d. What is Shakespeare's attitude towards Shylock?
He sympathizes those who are oppressed. Antonio is oppressed by Shylock. Shylock is oppressed by Christians.

e. The whole play is a tragi-comedy. In the scene, Shylock is the tragic side. Antonio and his friends is the comic side.

John Donne (1572-1631)
1572 Born in a merchant family
1591 Learn law at the Inns of Court in London
Private Secretary to Sir Thomas Egerton, the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal.
1601 29y. Married Egerton's niece, Ann More. He worked hard to fight against poverty. However, it's a secret marriage. When the marriage was exposed, he was put into jail. The Egertons regarded the marriage as an offence.
1617 His wife died. He devoted his time and efforts to his priestly duties, writing sermons and religious poems.
1621 Donne was appointed the Dean of St. Paul's and kept the post until his death.

John Donne's major work
1. Songs and Sonnets, wrote before 1600, 55 love poems.
2. The Elegies and Satires, his elegies wrote for love whereas others' wrote for mourning dead people.
3. Holy Sonnets & Sermons, Sonnets wrote about God, sexual life, problem of death and life. Sermons are Christian preaching.

John Donne is famed for 3 things
1. A great visitor of ladies
2. A great frequenter of plays
3. A great writer of conceited verses

At his time, John Donne was famed as a preacher. Today, he is famed as a lyric poet. John Donne compared parting love to compass, flea compared to the union of lovers. John Donne's conceit can be seen from his "Go catching the falling star" in which he listed many impossible things---the most impossible thing is a woman's faith and heart.