth as long as theother half may go to Lorenzo and Jessica and the rest to them on his death Shylock must also become a Christian He is a broken man

As the lawyer and clerk , the only gifts Portia and Nerissa will accept fortheir services from Antonio and Bassanio are the rings they gave their husbands These are parted with reluctantly

Arriving back at Belmont, Portia and Nerissa soon confront their

"husbands' betrayal " and suggest the missing rings were given to women Theyclear up the misunderstandings Lorenzo and Jessica are delighted to learn oftheir future fortune And Antonio discovers that three of his ships have comesafely to habour after all

chapter II : love , friendship , justice and commonsense

in society, in literature and in shakespeare's plays

I Love, friendship, justice and commonsense in society and

in literature.

1 Love :

It is very difficult to define what love is Love may be the concord of twosouls

The Viet Namese poet Xuan Dieu thought " Yªu lµ chÕt trong lßng mét Ýt".

Love plays a special part in man's life and it is the most beautiful and importantpart

Life without love is meaningless It is the foundation of man's happiness Love makes people live better , more happily and meaningfully Love has a verystrong power , people can do everything even die for their love People cansacrifice, suffer from body , mind in order to attain real love

Love is a favourite topic for all time It brings an inexhaustible inspirationfor writers , poets , composers Many composers have created a lot of songsabout love making people dote on Many poets such Puskin , Tago , Xuan Dieuetc became famous thanks to their poem about love There are not any gaps inlove between the poor and the rich, the noble and the vile, the white and thecolour, the old and the young etc

In Viet Namese literature, love between Tien Dung and Chu Dong Tu is animmortal love song Tien Dung overcomes the separation of poverty and wealth,social position to attain and protect her love Although Tien Dung is a beautifuland wealthy princess, Chu Dong Tu is a poverty - stricken young man, and even

if she gets married with him, her father will disown and throw her out of his

palace, she still decides to live with him and finally they live happily together alltheir life.

This proves that nothing is stronger than love But it does not mean thatlove always brings happiness for everyone It can bring tragedy, death, pain forpeople.The obstacles of man's life and society hinder people's love and lead topitiful deaths As in Viet -Namese literature , My Chau and Trong Thuy loveeach other but the wars betweet their countries cause their painful death Or as

in Chinese literature , although Liang Shan Bo and Zhu Zing Tai love oneanother deeply and faithfully , they try their best to struggle against the hatebetween their families to protect their love and happiness, finally they die of thathate Love can end tragically but the above deep , faithful loves are known andpraised for all time

2 Friendship

Wherever we live we are bond to have friends Noone in this life has not afriend A friend is a person who always shares happiness or sorrow with us orhelps us overcome difficulties to get success in life Friendship makes happinessdouble, reduces half sorrow A life without friends becomes sad, insipid ,colourless But it is in fact not easy to have a real bosom friend

Surely , noone does not know the lofty and beautiful friendship betweentwo great people : Cark Mark and Engels

We feel great emotion and admiration for the very noble and sincerefriendship between Luu Binh and Duong Le We also can not stop melancholy ,sympathetic streams of tears for the separation of two bosom friends Ba Nha - TuKy

A very warm fast friendship will survive for all times in mankind's heart

In the Greek mythology , speaking more clearly in the epic " Illiat " byHolme, there is also a profound and great friendship between Asin and Patroclie.When hearing the news that Patroclie , his dearest friend , is killed by Hecto,Asin falls down and writhes in dust He screams with an extremely strong pain.his another friend has to hold his arms tight because if not he will commitsuicide to "follow " Patroclie

After killing Hecto to revenge for his friend , he still tosses aboutsleeplessly all through the night because of being fretty with obsessivememories of his friend He goes out of his camp , walks aimlessly alongseashore with a great grief When the sun rises , he jumps on combat vehicleand drags the body of Hecto three circles around the tomb of Patriclie He says

that whenever he still lives he will not forget to think of his friend Manyresearchers say this is the first friendship that is expressed emotionally,profoundly in literature

