Anya and Lana
WITH REGARDS AT LEAST TWO LITERARY
WORKS, EXPLAIN HOW THE SETTING BOTH
INFLUENCES THE CHARACTERS AND
REFLECTS THE AUTHORS OWN CONTEXT
FIRST IDENTIFY KEY TERMS.
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Setting
Characters
Reflects
Authors own context
COMPARE, BOTH TEXTS SETTINGS.
The Reader
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Germany post World War II
Hanna’s Apartment
Court room
Jail
The Merchant of Venice
• Belmont
- Palace
• Venice
- Court room
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE
 Two contrasting settings
Belmont
Venice
Happy, Joyful, Ethereal
Busy, harsh and litigious
Place of magic and love
Place for business/
Economic competition
Female dominance
Men dominance
Symbols : Chapel, rings,
caskets
Talking about money
Symbols: Ducats, flesh, ships
THE READER
Part 1 – Relationship
Part 2 – Trial
Hanna’s Apartment – Symbolic of Hanna as the outer
appearance of the house is grand although the
interior is corroding.
Court Room – symbolic of justice and guilt as this is
the place where both of Hanna’s secrets become
evident. Her illiteracy and the crime she committed
“I assumed that grand people would live in such a
grand building. But because the building had
darkened with the passing of the years and the
smoke of the trains, I imagined that the grand
inhabitants would be just as somber.”
- This symbolizes Hanna, as it foreshadows her Nazi
Crimes and the secrets she hides.
“The seminar began in Winter, the trial in Spring.”
- The trial beginning in Spring symbolizes awakening
and revelation.
“We tore open the windows and let in the air, the wind
that finally whirled away the dust that society had
permitted to settle over the horrors of the past”
- this furthers the point of revelation and awakening
“The court had a row of large windows down the left
hand side, with milky glass that blocked the view of
the outdoors but let in a great deal of light.”
- This is symbolic of the truth finally being revealed
whether society accept it or not
Part 3 – Jail
Jail – Symbolic of guilt as Hanna is put in a place for punishment for
the crime that she committed. It is also symbolic of guilt on
Michaels behalf as he did not speak up about Hanna’s illiteracy, as
that played a large part in her losing the court case.
LIST THE MAIN CHARACTERS OF THE TEXTS.
The Reader
The Merchant of Venice
• Hanna
• Michael
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Antonio
Bassanio
Shylock
Portia
Nerissa
Jessica
Lorenzo
THE READER
Character
Symbolic of…
Hanna
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•
•
•
Older/ First generation Germany
Schlink depicts Hanna as a middle aged woman
with “A broad planed, strong, womanly face” her
appearance that Schlink conveys to audiences of
Hanna is a rough and worn one, suggesting that
she is damaged and impure similar to the
cultural ideologies that audiences would be
feeling towards Nazi War Criminals.
Schlink chooses a female to alienate enforces
her character as being weak compared to the
male character Michael.
Also the character Hanna has a frequent habit of
washing herself “She was scrupulously clean,
she showered every morning” and “[In her
house] there was always the smell of cleaning
fluid”. This habit of cleaning is symbolic of Hanna
trying to clean herself of her sins and wrongs.
Character
Symbolic of…
Michael
- New Germany
- Second generation of Germans,
represents the feelings and beliefs of
the next generation
- Symbolic of the repercussions of the
holocaust
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE
Character
Portrayed as..
Portia
Loving, beautiful, clever, and wealthy
noblewoman
Shylock
Greedy, The other characters, including
Shylock's own daughter, JESSICA, consider
him inhuman—bestial or demonic, on the
fringes of the society,
NOTE: Depending on your interpretation,
Shylock can be played as a hate-filled
but justified character who inspires
compassion, or as the worst stereotype
of a stingy, stubborn, cruel, unfeeling
money-lending Jew.
Antonio
Admired by the other characters, his
motives are directed by Bassanio.
AUTHORS OWN CONTEXT
The Reader
The Merchant of Venice
Bernhard Schlinks own intention was too
create a text that articulated the
dilemma of so many Germans who were
born as the children of a great crime.
How does a succeeding generation deal
with the transgressions of their parents?
How do they find a way of living anything
like a normal life? The Reader is not
simply a novel specific to the postwar
German experience. It is also a more farreaching exploration of the painful and
difficult process we all now know under
the name of truth and reconciliation.
Jews in Shakespeare’s England were a
marginalized group. Shakespeare
certainly draws on this anti-Semitic
tradition in portraying Shylock, exploiting
Jewish stereotypes for comic effect.
- This is represented by the character
Michael – first person narrative, silencing
Hanna
Shakespeare makes him seem more
human by showing that his hatred is born
of the mistreatment he has suffered in a
Christian society, this is shown by
Shylocks views not being silenced.
EXAMPLE INTRODUCTION
The Reader (1997) and The Merchant of Venice (1597) are both texts
that reflect the author s own context, through setting and
characterization. The Reader is set in post World War II and explores
love af fair between two central character s Hanna and Michael. As the
novel is set in Germany, it is able to reflect Bernard Schlink’s own
context, which is to explore the repercussions of the Holocaust and the
shared guilt that German society faces. On the other hand, The
Merchant of Venice, delves into the idea of the segregation and clash
between two religious groups, the Christians and the Jews. In the
Elizabethan Era, Jews were a marginalized group and Shakespeare
por trays this through the protagonist of Shylock .
Three points to talk about:
Setting – symbolism
Characters – stylistic techniques
Authors Context
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