And They All Lived Happily Ever After?

In the last episode, we felt pretty confident saying that Shakespeare believed that a good marriage was one of true partnership filled with respect, trust, communication, and most importantly love. However, in Elizabethan England, the act of getting married was still predominantly a business transaction. While courtship mattered to a degree, you married for three reasons: increased social status, monetary gain, or occasionally love.

But could a transactional marriage lead to a true happily ever after? Or was happiness only found by those madly in love?

In this episode, we take a look at two of the marriages in The Merchant of Venice and explore how running away for love doesn't always guarantee a happy ending - and how marrying by business transaction sometimes can (even if it means coercing fate to get the right mate).