3 Justice and commonsense

The philosophies "One good turn deserves another" and "As the call, so the echo" are man's beliefs , wishes In life , those who are charitable , honest ,

righteous and sacrificial will be worthily compensated with a happy , wealthy ,comfortable life and vice versa , those who are greedy , selfish , cruel , takeadvantage of and harm man will be punished , expelled , wiped out This ismankind's wish of justice and commonsense This is clearly and profoundlyexpressed in Viet Namese legends

In " Tam Cam " , Tam is a beautiful, gentle, pain staking girl However,She early must put up with a loss She lives with her stepmother and thestepmother's daughter , Cam , who are very cruel , greedy They trample onTam's human dignity, maltreat her and finally kill her At the end of the story,Tam comes to life again, then gets married with a rich king and becomes queen Cam and her mother are punished and die painfully

Or in "Thach Sanh ", Thach Sanh is a poor , honest, talented , virtuous man

He has a lot of merits so he gets married with the princess and becomes the king

Ly Thong and his mother are ungrateful, greedy for talent, beauty, fame andposition.They take advantage of, deceive, harm Thach Sanh and despoil hismerits Although, with his benevolence and nobility, Thach Sanh forgives them ,finally they are turned into dor-beetles and live dishonourably in dirty places.When the aspiration for justice , commonsense is still in no enoughcondition to be much carried out in real life The folk authors createsupernatural , miraculuos personalities such as the Fairy , the Buddha etc tocarry out them

In " Donquixote "by Cervantes, Donquixote loves people, freedom, fairness,benevolence and righteousness He wants to be an errant knight to rescue manfrom sorrow and distress , recover justice, commonsense and morality for man

He is ready to fight , sacrifice for these noble spirit values

He rescues a herds-baby from her harsh owner's maltreatment or liberatespenal-servituded prisoners from violence without asking for any private benifit

II Love, friendship, justice and commonsense in Shakespeare's plays

In " A midsummer night 's dream ", Shakespeare takes us into a half true,half dreamed , half earthed , half fiery landed world , a world of romantic love,love affair Since then , he raises the singing voice of praise for youth love His " Romeo and Juliet " is the most famous love story in literature , is thetragedy of pure and faithful love Romeo and Juliet do not submit to obstacles,difficulties.

They always struggle to protect their love The long standing feud betweentwo families , feudal system of education , Tybalt's death (Juliet's dearestcousin), the reputation , talent , wealth of Parit do not separate their love .Although they die of their fighting for their love , from then the mean , narrowminded feudal society admires them greatly Their love stops the long standingfeud Shakespeare shows the strong power of love

Love between Desdemona and Othello in "Othello" is also one of thebeautiful famous love stories of mankind's literature Desdemona is determined

to fight to get her love regardless of the differences between race and age(Othello is black and much older than her) Her love for Othello is pure,beautiful, faithful

The role of women in love in Shakespeare's plays is very considerable Hiswomen- not like the women in the Middle Ages- are very active in love affairs.They are always thirsty for seeking the men, the love and always struggle toprotect their love That is Shakespeare's new progressive thought about love

2 Friendship

Shakespeare's plays are full of friendships , deep relationships between twopeople who are often of the same sex , which give comfort and support and oftenact as the springboard for change in character's understanding of themselves Shakespeare often shows very warm and fast friendships in his plays

Rosalind and Celia, for example, in "s you like it " , who run away together

to the forest of Arden, or Antonio in " Twelfth night " risks his death for hisfriend Sebastian in the midst of the confusions and madness of Illyria

Or Horasio in " Hamlet " is a brave, faithful friend of Hamlet He is alwaysbeside Hamlet and confides to him whenever Hamlet needs and feels sad

It is impossible to say about friendship in Shakespeare's plays withoutmentioning the very warm and beautiful respectable friendship between Romeoand Mercutio in "Romeo and Juliet " When Tybalt insults and hurts Romeo ,Mercutio thinks Romeo bows his head in cowardice , loving Romeo, Mercutiofights with Tybalt

