Salerio and Salanio in the Merchant of Venice
Salerio and Salanio in the Merchant of Venice In the play The Merchant Of Venice, there are many prominent characters. There is Bassanio and Antonio, the wealthy business types and Shylock a scrutinized Jew. And of course three women, Portia, Nerissa and Jessica, who are to be wed by Bassanio, Lorenzo and Gratiano to complete this tragedy. Keep in mind that women were played by male actors in Shakespeare's plays. Each of these characters is comedic, in some cases powerful, and overall they help to bring the play and the city of Venice to life. However there are two characters, Salerio and Salanio, whose relevance doesn't really stand out. In fact when the Shakespeare lists the characters, he states Salerio and Salanio only as friends of Antonio and Bassanio and Venetian gentlemen. It's not that Salerio and Salanio aren't insignificant characters but that they do fit in with Venetian life by keeping the action going and developing the major characters. Salerio and Salanio are two indistinguishable Venetian men with no definitive role. Salanio and Salerio (in some editions of the play called Salarino or Salerino) are not popular roles with many Shakespearean actors. As minor characters in the play, these young men have little
Salerio and Salanio serve as the main observers of the events that take place and report back to the audience to keep us up to date with what is going on. To take Salerio and Salanio out of the play would create a lot of confusion as well as characters expressing all their emotions to the open air. In lieu of Christian thinking it is believed that Antonio is a Christ figure who loves mankind enough to die for him, Portia is like the Virgin Mary and Shylock the devil. These two characters also create a lot of sympathy for Antonio, as well as supporting him. 60-61)# Since Salerio and Salanio function largely as commentators, stage directors have a good deal of leeway in deciding how their role should be interpreted. A couple thoughts come into place in consideration of Salerio and Salanio and the other characters as Christians in Venice. The passage of time in The Merchant of Venice is peculiar. For Salerio and Salanio, as Venetians and supporters of Antonio, it is assumed they uphold Christian values. We enrich ourselves with their lives but at the same time the rich and famous aren't interested in ours. Shylock's cries of "My daughter! O, my ducats! O, my daughter!" are meant to be comic-the moneylender is, after all, a comic villain (II. In contrast to the major characters, Salerio and Salanio have no emotional life themselves but they instead satisfy this by talking about the emotional lives of others. The only way this is shown is their view of the Jewish population in Venice as different.
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