The Merchant of Venice is classified as an early Shakespearean comedy, more specifically, as a “Christian comedy” and it is a work in which good triumphs over evil.
For Grade XI – Science and Commerce, the new academic year began by performing this most appreciated and loved play of William Shakespeare – The Merchant of Venice. It was a great learning experience for all the students of Grade XI. Right from the time the play was introduced, read, analysed and understood there was no end to their excitement. Each and every student of XI – Science and Commerce appealed to let them stage the play.
Everything was professionally planned and the work began. They named themselves professionally as “All-Star Production”. The Directors, Co-directors, Editors, Costume Designers, and Music Director were appointed. Then started the audition for the casts of the play. After taking the audition the following were selected as the casts of the play:
Antonio – Kishan Viradia
Bassanio – Bhadra N. Parikh
Portia – Atmiya K. Patel
Shylock – Jay Tailor
Gratiano – Siddharth Shah
Lorenzo – Sarveshwar Viroja
Nerissa – Roneet Chaudhary
Jessica – Kishan A. Patel
The Prince of Morroco – Anand V. Patel
Tubal – Harsh Patel
Salarion & Saliano – Hitesh Yadav & Mitul Patel
Servants – Ashish Pandey & Dipen Reshamwala
Dukes of Venice – Sarthak Jariwala, Karan Patel, Mihirbhai
Lawyer – Rushi Patel
Doctor Balthasar – Atmiya K. Patel
Director – Sarthak Jariwala
Co-Director – Kishan A. Patel
Narrator – Mantavya Patel
Music Director – Abhishek Rathore
Costume Designers – Robin Patel & Suharadam Nayak Sir
Property Managers – Krunal Vakil, Gavravbhai, Atmiya Kalavadia, Robin Patel, Ravi Patel
Students learnt many things apart from relishing the Shakespearean English. For example,
1. Friendship requires sacrifice. Antonio risks his fortune–and later his life–to help Bassanio win Portia.
2. Appearances are deceiving. Neither the gold nor the silver casket contains the key to winning Portia. Instead, it is the plain lead casket. Shakespeare expresses this theme–appearances are deceiving–in a message inside the golden casket. It says, “All that glisters [glitters] is not gold”.
3. Revenge ultimately destroys its perpetrator. Shylock seeks revenge against his enemies, but it is he who suffers the downfall after Christians unite to trick him. Perhaps he would have had more success if he had pursued justice instead of revenge.
4. Jews suffer bigotry and other forms of mistreatment because of their religion and race. Christians alienate Shylock simply because he is a Jew. In ancient, medieval, and Renaissance times, Jews almost always encountered prejudice from non-Jews around them. (Helped in enhancing students’ knowledge of the rivalry between the Jews and the Christian)
5. Women can be just as competent as men, maybe even more so. Portia, disguised as a man, speaks eloquently in defense of Antonio and persuades the Duke of Venice to rule in Antonio’s favor.
Moreover, they learnt that the real evil in The Merchant of Venice was the corrupt value system of the principal Christian characters who are, of course, representative of people in Shakespeare’s time.
After all the learning, analysis, preparation and rehearsal, the play was professionally staged on 27th July, 2010 in the Auditorium of the school in front of the students of Grade VIII, IX & X and all the Teachers, the Principal, the Housemasters and the Hostel In-charges.
The best thing about performing “The Merchant of Venice” was that each and every student of Grade XI participated wholeheartedly in one or the other roles. They enjoyed every moment of it right from the introduction of the play till its final performance on the stage.
Hopefully, everybody enjoyed the play to their heart’s content.
Written by: Paras Sir
The Merchant of Venice of William Shakespeare By “All-Star Production”
/0 Comments/in AVM Updates, Creativity, Students' Creations /by AVM TeachersSunset in Vav
/0 Comments/in Creativity /by AVM TeachersOn the Zenith, with Science
/0 Comments/in AVM Updates /by AVM TeachersSome reactions from teachers:
Through this workshop they inspired a new generation of future global scientists (Students of Atmiya Vidya Mandir) who can now be seen in the school campus flying a handmade aircraft, living with the concept of going against the forces which pulls you down, defying the gravity and touch the sky.
Written by: Seema Madam
About Noble Laureates and more…
/0 Comments/in AVM Updates /by AVM TeachersSuhradam House: Where Diversity is a Celebration
/0 Comments/in AVM Updates, Value Based Education /by AVM TeachersSubroto Cup Football Tournament – Hosted by Atmiya Vidya Mandir
/0 Comments/in AVM Updates, Sports /by AVM TeachersInter-House Seniors Football Competition
/0 Comments/in AVM Updates, Sports /by AVM TeachersInter-House Juniors Football Competition
/0 Comments/in AVM Updates, Sports /by AVM TeachersSundaram – House of United Hearts and Unbeatable Spirit
/0 Comments/in AVM Updates, Value Based Education /by AVM TeachersIn the third week of July , Sundaram house students offered an opportunity to all to witness and know different aspects of the value Respect and evoked everybody to think on the value respect from 360 degree angle.The first day assembly of the week was dedicated to the respect towards Parents. Parth Bhai accentuated that a virtuous child should fulfill his obligations towards his parents by treating them politely and gently.He also explained that the only way to show our respect to our parents is to seek their advice on all important occasions. In teacher’s talk Mukesh Sir emphasized on importance and benefit of touching feet of parents.