Romeo causes Mercutio's unjust death because he wants to restrain twosides Loving his friend , he kills Tybalt regardless of being deported or the factthat Tybalt is Juliet's dearest cousin

Speaking frankly, shakespeare created excellent and respectable friendships

in his plays

3 Justice and commonsense

Shakespeare is a great humanist He loves people , mankind He lovesjustice, commonsense , social fairness For that reason , he always praises ,admires or keeps special feelings for those who are good , charitable , honest,righteous and sacrificial, who suffer great misery from the trampling of thesociety He raises his voice to protect , uphold them He feels resentment andhatred against, criticizes the bad habits, the cruelty, the bad and the unfair

As we know the age in which Shakespeare lived was a shifty anddisarranged one ; a terrible dark prison ; a society full of negative and darkaspects ; a society full of cruelty , injustice , cruel power , violence ; a society ofcrisis and stalemate That age was a danger which threatened mankind, contrived

to stiffle man's laugh, caused death and grief , made tears and blood continue tofall

The state of shiftiness and disarray came to the utmost The cruel wasdeveloping more and more and had the tendency to overwhelm The good aswell as kind people were being gradually destroyed

Before that situation, Shakespeare could not keep still, overlook He deeplyresented , wanted to scream He brought all his love , his inmost feelings beforethe age into his plays Throughout the plays , he wanted to speak outmournfully the wonder about the ideal of life , wish of himself and the same

age's people He wanted to speak out the view point , thought of the people andeven of himself about justice, commonsense and social fairness.

People were raising their voice to demand the restoration of social fairness, theestablishment of justice The cruel people, the disloyal and unfeeling peoplewould be punished by both heaven and earth

In " Hamlet " , Shakespeare exposes to light an age that he condemns as astingy and diarranged age , a world prison full of social evils such as greed,cruelty, injustice, envy , revenge, incest , hypocrisy etc

In that world, there is the appearance of the cruel, wick, hypocritical peoplesuch as Claudius ( Hamlet's uncle) who not only kills his elder brother (Hamlet'sfather ) in order to usurp the throne, seduce his brother's wife but also turns hiscountry into a hideous prison

Hamlet's mother is depraved, credulous, cruel, lustful woman who, togetherwith Claudius, scheme for killing her husband and get married with each other.Their action is full of cruelty , incest They disregard justice , commonsense andmorality When Hamlet reveals the truth they still scheme for killing him Theycause Hamlet extreme pains Justice and commonsense can not let them dofurther whatever they like They have to be appropriately punished with whatthey have done Hamlet's mother is poisoned for she has drunk from a poisonedglass of wine prepared by Claudius for Hamlet And Claudius is killed byHamlet

Hamlet is the embodiment of justice and commonsense He is brave to fightalone to annihilate suffering , cruelty to make shifty and disarranged worldbecome firm and neat , to recover freedom , justice and commonsense regardless

of sacrifice

It is Hamlet who waves his sword of justice to punish the wicked Hecarries out the punishment not only on behalf of himself but also on behalf ofpeople

In "Othello", Iago is a devil He slights morality, conscience, humandignity, humanity He only sets great store by money, He is wicked, crafty Hecaused the pitiful deaths of Desdemona - a beautiful, well behaved, faithfulwoman and of Othello - a brave, talented , faithful man So, justice andcommonsense force him to pay for his sins His wife, a brave woman, Emillia,who loves people, loves justice and commonsense dares rise to reveal herhusband's sins regardless of her death

Hamlet and Emillia are always aware of their action They fight forcommonsense, justice regardless of their death They always believe in the finalvictory of justice and commonsense They also become soldiers strugglingagainst cruelty and badness.

Shakespeare's plays contain people's opinion and thought of justice,commonsense and social fairness He suggests us, calls us upon to rise to fightfor a fair , pure world and recover justice , social fairness

chapter III: The victorious laugh of Love, friendship,justice and commonsense in "the Merchant of Venice "

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