ABSTRACT
The contrast is most complete if The Merchant of Venice, with all its emblazoned beauty, is compared with even the least harsh of them, which is Measure for Measure. Some of the contrasts are obvious enough; for now, only occasionally, is the phrase or image pleasing in itself. Claudia's lines,
(iii.1.83) stand in vivid contrast to the general mood which is more typically and cruelly expressed by :
Our natures do pursue, Like rats that ravin down their proper bane, A thirsty evil; and when we drink we die.