The next day’s assembly was dedicated to the respect towards teachers. Through the thought of the day, Meet Bhai explained that the only way to respect teacher is by trusting them as our well-wisher. Students were awakened with the feeling of gratitude towards their teacher who guide and shows the path of life.
Yet another, significant aspect of the value respect shown in the next day’s assembly was respect towards environment. Through the thought of the day Suraj bhai appealed the students to respect the environment by conserving it for future generation. Everybody sang the song “Heal the world, make it a better place” as the projector screen showed the lyrics of the song. In teacher’s talk Bharat Sir highlighted the value of environment and how can we show a sense of gratitude towards environment.
The following day was to complete the model-wheel of respect. The last but not the least aspect was respect for all , unconditionally. Niral bhai recited a poem depicting the need of respecting ourselves and respecting others for the uniqueness gifted by God to each one of us. Sahishnu Bhai elaborated on the same topic through his eloquent speech making a demand to acknowledge the God gifted qualities in everybody and respecting them whole heartedly. It was a warm and heartfelt speech.
Representing the senior group, Yash Bhai and Jai Bhai took the audience to celebrate Gurupoornima in advance as they presented a small skit on Swamiji’s directives to all, like “Call everybody Bhai………..”, “ Na aavde to teacher nu mathu khavu j j j”, “Roj nu devu roj chukvi devu” though they adopted rather a practical and humour-clad approach to convey these Swamiji’s directives to the students but their presentation proved to be most appealing to the audience. The next move brought home the true feeling of Gurupoornima as all the teachers were called on the stage for Gurupoojan.
The soft board theme was Gurupoornima, and Sundaram house made a humble effort to epitomized the Guru-Diciple tradition, It displayed detailed sketches of Arjuna with the blessings of Shree Krushna as his guide and Guru, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj with the blessings of his Guru Samartha Ramdas Swami and Eklavya with Guru Drona. Students were highly inspired and motivated by H.D.H. Hariprasad Swami Maharaj’s life for whom His Guru’s words were only purpose of His existence.
Thus, Sundaram house made a sincere effort to urge everybody to repay his deep debt of gratitude he owes to his Guru by constantly following His teachings because whatever the Guru advises has a benevolent purpose. The soft board displays and the morning assemblies throughout the week enunciated loud and clear that a meaningful ,purposeful and well destined life is unimaginable without a Guru ,this is the only truth of life and this truth remains beautiful so GO SUNDARAM ….. with the same thought.
Written by: Seema Madam
Shivam House Week – Born to prosper…
/0 Comments/in AVM Updates, Value Based Education /by AVM TeachersFollowing the benchmark of excellence set by the Satyam House students, it was only obvious to keep up with the standards set and that was exactly what was witnessed during the Shivam House Week!
The week started off with the auspicious event of Rathyatra. Hetbhai (Class 8) explained the true meaning of Rathyatra. He explained that:
• the soul is Rathi – owner of the `chariot’ which is the body,
• the intellect is the Sarathi – driver,
• the mind is the rein,
• the senses are the horses,
• the Panch Vishayas – material objects of the five senses – are the fields of pasture for the horses.
• the person whose Sarathi – intellect – is wise, whose mind fully controls the senses, can traverse Samsaar to reach the desired goal – the Lord’s abode.
He further informed that on this auspicious day, as per the tradition, the deities of Jagannath Mandir (Orissa) are installed into a huge rath and devotees pull it through the streets. The local king used to serve by humbly sweeping the road ahead with a golden broom.
The softboard theme was also chosen as Unity by the house. One softboard had a divine glow of the spiritual meaning of Unity – that of the mann, buddhi, chitt and aham. It gave out a clear message that the oneness of these four faculties was very essential for any success in life.
The other softboard had a dynamic flow highlighting the contributions in different areas by the people of the North, East, West and South zones of India. Everyday of the week had a different flavour based on these zones. Against the timeline of events, the increasingly reducing maps of India were displayed and the young onlookers were appealed to do something about stopping the disintegration, solution being to forget the differences and to UNITE!
Unity was the theme for the Saturday Creative Assembly. Due to the school picnic to Chhab Chhaba Chhab, it was kept on Monday instead of Saturday. The Juniors performed a very lively dance-drama based on the fact that if we work together we can do anything and everything. The story was “hola upaad” in which a hunter catches some birds in his net. The students depicted the struggling of the birds and their flying off with the net being united.
The Seniors performed a drama that highlighted the two perspectives of Unity – destructive and the one for good cause. Taking into account some AVM based experiences, the drama conveyed both perspectives in a simple yet effective manner.
The week, hence concluded with an enlightening message of the need for Unity within so as to prosper within and the need for Unity in the country so as to make India prosper.
The softboard had a very appealing statement of HDH Hariprasad Swamiji which kind of summarised the week’s events:
“As long as there is no harmony within an individual, there cannot be peace within a family,
As long as there is no harmony within a family, there cannot be peace within a society,
As long as there is no harmony within a society, there cannot be peace within a nation.”
The choice is ours!
Compiled by: Het Adhvaryu (Class 8 – Shivam House)