Shakespeare's Image of the New Economic Man of the Renaissance

Shakespeare being the leading dramatist of the age was very much aware of the fast changes which were taking place in his contemporary society, from around the middle of the 16^th century; English trade started flourishing through naval adventures on high seas. The British merchants began to explore and exploit the overseas markets. The poets of the Renaissance were quick to celebrate the efforts and exploits of the sea hawks of England. Sea faring turned out to be central to the bourgeois prosperity. This paper deals with the fact that Shakespeare took a different line; he refused to play the poet laureate of the bourgeoisie. In the above context, the play which is of crucial importance is The Merchant of Venice. It is Shakespeare's most detailed critique of a society dominated by merchants. The merchants of Rialto are ruthless, cunning animals of prey. Malice and greed inform all their actions and gestures. I have examined in detail the utterances that Shakespeare gives to Antonio and others in the opening scene of the play.
One cannot miss the savage irony which informs these lines. What Salerio says is utterly blasphemous, even while this merchant is attending the church; all he can think about is merchandise, rides with the waves. His ships loaded with spice and silk run into storm. To Salerio nothing, not even god, is more sacrosanct than the state of his business. In my present paper the crux of the thing is that Shakespeare's portrait of new economic man of Renaissance is a typical picture of self centred, business oriented man whose chief interest lies with his profit making enterprise at any cost and that guided his very thought marginalising other human feelings.